Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Producer fires back at Rathergate travesty


Fired CBS News producer Mary Mapes, who lost her job in the wake of the "60 Minutes Wednesday" story about President George W. Bush's military career, claims she was a scapegoat at the network. She believes that CBS was more interested in protecting itself than finding out the truth behind her story.
"I must answer the bloggers, the babblers and blabbers, and the true believers who have called me everything from 'feminazi' to an 'elitist liberal' to an 'idiot.'

"If I was an idiot, it was for believing in a free press that is able to do its job without fear or favor. ...I didn't know that the attack on our story was going to be as effective as a brilliantly run national political campaign, because that is what it was: a political campaign."
The December article, not yet available, is an excerpt from Mapes' soon-to-be-published book, "Truth and Duty" (St. Martin's) on her career and the episode often called Rathergate.


2 comments:

W.C. Varones said...

"If I was an idiot, it was for believing in a free press that is able to do its job without fear or favor."

And by "do its job," she means the press should be able to run fake stories without anyone questioning the accuracy?

Gary said...

Most of the Rathergate story was fake.

Isolated in the Republican Megaphone - in a community of shared misinformation, it is not surprising that most conservatives haven't heard that.

1. Another memo in the White House stash had the same proportional font, the same superscript marks. Not surprising as some of the office typewriters in use could do that at the time.

2. While the secretary was hesitant about some of the wording used in the memos, she verified those were his opinions and true acts of Bush and who suddenly slacked off near the end of his duty.

3. I live a few miles from Ellington Field and have heard stories of the goof-off unit for sons of politicians and the stories of Bush.

4. You will find much more on this site on AWOL Bush and the corrupt TANG who covered for him.