Power Line: Advantage: Time

December 20, 2004

Advantage: Time

While Time has us as Blog of the Year, Newsweek has a "fast chat" with Wonkette. Ana Marie, not surprisingly, has a liberal take on the Dan Rather fake document scandal:

Q. What did you think of the bloggers' role in the Dan Rather affair?
A. I think they did a disservice to the debate because they made the debate about the documents and not about the president of the United States. There was another half to that story that had to do with verifiable events of what Bush may have been up to.

Well, that's a non sequitur, of course. Pointing out that CBS was passing off fake documents, and basing a story on them, was obviously worthwhile regardless of what you think about President Bush's National Guard service.

More important, though, is the fact that Ana Marie's effort to resuscitate the "fake, but accurate" theory is simply wrong. The truth is that President Bush's National Guard service was both dangerous and honorable. He fulfilled his Guard commitment; in fact, he accumulated three times as many credits as he needed to be in good standing. His reviews were uniformly glowing, and he was an excellent pilot. He volunteered for a program that would have resulted in his being shipped to Vietnam, but was not accepted because it was not considered worthwhile to train him on a new airplane. See our posts here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Given the known facts about President Bush's Guard service, the fact that Mary Mapes spent five years trying to find grounds for criticism takes on an aura of monomania.

Oh, one more thing: President Bush signed the form authorizing release of all of his military records long ago. John Kerry has refused to sign the authorization form; now that the election is over, there will no longer be any pressure on him to do so. So history will record, I guess, that we know one thing for sure: President Bush was honorably discharged from the service.

Posted by John at 01:01 PM |

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/mt/mt-diespammers.cgi/9035

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Advantage: Time:

» Excerpt From the Newsweek / She Who Shall Not Be Linked Article from Sharp as a Marble
[Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 01:10 PM

» WONKETTE TO BLOGGERS: F*** YOU from Michelle Malkin
From Ana Marie Cox's interview with Newsweek's Richard Wolffe: What did you think of the bloggers' role in the Dan Rather affair? I think they did a disservice to the debate because they made the debate about the documents and... [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 02:44 PM

» WONKETTE TO BLOGGERS: F*** YOU from Michelle Malkin
From Ana Marie Cox's interview with Newsweek's Richard Wolffe: What did you think of the bloggers' role in the Dan Rather affair? Answer: I think they did a disservice to the debate because they made the debate about the documents... [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 02:48 PM

» Something to Brighten Your Day from INDC Journal
This quote angers me on many levels ... What did you think of the bloggers' role in the Dan Rather affair? I think they did a disservice to the debate because they made the debate about the documents and not... [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 02:59 PM

Tracked on December 20, 2004 03:02 PM

» Did CBS do a disservice? from hangingontonothing.com
Powerline points to an interview Newsweek did with the Wonkette, and a question about the forged military documents CBS used in particular. Apparently the blogosphere did a disservice by debunking the documents because there was some "truth" behind ... [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 03:30 PM

» Re: Wonkette from ninme
I said weeks ago I never thought she was funny. Quothe Peter: “Yeah, she’s just a bitch.” Anyway, she’s opened her mouth to Newsweek about the bloggers and Rathergate et cetera and so on. Michelle Malkin’s on it, as is... [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 03:35 PM

Tracked on December 20, 2004 03:38 PM

» Wonkette Doesn't Get It from Say Anything
Here's Ana Marie Cox (a/k/a Wonkette) speaking in a Newsweek article (via Michelle Malkin): What did you think of the bloggers' role in the Dan Rather affair? I think they did a disservice to the debate because they made the debate about the docume... [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 03:40 PM

» [ブログ][アンテナ]ブログる場合ですよ from 越後屋つれづれ日記
右サイドバーの「越後屋ギターアンテナ」に追加、「ブログる場合ですよ」。ココログとはてな、合従連衡か同床異夢か。どうでもいいことだけれど。 [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 03:42 PM

» The role of bloggers in the Dan Rather fiasco from Reagan Republican
This always seems to be the argument of liberals involving the whole Dan Rather documents fiasco. They think the issue should not be whether a news network tried to defraud the nation because of a political agenda, no, the issue should be that Americ... [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 03:54 PM

» Wonkette's unsurprising take... from The view from MY right
Well this one does not surprise me one bit. This comes from Newsweek (via Power Line): Q. What did you think of the bloggers' role in the Dan Rather affair? A. I think they did a disservice to the debate because they made the debate ... [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 04:12 PM

» Fake but True Alert from bLogicus
Richard Wolffe (Newsweek): What did you think of the bloggers' role in the Dan Rather affair? Ana Marie Cox: I think they did a disservice to the debate because they made the debate about the documents and not about the... [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 11:09 PM

» Wonkette's Wonker from Coldheartedtruth
Even though the interview doesn't come out till next week in Newsweek... this is old news in the blogosphere. But just in case you hadn't heard... Ana Marie Cox had some rather hairbrained comments about the whole Rathergate incident. What did you thi... [Read More]

Tracked on December 21, 2004 11:46 AM

» Fire for Effect from The Indepundit
POWERLINE led the charge against Dan Rather and his fake, Bush-hashing memos earlier this year. For their efforts at uncovering the truth, Time has honored Powerline the first ever "Blog of the Year" award. Now Hindrocket is setting his sights... [Read More]

Tracked on December 21, 2004 01:46 PM

Tracked on December 21, 2004 01:53 PM

Tracked on December 21, 2004 03:12 PM

» Lynne Cheney + Bloggers = Love from Personal Democracy Forum

I'll bet you never thought to ask Lynne Cheney, the Second Lady of the United States, what she thought about blogs. Well, Chris Matthews did.

Lynne Cheney appeared on Hardball last night. Here is a pa

[Read More]

Tracked on December 22, 2004 12:46 PM

» Lynne Cheney + Bloggers = Love from Personal Democracy Forum

I'll bet you never thought to ask Lynne Cheney, the Second Lady of the United States, what she thought about blogs. Well, Chris Matthews did.

Lynne Cheney appeared on Hardball last night. Here is a pa

[Read More]