Kevin D. Korenthal, September 14, 2004

The first few columns I wrote as a burgeoning political commentator were mainly on the subject of media bias. Even after writing 4 separate articles on the subject, I was still not prepared for what has been revealed about the Bush National Guard memos, as reported on by Dan Rather on CBS’s 60 Minutes II last week.

Not 24 hours after Dan Rather reported these memos, questions began to arise regarding the authenticity of these supposed National Guard file documents. The first implications that the documents were probably not written when and by whom the 60 Minutes II piece indicated, centered on the particular font and scripting used in the memos. New Times Roman, the font I am writing this article with, was not very widely available in 1973 when the memos were supposedly written. Although CBS has since claimed they have proof this font has been available since the 1930’s, they have refused to bring forward their evidence.

More important than the font it is the use of something called "superscript" used in the documents that raise so many questions. When I type the characters 4, t, and h right next to each other in my Microsoft Word Processor, I get the flowing: 4^th. Notice how the "th" is raised up and made smaller. That is superscript. In 1973, it is a fact that the National Guard did not have access to the very complicated typewriters capable of this trick. There are several other discrepancies regarding the type on the documents so run a www.news.google.com on Bush+Memo+guard+superscript for more information.

But enough about what typewriters of that era could and could not do. There is plenty of other suspicion about these memos. One point key in my mind was the reference in the memo to Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt, the commanding officer over Lt. Col. Killian who was in turn Bush’s commander. The memo purports to show that Lt. Col. Killian, felt pressure from his own superior officer, Col. Staudt, to "sugarcoat" Bush's record. The problem with this claim is that Col. Staudt had been honorably discharged in March 1972, nearly 18 months before the date of the forged Killian memos. Lt. Col. Killian had boasted to his family before he died that he thought George W. Bush was a fine Guardsman. Men who served with Lt. Col. Killian swear such "to the file" memos were not only rare for Col. Killian but avoided all together because of the enormous explanations required for such purely negative comments.

The National Guard memos were not the only topic of the 60 Minutes Two episode. But Dan Rather and cohorts weren’t done besmirching the president just yet. This episode also featured and interview with Ben Barnes - who claimed in an interview with Dan Rather that he used influence to secure a place for President Bush in the Texas Air National Guard 36 years ago. At the time, Ben Barnes was Lt Governor of Texas and thus responsible for choosing who would get a much-coveted spot in the Texas Air National Guard. As FrontPage magazine.com reports, George W. Bush began the first of six years’ service in the National Guard in 1968, but Barnes did not become Lt. Governor of Texas until 1969. Barnes has acknowledged that no member of the Bush family sought his help, but now claims that a Bush family friend, who died three years before Barnes began telling his self-serving story, approached him.

Furthermore none other than Ben Barnes’ own daughter has refuted this charge by her father. Amy Barnes says she asked her father in the run-up to the 2000 Presidential Election if he had anything to do with Bush’s approval for entrance into the Texas National Guard and he indicated he did not. Amy Barnes indicated that her father now intends to write a book about his involvement in Bush’s Guard Duty and made this new charge in an attempt to get pre-publicity for before it's release. We know that former White House Terrorism Czar Dick Clarke made charges that the Bush Administration bungled the War on Terror. These charges were later proven false and assumed to have been fabricated in order to help Mr. Clarke sell millions of copies of his own novel. Michael Moore claimed in his film Fahrenheit 911 that Dick Clarke reported to him that the Bush Administration flew scores of Saudis out of the US supposedly while the US was under a no-fly curfew in the wake of the WTC and Pentagon attacks. As it turns out, it was Dick Clarke himself who was tasked with approving the flights.

The media at least that of the traditional sense like ABC, CBS, NBC, NY Times and others are gunning to bring down the President. Those that want Bush out of office know their candidate is weak across the board and are prepared to do ANYTHING to hobble the President and give Kerry the advantage.

You would think with "Big Media" behind him, John Kerry would be blowing Bush away in the polls right now. But as a testament to "New Media" (FoxNews, Talk Radio as well as internet sites and bloggers & e-mailers) America is being informed of these false allegations and hatchet jobs being perpetrated upon this President.

CBS News and Dan Rather are standing behind their story. Fred Barnes, who is executive editor of The Weekly Standard, made a list of lies you must believe if you are to join them.

CBS is also the network that brought you the Reagan smear piece that they ended up relegating to Showtime because of the public outrage over the false depiction of Ronald & Nancy Reagan, two of the most beloved humans of this century.

Want to scream at CBS? Go to www.cbsnews.com, at the bottom of the page click contact and have your say.

Copyright © 2004 Kevin D. Korenthal