Howard Fineman (talk about a name that doesn't go with its possessor) was on the Today show this morning. After a "report" from a woman pretending the Staudt story was big news (no rebuttal other than CBS stands by its story), Fineman talked about the mud being thrown around. And this mud, he said, is murky because it's not like the charges against Kerry regarding his medals and his post-Vietnam testimony (he INTENTIONALLY neglected the endless streams of lies, now documented, the Swift Boat thugs threw at Kerry).
He then said the story was even more murky because Bill Burkett is a principal source. You can read about him below and reach your own conclusions, but there was nothing offered by Fineman that suggested Burkett might be a credible source. He knew better, but also knew he could slant the story towards Bush without fear of a single consequence.
The Daily Howler often refers to this kind of crap as "clowning". It's actually, I think, worse than that. These guys have taken sides either out of personal preference or to do the bidding of their corporate masters. Note how the article below refers to what's going on as "slime". I can't remember that word being tossed around for the weeks of free coverage the Swift Boat lies got.
OK, OK, I'm done.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5974040/site/newsweek/<edit>
Where did the documents come from? CBS won't say. But the trail pieced together by NEWSWEEK shows that in a sulfurous season like this one, the difference between obscurity and power is small, and anyone can get a hearing. A principal source for CBS's story was Bill Burkett, a disgruntled former Guard officer who lives in Baird, Texas, who says he was present at Guard headquarters in Austin in 1997, when a top aide to the then Governor Bush ordered records sanitized to protect the Boss. Other Guard officials disputed Burkett's account, and the Bush aide involved, Joe Allbaugh, called it "absolute garbage." Burkett may have a motive to make trouble for the powers that be. In 1998, he grew gravely ill on a Guard mission to Panama, causing him to be hospitalized, and he suffered two nervous breakdowns. He unsuccessfully sued for medical expenses.
Still, in theory, Burkett may have had access to any Guard records that, in a friend's words, "didn't make it to the shredder." Fellow officers say he wasn't a crank, but rather a stickler for proper procedure—a classic whistle-blower type. Burkett was impressive enough to cause CBS producer Mary Mapes to fly to Texas to interview him. "There are only a couple of guys I would trust to be as perfectly honest and upfront as Bill," says Dennis Adams, a former Guard colleague. The White House, through Communications Director Dan Bartlett, called Burkett a "discredited source." Indeed, Bush strategists are convinced—or have convinced themselves—that the issue will backfire on its purveyors.
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