CBS, dirty tricks and other distractions

[Bongo Prophet]

In my opinion, the Ben Barnes/spoiled fratboy aspect is the one aspect of the CBS that would resonate with swings, and the memo is not needed. The distraction works to diminish credibility on CBS/60 min/et al, the very people Rove and Freepers most despise. To move the story to "who set them up to fail and how" would best mitigate the damage and bring home the meme of KRove's tactics and history, further innoculating the public to the spin of Rove in the future.

My overriding analogy of Rovian election strategy is that he throws bits of steak around the yard so the pathetic lapdogs of press are distracted from the thievery taking place under their noses. Framing the opposition is also a main MO of his, all to control the news cycle.

We all know the "questionable memo" BS is distraction from the heart of the TANG story, and that the TANG story is a distraction from the REALITY. Iraq, war profiteering, missing funds, etc.etc.

The CBS controversy needs to reach some closure before they will let it drop. I think the focus should be on:
1>how the memo got leaked to facilitate "fontgate" so quickly and
2>why the WH apparently vouched for its authenticity beforehand, to better set CBS up.

There is an that gives a general outline of the process of developing the CBS report.
LATimes requires free registration, but I will give the gist of pertinent points here.

John Roberts showed WH Dan Bartlett the memos for comment beforehand:

John Roberts, the network's White House correspondent, called to report he'd just completed an on-camera interview with Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director. Bartlett, it appeared, had no quarrel with the authenticity of the documents.

That was the turning point.

"If we had gotten back from the White House any kind of red flag, raised eyebrow, anything that said, 'Are you sure about this stuff?' we would have gone back to square one," Josh Howard, the program's executive producer, told the Los Angeles Times in an interview Friday. "The White House said they were authentic, and that carried a lot of weight with us."

AND

"John Roberts said he had just finished the interview with Bartlett, and had no quarrel with the authenticity of the documents," Howard recalled. "And in fact, in several places in the interview he used the documents to support the White House position that Bush did what he needed to do with regards to his National Guard service."

The WH now denies it. Roberts veracity is on the line, and he should be allowed to defend or confirm that.
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Secondly, the person who may have been set up? Mary Mapes, of Dallas...who is Mary Mapes?And why might Rove be looking for revenge?

Most notably, she was the producer on Rather's major scoop earlier this year making public pictures of U.S. soldiers degrading and humiliating prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. CBS went through a similar vetting process to make sure that those pictures were authentic, CBS executives said.

It is of course possible that the info was planted through Abilene to frame Burkett, whether he sent it or not.
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Third, the possible source for the leaks might be in the expert trail. Emily Will and/or Linda James. They spoke to their CBS contacts via phone and via email, NEITHER of which is necessarily secure.

Will said she found "serious problems" with the documents. She isolated five ways in which the Killian signature on a 1973 memo did not match up with the other provided samples of his handwriting. She also wondered whether the memos contained superscripts and proportional spacing that existed in 1972 and '73, although she emphasized that her expertise mainly concerned handwriting and signatures and not the finer points of typography.

On Sept. 5, Will sent notations on the memos to CBS via e-mail and also voiced her concerns to a producer over the phone. The producer said they had more material to send her, but Will said those additional documents never arrived.

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To conclude, I know this is as much a distraction as the Parlock Syndrome Saga, but they both point out the dirty tricks aspect of KRove and his minions, which IS important.
Because ONE thing we can be sure of-- Rove has further dirty tricks laid out all the way to election day and probably beyond.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Parlock being uncovered as an agent provocateour

KILLED that story

Suddenly it became radioactive on AOO Hell and the connies woudl NOT touch it... is AOL hell a good barometer? TO a point

This is what needs to happen to all other stories that Rove is involved in, we NEED TO CHANGE the message and keep the meme going, DIRTY TRICKS

The LAT story is a begining...

Now I agree wiht you, we are gonna have way more dirty tricks in the next month and a half than we have seen in 20 years.

[mopinko]

2. .

[olddem43]

3. Rove studied at the foot of Segretti, who was the master of

dirty tricks in the Nixon Administration. He needs to be arrested and tried for interference in the election process.