Business As Usual
Reported by Eleanor - September 20, 2004 -
Special Report with Brit Hume (Sept. 20, 6:00 p.m.) started the report with the CBS story. Another ten minutes were spent on Bush's National Guard service; and the panel discussed the CBS story again. Oh, yes, and Tom Harkin was asked by Rep. Foley to apologize for saying the memos show the president lied.
Most memorable quote: Robert Lichter stated that it is a great story as long as no one asked questions. Like cicadas, every 16 years Dan Rather has a fight with a president - rather or Rather - feels like hell.
Kerry made a "blistering" attack on Bush. Carl Cameron said Kerry is "trailing in the polls" and "in need of traction." He is using consistency as a weapon against Bush, saying he traded a dictator for chaos. Cameron showed a Kerry speech from nine months ago, speaking about getting rid of Sadam, and noted that he missed committee meetings when the Iraq policy was discussed.
During the Bush report, Bush presented Kerry as "twisting in the wind," citing instances such as Kerry's vote on Iraq, and the statement that the Kerry plan is "exactly what we're doing now"
Bret Baier stated that 100,000 Iraqis are trained sufficiently so far. (Not stated was Kerry's assertion that only 5,000 Iraqis are trained and zero police have been trained. That's a huge difference.)
Byron York went through six years of Bush's Guard service and indicated that he fulfilled his obligation - but just barely in the last two years. That he "made up" the time he missed.
The first panel session was devoted to discussing the Kerry speech with Brit Hume, Fred Barnes, Mort Kondracke, and Jeff Birnbaum. These panelists took key points in the speech apart and discussed what was wrong with them. No one on the panel disagreed. The second panel discussion was about the CBS memo with Jeff Birnbaum saying that this was a "sorry spectacle." A "great news organization, still in some respects, tarnished." When challenged, they wouldn't admit the mistake, and avoided telling the truth.
Comment: The CBS story dominated the news again with Bush's "real" service explained as if there was nothing amiss, except low points in the last two years. Kerry negatives were cited in both campaign reports - again. And it was business as usual at Fox.
