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Kerry Spot [ jim geraghty reporting ]
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WHY WAS TERRY USING TERMS FROM THE CBS MEMO 9 HOURS BEFORE BROADCAST? -UPDATE: IT WASN'T BEFORE.
[UPDATE: Turns out McAuliffe's statement referring to "sugarcoated" went out as the CBS report was starting, and it was based on a story on the CBS News web site which was posted before the "60 Minutes II" report was broadcast. The RNC timeline is erroneous.
My apologies to readers who read this and concluded there was a smoking gun connection between the DNC and CBS. I should have checked what the RNC stated in its timeline.
*sigh* Damn, I'm not as dissimilar to Dan Rather as I thought.]
[The original version of the story is below, - lines are through the erroneous parts:]
Man, those guys at the RNC are a regular Bloodhound Gang or Mod Squad. Take a look at this little observation:
9 HOURS BEFORE THE CBS REPORT: "Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe said, 'George W. Bush's cover story on his National Guard service is rapidly unraveling. ... George W. Bush needs to answer why he regularly misled the American people about his time in the Guard and who applied political pressure on his behalf to have his performance reviews 'sugarcoated.'" (Terence Hunt, "Questions Raised About Bush Guard Service," The Associated Press, 9/9/04)
(I checked with the RNC how they knew it was nine hours ahead of CBS report - it turns out McAuliffe made this statement during a press event held at 11 am Sept. 8.)
The CBS memo, revealed on 60 Minutes that night: "Harris gave me a message today from Grp regarding Bush's OETR and Staudt is pushing to sugar coat it."
"Sugarcoated." What an interesting word. McAuliffe could have said that Bush's performance reviews were covered up, spun, masked, smoothed over, soft-pedaled, glossed over, prettified, veiled, whitewashed, hushed up, concealed, varnished, suppressed, or distorted. But he just happened to pick a word that appeared in the memos that were supposedly unveiled to the world hours later.
Even beyond McAuliffe's direct quote of the memos, he's specifically referring to the central allegation of the Burkett-to-Mapes memo, that Staudt wanted Bush’s records “sugarcoated.”
If this were a game of Clue, we would collectively be jumping up and down and shouting, "the attempted character assassination was committed by Burkett, Mapes, Rather, Lockhart, and McAuliffe, with the fake memo, in the observatory, er, in CBS offices and DNC headquarters!"
Or maybe this, along with the entire "Operation Fortunate Son," is all just a coincidence.
UPDATE: Many readers are noting that the AP story quoting McAuliffe ran on Sept. 9, the day after the CBS report, and asking how the Kerry Spot can be certain McAuliffe made the comment before the report ran. What, you think I have the standards of Dan Rather and make this stuff up? Oh, baby, don't doubt the Kerry Spot.
Take a look at the Reuters Daybook for Sept. 8:
Reuters Daybook for today, Wednesday, September 8:
UPDATES TIME AND ADDS MCPEAK AS SPEAKER
(BUSH/MILITARY/MCAULIFFE) ADVISORY — At 11 a.m., Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe and retired General "Tony" McPeak host a teleconference to discuss new revelations about President Bush's military record. To participate in the teleconference media should contact Parag Chokshi preferably by email at chokship@dnc.org (by phone if necessary at 202-314-2270 or 202-863-7117).
Contact: Jano Cabrera, 202-863-8148
FINAL UPDATE: I spoke to Jano Cabrera, DNC press guy. He politely explained that there was teleconference on Bush's military record, but McAuliffe did not use the phrase "sugarcoated" — and there is a transcript. The "sugarcoated" remark came in an e-mailed statement that was distributed to reporters as the "60 Minutes II" story was beginning, and was based on the posting of the memos on CBS' web site.
Again, I blew this one, folks. My bad.
[Posted 09/23 03:16 PM]
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