Washington Post: “In Rush to Air, CBS Quashed Memo Worries”

In the early-morning hours of Sept. 8, Dan Rather was preparing to fly to Washington for a crucial interview in the Old Executive Office Building, but torrential rain kept him in New York.

White House communications director Dan Bartlett had agreed to talk to “60 Minutes,” but only on condition that the CBS program provide copies of what were being billed as newly unearthed memos indicating that President Bush had received preferential treatment in the National Guard. The papers were hand-delivered at 7:45 a.m. CBS correspondent John Roberts, filling in for Rather, sat down with Bartlett at 11:15.

The dispute over memos of President Bush’s National Guard record centers on the technology available in the early ‘70s, when the documents would have been typed. (George Bush Presidential Library Via AP)

Half an hour later, Roberts called “60 Minutes” producer Mary Mapes with word that Bartlett was not challenging the authenticity of the documents. Mapes told her bosses, who were so relieved that they cut from Rather’s story an interview with a handwriting expert who had examined the memos.

At that point, said “60 Minutes” executive Josh Howard, “we completely abandoned the process of authenticating the documents. Obviously, looking back on it, that was a mistake. We stopped questioning ourselves. I suppose you could say we let our guard down.”

CBS aired the story eight hours later, triggering an onslaught of criticism that has left Rather and top network officials struggling to explain why they relied on a handful of papers that even some of Rather’s colleagues now believe to be fake.

New York Times: “Bush Says Questions About Guard Memos Used by CBS ‘Need to Be Answered’”

Several people involved in the reporting process said Mr. Rather and Ms. West flew yesterday to Texas, where they were to meet with at least one man who has been identified as a source for the report, a former Texas Air National Guard officer [Bzzzt!  Texas Army National Guard, geniuses] named Bill Burkett.

An executive involved in the investigation said the network was leaning on its initial sources to come forward and help resolve the questions, preferably by speaking publicly about how they got their hands on the documents.

[…] A CBS News spokeswoman denied last week that there had been questions about the documents’ authenticity at least two days before the report was broadcast. But officials acknowledged yesterday that questions lingered up to the day the report was shown.

I link, you decide.

But given what we now know about the time line (CBS’ Mapes finally receives the documents on September 2)—and given the DNC’s corresponding AWOL/”Fortunate Son” anti-Bush campaign, which was timed to launch just as the 60 Minutes II story airs (and which was almost certainly in the works weeks before CBS received the forged documents)—serious questions need to be asked about how much the DNC knew about these docs before CBS itself had them in its possession.

Developing…

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more.

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update:  And then there’s this, from Newsweek:

Emily Will, a documents expert approached by CBS to examine the memos, told NEWSWEEK that she was told by a CBS News producer that the network’s source had received the memos anonymously through the mail.