{"id":3089,"date":"2004-09-21T21:45:01","date_gmt":"2004-09-22T04:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/proteinwisdom.com\/?p=3089"},"modified":"2004-09-21T21:45:01","modified_gmt":"2004-09-22T04:45:01","slug":"more-grist-for-the-rathergate-rumor-mill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/proteinwisdom.com\/?p=3089","title":{"rendered":"More grist for the RatherGate rumor mill"},"content":{"rendered":"

For what it’s worth, NewsMax is running this story<\/a> suggesting that the Kerry campaign referred to information contained in at least one of the forged¹ CBS documents as early as April:<\/p>\n

\n

The Kerry campaign made an explicit reference to information in at least one of four forged military documents broadcast 14 days ago by CBS’s “60 Minutes” – in a detailed campaign press release attacking President Bush’s National Guard service dated months before the Sept. 8 “60 Minutes” broadcast.\n<\/p>\n

\nAppearing in Kerry campaign literature on April 27, 2004, under the headline “Key Unanswered Questions on Bush’s Record in National Guard” was the reference to “verbal orders” to recommend Bush’s suspension from flying because he missed a physical – issued by Bush’s commander, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian on Aug. 1, 1972.\n<\/p>\n

\nOne of the forged Killian memos broadcast by CBS is also dated Aug. 1, 1972, and chronicles Killian’s “verbal orders” to suspend Bush:\n<\/p>\n

\n“I conveyed my verbal orders to commander, 147th [Fighter Interceptor Group] with request for orders for suspension and covening a flight review board IAW AFM 35-13.” <\/i>[END OF FORGED KILLIAN MEMO EXCERPT]\n<\/p>\n

\nThe April 27 Kerry campaign press release cites Killian’s “verbal orders” for suspension as a “Fact”:\n<\/p>\n

\n“FACT: The order suspending Bush from flight duty stated: ‘Verbal orders of the Comdr on 1 Aug 72 suspending 1STLT George W. Bush from flying status are confirmed Reason for Suspension: Failure to accomplish annual medical examination. Off will comply with para 2-10, AFM 35-13. Authority: Para 2-29m, AFM 35-13. (Aeronautical Orders, Number 87, 29 September 1972)’” [END OF KERRY RELEASE EXCERPT]\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the next paragraph, the Kerry campaign cited a provision in the Air Force Manual that served as a guideline for Killian’s decision to suspend Bush:\n<\/p>\n

\n“AFM 35-13: … After reviewing the findings of the investigation, the local commander may convene a Flying Evaluation Board or forward through command channels a detailed report of the circumstances which resulted in the officer’s failure to accomplish a medical examination.” [END OF KERRY RELEASE EXCERPT]\n<\/p>\n

\nThe forged Aug. 1, 1972, memo alludes to the same Air Force Manual provision, with Killian saying he’s considering “covening a flight review board IAW AFM 35-13” to handle Bush’s case.\n<\/p>\n

\nThough the information contained in the April campaign release mirrors that in forged memos broadcast by CBS in September, the similarities may be a coincidence<\/b>.\n<\/p>\n

\nIn a February 2004 document dump, the White House released a batch of President Bush’s National Guard records, which included material cited in the Kerry press release.\n<\/p>\n

\nIn a February 12 story headlined “Bush’s Loss of Flying Status Should Have Spurred Probe,” the Boston Globe covered some of the same material. The Kerry release, however, cited not the Globe report as its source but “Aeronautical Orders” apparently included in the White House document dump.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe April 27 press release does show, however, that the topic of Bush’s flight suspension by Killian was very much on the Kerry campaign’s radar screen at least four months before CBS broadcast forged military records to further document the story [my emphasis].<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nAs the story makes clear, the overlap between the Kerry site’s anti-Bush material and the forged² TANG documents could be entirely coincidental—after all, the Democrats have been after this story since 1994, so most of the “information” contained in the documents isn’t new—but it does <\/i>suggest that both the forger and the Dems shared a similar interest in particulars, though there’s no way to know for certain whether the Kerry campaign’s interest was a product of familiarity with the forged documents (some rumors have them floating around for months), or, conversely, whether the forger was able to drum up interest for the forgeries among Democrats and media dupes by appealing to a pre-existing set of assertions included in the Kerry campaign literature and the body of anti-Bush lore.\n<\/p>\n

\nOne thing that is <\/i>clear though, and that is that it’s hardly overstating things to note that the minutiae of Bush’s TxANG service has long been an obsession among national Democrats.\n<\/p>\n

\n¹,²  Dan Rather, speaking to Chicago Tribune<\/i>:  “I wouldn’t call the documents ‘forged.’ Instead, I would characterize the documents as ‘futuristic,’ in that the forensic science needed to prove conclusively that these documents are genuine won’t exist until all of the computers in the Cyberdyne Network pool their resources and engage mankind in an all out war for control of the universe.”\n<\/p>\n

\nh\/t Allah<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n****
\n
\nupdate<\/i><\/b>:  Ace—who like me gets his talking points from a William F. Buckley figurine with magical powers—links<\/a> the same story.  Because that’s what WFB commanded<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For what it’s worth, NewsMax is running this story suggesting that the Kerry campaign referred to information contained in at least one of the forged¹ CBS documents as early as April: The Kerry campaign made an explicit reference to information in at least one of four forged military documents broadcast 14 days ago by CBS’s “60 Minutes” – in a detailed campaign press release attacking President Bush’s National Guard service<\/p>\n

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