All Political Guns on One Side
Reported by Eleanor - September 9, 2004 -
Special Report with Brit Hume (Sept. 9, 6:00) concentrated their firepower on three stories - polls, Bush's National Guard documents, and Cheney's comment that voting for Kerry would increase the chance of attack by terrorists.
The National Guard documents shown on 60 Minutes were covered three times. Their authenticity was questioned based on the superscript typeface on one document (i.e. 187th with the "th" raised) that wasn't available in the mid-80's, and the fonts used. These documents were not in the official records which had glowing reports of Bush's service. The "memos are dubious and critical." CBS stands behind them as thoroughly investigated and authenticated by experts. The ball is in CBS's court. Since other experts disagree, they must produce their experts and explain the authenticity. Jeff Birnbaum said that "if they are forgeries, it's a huge political advantage for Bush." (So the seed is planted that they might be forgeries.)
On the polls, the panelists said that both campaigns see the Bush lead in the polls as more than 5 points and less than 10 points. Jeff Birnbaum said that Bush is ahead in the battleground states. Fred Barnes ended this segment with, "No challenger this far behind after Labor Day has ever beaten an incumbent president."
There were few dissenting voices on this program. A film clip of Tom Harkin saying Bush lied about his service was shown twice, and Al Gore was used as a lead-in for the panel discussion criticizing Cheney's comment that voting for Kerry increased the chance of attack. Gore called that a sleazy, despicable effort to blackmail voters. Birnbaum said that Cheney's comment was not well phrased, but the democrats are "grasping at straws," and this has the "smell of desperation." Barnes supported Cheney, but Mort Kondracke said Cheney was rambling, and should have made himself clear. Birnbaum said this is attention to minor phrasing by an "angry campaign."
During the Grapevine segment, Sharon Bush was quoted as saying she didn't tell Kitty Kelley that Bush was using cocaine; and a statement by Theresa Heinz Kerry saying "only an idiot wouldn't like Kerry's health care plan, but of course there are idiots," and that the "common man doesn't see her as a rich witch" was presented with no comment.
Comment: All of these issues were presented in Bush's favor. No democratic guests or token panel members were present today.
