Hannity's New Witnesses
Reported by Deborah - September 13, 2004 -
Two new witnesses appeared tonight to continue the discrediting of the Killian memos. Col. Maurice Udall and Maj. Dean Roome had sterling testimony about Bush's performance as a fighter pilot in the National Guard and were adamant that the information in the memos was false. However, their credibility was shredded by Colmes and Hannity's memogate is quickly losing steam.
9/13/04 9PM ET
One of the retired officers explained to Hannity that the memos could not be authentic because "Killian would never type memos to himself, he didn't type."
Hannity claimed that it was "pure negative politics."
Colmes popped in with a quote from USA Today from 2002 where Major Roome was quoted as describing Bush's military career as "mercurial."Roome stated that Bush did well at first but he later failed to fulfill his obligations. Roome described that period as an "irrational time" for Bush.
Roome denied making the statement blaming USA Today for taking his words out of context and claiming that nobody at USA Today can say anything nice about Bush. "I don't recall saying that. If I did, I don't stand by it now."
Then Colmes questioned them about the rules in the Guard refusing anyone admission if he had traffic violations or arrests. Colmes was suggesting this was evidence of Bush's preferential treatment. Although they refused to answer directly, Colmes kept pressing the issue and their discomfort was visible to the viewer.
comment: Hannity's bluster was ineffective against the facts provided by Colmes. These guys were weak witnesses from the start,but by the end of the segment, they were toast.
