INDCJournal: My Neck Hurts <b><i>(UPDATED with Brand New Poll)</i></b>

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September 15, 2004

My Neck Hurts (UPDATED with Brand New Poll)

Posted by Bill

The speed of this newscycle is giving me whiplash. Since I have other obligations and I'm only faithfully covering certain unique angles, I hope that you're still getting the best round-up over at Allah's place.

Also, Ace authors a meticulously detailed analysis of one of the potential sources that passed off the forgeries on CBS. It's speculation, but it's impressive work, an excellent example of well-synthesized secondary research that's constructed to buttresses an investigative hypothesis.

In short, real journalism, folks.

UPDATE: And lest we lose total perspective, let's check out this brand new poll from the Economist:

For Immediate Release
September 15, 2004

ECONOMIST/YOUGOV POLL: BUSH'S SERVICE RECORD NOT AN ISSUE TO MOST VOTERS
Voters Split on Whether He Told the Truth

New York, NY -- According to the latest Economist/You Gov poll, when asked, "How important to the presidential election is the issue of Mr. Bush's service in the National Guard?," 37% say it is "not very important" and 27% say it is "not at all important". Only 13% felt the issue is "very important" and another 18% say the issue of service is "fairly important". The sample was drawn from a recruited sample and weighted to be representative of the US over-18 population with a margin of error +/- 2%.

When voters are asked whether they believe Mr. Bush told the truth about his service record during Viet Nam, voters are more evenly split: 40% feel he has not told the truth; 37% feel he has. It will be interesting to see whether voter opinion will be influenced by a potential Congressional investigation to determine whether documents used by CBS News pertaining to President Bush's National Guard service record were falsified. The investigation has been called for by Representative Christopher Cox (R-CA), Chairman of the House Policy Committee and Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

When the partisans spin and say, "the forgery isn't the point, it's whether George Bush fulfilled his obligations," it's not just an intellectually dishonest exercise that displays a fundamental disregard for the well-being of our country's fourth estate, it's also dumb spin that accomplishes nothing for John Kerry.

UPDATE: Speaking of dumb partisans, this is something that I did not know about Susan Estrich (or cheese sandwiches, for that matter):

Susan Estrich sounds like Carol Channing; a cheese sandwich sounds like Fred Thompson

Posted by Bill at September 15, 2004 03:18 PM | TrackBack (1)

Comments

"Other obligations"? But Dan Rather just said that "powerful and extremely well-financed forces are concentrating on questions about the documents because they can't deny the fundamental truth of the story." Aren't they paying you enough to do this full time?

Posted by: The Raving Atheist at September 15, 2004 03:26 PM

Uh, that is a negative. But the PayPal button is over there on the right, if you'd like to chip in.

Posted by: Bill from INDC Journal at September 15, 2004 03:43 PM

Hannity just said the CBS statement has been *once* *again* rescheduled for 5 pm ET.

Posted by: Tongue Boy at September 15, 2004 03:44 PM

Typing too fast. Should read:

"...rescheduled, this time for 5 pm ET.

Posted by: Tongue Boy at September 15, 2004 03:45 PM

I just saw a blurb on CNN about CBS's lame attempt to defend itself... and they chose to title the segment "The Bush Guard Flap" for some reason. What a way to miss the point, eh?

Posted by: Watcher at September 15, 2004 03:52 PM

Whilst we're all waiting for the CBS response, I suppose you could poll stuff at http://www.boston.com/news/politics/, which asks which controversy is more important - Swift Vets or Bush memo forgeries.

Posted by: Tony at September 15, 2004 04:09 PM

Semi-OT, but here's the email I sent (to mam@cbs.com, ajh@cbsnews.com,60II@cbsnews.com, and evening@cbsnews.com).

I am a registered Democrat. However, your anchor Dan Rather must be fired for this forgery scandal before he takes the entire network down with him. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you look at this image that shows just how easily the supposed vintage 1973 document can be created in Word. By failing to show this to your viewers, your "reporters" have intentionally refused to show both sides of the story.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12627_The_Smoking_Memo_(Revisited)

I should also mention that if you cut your losses now, perhaps Congress will not investigate you for violating the terms of the Campaign Finance Reform act. I understand that media companies do not get an exemption for engaging in fraud with malice aforethought. Peddling forged military documents on national television in an attempt to influence a presidential election is a CRIME.

An honest mistake is one thing. A stonewall is quite another. Dan Rather must resign, and CBS must apologize. The alternative may be handcuffs or worse for the individual reading this email.

heh, that should get their attention :)

Posted by: alpha at September 15, 2004 04:10 PM