MEMOS

dallastigers · Feb 22, 2004

You wonder why the intent behind these memos still do not get as much media play on all stations as how they got out.

Memo article link

link for some actual memos

...The tiny fraction of memos that have been released reveal a cynical, no-holds-barred manipulation of the process by leftist groups, which have amassed gigantic war chests for their efforts. The most egregious memo exposed thus far, written by a staffer to Senator Ted Kennedy, bluntly discusses an effort to affect the outcome of a then-pending case by delaying confirmation of an appeals court judge. The memo specifically recognizes the impropriety of delay for that purpose. Another memo attacks Miguel Estrada, who subsequently withdrew his nomination. His offenses: his career has left no paper trail to be picked apart; he’s Latino, and was thought being groomed for the Supreme Court....
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But then you see this.

_When a liberal Democrat faces a personal charge, the national media find ways to avoid discussing it in public. Is there proof of wrongdoing, or merely suspicion? Is it relevant to their public role? Does everybody do it? Do voters even care? When they want to, the media can usually find an excuse to spike an uncomfortable story before the feeding frenzy ever begins.

____Reporters could not justify pursuing the Bush “AWOL” story by citing any actual proof of wrongdoing, any relevance to Bush’s role as President, any sign that his conduct in 1972-73 was especially uncommon, or any clamoring from voters to get to the bottom of the story. The only impetus was DNC boss Terry McAuliffe’s wish to contrast “John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full of medals” with “George Bush, a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard.”

____The networks followed McAuliffe’s agenda. From Feb. 1-16, ABC, CBS and NBC aired 63 National Guard stories or interview segments on their morning and evening news programs. That’s far more coverage than Bill Clinton’s draft-dodging scandal received in 1992. Back then, the three evening newscasts offered 10 stories on Clinton’s complete evasion of service; this year, those same broadcasts pumped out 25 stories on whether Bush’s acknowledged service was fully documented.

____Despite the fact that no Democrat had substantiated their AWOL claims, the networks put the burden on Bush to prove his innocence. After the White House released documents on February 10 showing Bush had satisfied the Guard’s requirements and received an honorable discharge, reporters wanted more evidence (see box). The records showed Bush was never “AWOL,” exposing the baselessness of the Democrats’ original charge, yet none of the networks framed their stories around questionable Democratic tactics. Instead, they kept the onus on Bush: “The issue is not going to go away,” ABC’s Terry Moran promised. Other lowlights:

____• On February 12, the CBS Evening News promoted a conspiracy theory floated by retired National Guard officer Bill Burkett, who claimed he overheard a 1997 order to purge Bush’s records. The Boston Globe reported the next day that Burkett’s back-up, George Conn, totally disagreed with his friend’s version of what happened, but the Evening News never told viewers about that crucial detail.

____• Early on, John Kerry tried to egg on the media. “Was he present and active, on duty in Alabama, at the times he was supposed to be?” he challenged on February 8. “Just because you get an honorable discharge does not in fact answer that question.” Given Kerry’s defense of the draft-dodging Clinton twelve years ago (“We do not need now to divide America over who served and how”), unbiased reporters would have pounded the candidate for his hypocrisy in at least not repudiating the other Democratic “dividers,” but ABC, CBS and NBC concealed the Kerry flip-flop and kept him above the fray.

____• Last Thursday, Peter Jennings refused to report the finding of ABC’s polling unit that two-thirds of the public, including 58 percent of Democrats, thought the Bush story was “not a legitimate issue.” Instead, Jennings highlighted how Bush’s “rating for honesty and trustworthiness is at a new low” — as if the networks’ biased promotion of phony charges had nothing to do with that._When a liberal Democrat faces a personal charge, the national media find ways to avoid discussing it in public. Is there proof of wrongdoing, or merely suspicion? Is it relevant to their public role? Does everybody do it? Do voters even care? When they want to, the media can usually find an excuse to spike an uncomfortable story before the feeding frenzy ever begins.
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dallastigers · Mar 2, 2004

If the below is true do you think the focus will get back to the actual content of some of these memos?

link

The aide, who spoke to The Hill on the condition of anonymity, said he has not yet spoken with investigators working for Sergeant at Arms Bill Pickle.

“In little time, it became apparent to me that security protocols for the use of the Judiciary shared network were inconsistently applied and so far as I was aware, largely unsupervised,” the aide wrote in the affidavit.

“In little time, I became aware that by clicking onto the icon ‘My Network Places’ followed, as I recall, by the icon ‘Network Connections,’ one could, intentionally or unintentionally, enter a panel that contained folders belonging to Judiciary staff, from what I could tell, of both Republicans and Democrats. I made this discovery quite easily while searching for the shared network for constituent letter models.”

The aide went on to state that any member of the Judicary Committee could intentionally or unintentionally open folders containing files that were clearly not password protected.

The aide said that Republican and Democratic files on the Judiciary Committee’s shared drive could be accessed by staff on the committee unless those files were given a password. However, several committee aides had failed to take that step.

“It was sort of like leaving a memo face up on your desk and leaving for the weekend,” said the former Grassley aide.
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MEMOS

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