War on the Press

[volinbham]

CBS spent 2+ years chasing this story - thought they caught a break with the memos but wouldn't spend any extra effort to clear their name and break an even bigger story?

Ummmm...okay :blink:

 

[volinbham]

And limited payout? Are you kidding me? He hit the motherlode. He killed the story and made the media look like fools. After that any story the media digs up is questioned for reliability and it even makes most reporters think twice before even looking in the first place. By doing this, Bush accomplishes EVERYTHING he could ever want in the campaign.

But he risks even more - if caught with the set-up you are suggesting he's toast.

The story was already out. What the memos did was make the story much bigger. There's 2 ways for Bush to lose here - one, his strategery makes a negative story about him much bigger and second if he's caught, he's going to lose the election for sure.

Finally, if Rove had nothing to do with it, W had no idea that the story was going to get so much bigger. They were about even on the issue given the efforts of the Swift Boat guys (which I disagree with BTW). Most voters looked at both candidates with skepticism on the Vietnam issue - a draw in effect.

 

[CSpindizzy]

After this story, the media crawled into a hole and hid. Any story from this point on would have been buried or treated with skepticism. Basically the media was silenced while proxy groups could still hit Kerry. There in no way was a draw. Bush silenced his critics and Kerry continued getting hammered.

 

[volinbham]

My last word on this issue - the "draw" I was referring to was prior to the CBS story. Why risk a draw for a strategery that would cost you the election for sure if caught?

 

[CSpindizzy]

How would they get caught? No cameras at Kinkos recording long enough to see anyone. Plus as many people fax from Kinkos who knows when it could have happened. This was so basic it was simple to pull off.