The Devil's In the Details
Reported by Melanie - September 17, 2004 -
Today (September 17, 2004) Dayside w/Linda Vester was on the warpath.
Major Garrett began the program with a report aimed at trashing the credibility of Bill Burkett who, Garrett said, is named in "published reports" as "the potential source" for CBS's Bush National Guard documents.
Then it was to Glenna Whitley, co-author of Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History and now a reporter at the Dallas Observer. (G.B. "Jug" Burkett co-wrote Stolen Valor with Whitley. Burkett is a Vietnam veteran who spoke, together with members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, at a September 12, 2004 Kerry Lied, Good Men Died rally in Washington, D.C. Burkett was also co-chairman of the Texas Vietnam Memorial, with President George Bush as Honorary chairman, none of which was told to Fox's viewers.) Whitley talked about her involvement with CBS on stories it has exploited or misreported.
Then came Liz Trotta, New York bureau chief of the Washington Times and a Fox News contributor. (The audience wasn't told that Trotta was fired by CBS in 1985, or that she appeared on the O'Reilly Factor and said that MoveOn.org was affiliated with the "World Socialist Movement.") Trotta talked about the "inside workings" of CBS and how they've "screwed up" some very big stories.
After a report on Michael Jackson and two reports on hurricane Ivan, it was on to Molly Henneberg in New Mexico reporting on John Kerry's campaign. Woven through Henneberg's report were three Bush administration defenses to allegations made by Kerry or his campaign. James Rosen, reporting next on the Bush campaign, offered only one Kerry campaign defense to Bush campaign allegations.
Then to Rich Lowry of the National Review and Julie Roginsky a "Democratic strategist," on the latest polls and the new MoveOn.org ad titled "Quagmire." The right is aghast, arguing that the ad is disrespectful to our troops. (COMMENT: It's always something, isn't it?)
And, finally, to Tim Trevan, a former UN weapons inspector on Saddam and WMD. According to Trevan, Saddam was waiting for the sanctions to be lifted, after which he was prepared to revive his WMD program. Apparently, we were justified in invading Iraq.
COMMENT: So, all in all, it was a good hour for George Bush.
