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Last updated on July 16th, 2017 at 11:50 am
Former CBS producer Mary Mapes, fired following the Dan Rather memo disgrace of 2004, continues her march to madness:
It has been three years since we aired our much-maligned story on President Bush’s National Guard service and reaped a whirlwind of right-wing outrage and talk radio retaliation. That part of the assault on our story was not unexpected. In September 2004, anyone who had the audacity to even ask impertinent questions about the president was certain to be figuratively kicked in the head by the usual suspects.
Mapes and Rather didn’t “ask impertinent questions”. They presented an illl-researched and easily debunked load of garbage as the truth.
What was different in our case was the brand new and bruising power of the conservative blogosphere, particularly the extremists among them. They formed a tightly knit community of keyboard assault artists who saw themselves as avenging angels of the right, determined to root out and decimate anything they believed to be disruptive to their worldview.
No; they simply disproved CBS’s memo story.
Instantly, the far right blogosphere bully boys pronounced themselves experts on document analysis, and began attacking the form and font in the memos.
Font haters!
But they captured the argument. They dominated the discussion by churning out gigabytes of mind-numbing internet dissertations about the typeface in the memos, focusing on the curl at the end of the “a,” the dip on the top of the “t,” the spacing, the superscript, which typewriters were used in the military in 1972.
This is called “research”. And, by the way, “mind-numbing internet dissertations” generally don’t capture arguments, on account of them being, well, mind-numbing and all. Critics of the Mapes/Rather report won notice because they argued smartly and presented compelling evidence.
It was a deceptive approach, and it worked.
Deception by facts. How downright sneaky!
Right now I just want it understood by all that I refuse to dress up again like “Lucy Ramirez” and pass any more fake memos to crazy anti-Bush liberals. Those stilletto heels hurt my feet.
Posted by wronwright on 2007 09 21 at 01:30 PM • permalink
March to madness? Then she’s been marching in place for years.
Posted by Jim Treacher on 2007 09 21 at 01:32 PM • permalink
wronwright: Right now I just never wanted to have that image stuck in my head.
O_o;;
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2007 09 21 at 01:33 PM • permalink
Wronwright, we all know what you keep in the closet off the Tardis control room. And don’t think Karl has forgotten, either.
I think Mary Mapes is just torqued that Dan Rather hasn’t included her in his $70 million lawsuit against CBS. She probably thinks she deserves some of that action. And since most legal experts seem to be dismissing the likelihood of the case even making it to court (while snickering behind their hands), I say she deserves it too.
If Mapes is feeling freaky then she can identify specific people/blogs that she feels were deceptive.
Then those people can sue the living hell out of her for defamation.
Posted by memomachine on 2007 09 21 at 01:45 PM • permalink
I’m not saying I don’t have the figure or legs to wear that black dress, dark hose, and black stilleto heels. I’m just saying it was uncomfortable.
But when Karl orders a person to carry out a mission, it gets carried out. Regardless of whether I had a run in my stocking. And no matching purse. Or stylish earrings except for the pearls. Which admittedly did look nice with the pearl necklace I borrowed from kae.
Posted by wronwright on 2007 09 21 at 01:55 PM • permalink
This, I think, is what mental pathologists refer to as “invincible stupidity.” Combined with “shameless dishonesty”, the result is a revolting mixture, indeed.
In connection with Deranged Dan’s $70MM lawsuit against CBS, someone (I forgot who) pointed out the delicious possibility of CBS calling as defense witnesses some of the experts actually brought together by these “bully boy” right-wing bloggers.
Mary Mapes is like the guy in Venezuela who woke up on the autopsy table (except, in her case, she’s telling the examiner to go ahead and finish, since he’s already started).
In September 2004, anyone who had the audacity to even ask impertinent questions about the president was certain to be figuratively kicked in the head by the usual suspects.
Quite a statement from someone who was figuratively kicking the President in the head!
It was a deceptive approach, and it worked.
“And my deceptive approach didn’t work…that’s not fair! waa waa waa”
She’s certainly been taking her bitter pills.
“Right now I just want it understood by all that I refuse to dress up again like “Lucy Ramirez” and pass any more fake memos to crazy anti-Bush liberals.”
wronwright—but you did so well last time…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 09 21 at 03:17 PM • permalink
What a frothing twat is mapes.
Posted by Bill Spencer on 2007 09 21 at 04:03 PM • permalink
To hear a lefty bemoaning the impact of right-wing blogs is simply music to my ears. I was never much interested in blogs until last year, when I followed zombietime’s (and others’) expose on the ridiculous Lebanese ambulance missile strike story.
Long live the Internet! Being generally more occupied with work and family, I believe conservatives were in desperate need of an unlimited easy-access platform from which to air their views and frustrations. And don’t the lefties hate it!
This page alone has been viewed seven and a half million times. It’s difficult, I realise, to convert that figure into number of people, but it still seems like a lot. 100,1000 perhaps? Hey, maybe we should be getting paid for this. I alone deserve a free cheeseburger for all the tireless work I’ve put in over the past 12 months.
I’m not saying I don’t have the figure or legs to wear that black dress, dark hose, and black stilleto heels. I’m just saying it was uncomfortable.
But when Karl orders a person to carry out a mission, it gets carried out. Regardless of whether I had a run in my stocking. And no matching purse. Or stylish earrings except for the pearls. Which admittedly did look nice with the pearl necklace I borrowed from kae.
The lengths some persons attempt in order to attend an OSU ‘football’ game.
Cheers
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 09 21 at 06:17 PM • permalink
Mapes says she is continuing to investigate the source of the controversial documents
and
She tells Ross that she had no journalistic obligation to prove the authenticity of the documents before including them in the “60 Minutes II” report. “I don’t think that’s the standard,” she said.
So in 3 years she STILL cannot prove the authenticity of 1 document? Give up sweetie.
“It has been three years since we aired our much-maligned story…”
That means her unemployment benefits are about used up. No wonder she’s freaking out.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 09 21 at 06:26 PM • permalink
‘She tells Ross that she had no journalistic obligation to prove the authenticity of the documents…’
Graduate of the Goebbels Journalism Academy?
Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 09 21 at 06:34 PM • permalink
“continues her march to madness:”
They won’t be calling that one “The Long March”.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 09 21 at 06:37 PM • permalink
I can’t think of anyone that this lawsuit would so any good for, with the possible exception of right wing bloggers. I suspect CBS will be “encouraged” to quietly issue a Settlement To Finish Unpleasantness (more commonly known as a “STFU payment”) lest it end up in court at an inconvenient time (like next October).
As George Banks said in Mary Poppins, “Kindly do not confuse the issue with facts.”
Posted by tabitharuth on 2007 09 21 at 07:51 PM • permalink
Jonah Goldberg (via Instapundit):
Dan Rather seems divinely inspired to crash more times than a Kennedy driving home from an office party. The multimillionaire semi-retired newsman is suing for $70 million …
(snip)
But you know what? I say, “You go, Dan!”
Frankly, we need this.
Oh yes. We really need this. This will so much fun.
Posted by wronwright on 2007 09 21 at 07:59 PM • permalink
Font haters!
We don’t hate fonts, so long as they are kept in their place, and don’t run rampant over Tim’s blog.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 21 at 08:10 PM • permalink
Re #12, paco, I do believe it’s Allah over at Hot Air who is licking his cops over the upcoming DanFest.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 21 at 08:11 PM • permalink
And we showed for the first time a cache of documents allegedly written by Bush’s former commander,
…but in fact knocked out on a computer the night before by some Texas tart wanting to give a blow-job to Dan Rather.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 09 21 at 09:08 PM • permalink
Is Mary Mapes related to Jolly Japes?
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 09 21 at 09:09 PM • permalink
Just remember I didn’t give it to you.
I’m fairly certain you did kae. As I recall you travelled back in time in the Tardis with RebeccaH, missred, and a few other ladies here. In a totally unauthorized shopping trip to the bazaars of Ninevah. I waited for hours in my cellar for your return. When you gals finally did come back (you could have simply turned the chronometer designator to one minute after you left but did you do that? noooooooooooooo, 6 hours I waited), you were drunk as sailors on liberty.
Uh, that’s when you
lent megave to me as a gift your pearls. Nothing like 3000 year old Assyrian jewelry to lend balance to the perfect black outfit.Posted by wronwright on 2007 09 21 at 09:16 PM • permalink
#20 Heinrichs, you got it wrong. Wronright wants to be an ALL-BLACK.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 09 21 at 09:22 PM • permalink
#31 Licking cops?
Oopsie! I meant to type “licking cHops”!!!
Silly me. PIMF!
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 21 at 09:26 PM • permalink
re #37, I agree, paco, except that I would use the word “turd” in lieu of “brick”.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 09 21 at 09:27 PM • permalink
#35 Assyrian artifacts from Iraq—Present, Stolen or Missing.
Looks like you got away with it this time, traveller.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2007 09 21 at 09:43 PM • permalink
#43: M’yes. Rather than Napolean the Pig, Mapes is more like the little pig who built a house of straw.
I wonder if Dan Rather didn’t sustain some kind of permanent brain damage when he was beaned by that guy in New York (who can forget, “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”). Although he’s always had an aura of natural-born weirdness about him.
Watching Powerline and Little Green Footballs (LGF) deconstruct Dan Rather and CBS was one of the most memorable moments on the Internet. The “flashing Word doc” is destined to be a 21st century icon.
Since then, there have been Zombietime and the miracle Israeli anti-ambulance missile, Reuter’s fauxtography, again exposed by LGF, and many more “gotcha’s!” by bloggers around the world.
Don Chipp formed the Democrats years ago, allegedly “to keep the bastards honest”, but the blogosphere has done more to “keep the bastards honest” in it’s short but vigourous life than Don’s mob of drones ever did in political life.
Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2007 09 21 at 10:53 PM • permalink
In case anyone came in late, here’s the “Flashing MS Word document” from Little Green Footballs.
The equivalent of the iceberg that sank the Titanic, this document overlay sank Dan Rather.
Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2007 09 21 at 11:12 PM • permalink
I find it interesting how frequently the Left gets angry at the Right and proceeds to accuse the Right of using exactly the tactics actually used routinely by the Left. I don’t know whether that is merely chutzpah or a sign of incredibly serious derangement.
As for Mapes’ ‘march to madness’, she reached the Mountains of Madness years ago and has proceeded to the Swamps of Gibbering Lunacy.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 09 21 at 11:13 PM • permalink
If you want to see raving lunacy in action, check out DUmmiefunnies.com picks out some of the best raving from both the DUmmies and the KOmmies.
And if you want to get the lowdown on the effect of names, Ash_ check people with the middle name Duane. (I think there’s a list called “That Awful Name” or some such.) Way too high a proportion of people convicted of murder (in the US, anyway) have a middle name that is a variant of Duane.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 09 21 at 11:35 PM • permalink
Jorg, I did my best to get the lowdown on “Duane”, but all I got on Google was a bunch of “My name is Duane XXXXX” stuff, but Wiki did what Wiki does, and gave me a pretty short lowdown.
Were you referring to murderers which just don’t appear on Wiki?
- Posted by eeniemeenie on 2007 09 22 at 12:36 AM • permalink
My bad, Vexorg and Ash_. It’s late and I have a cold and worked too long today. I got Wayne and Duane mixed up. It’s still pretty weird.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 09 22 at 12:57 AM • permalink
Wron, while your dedication to the Dark Lord’s orders is impressive, your… ummm… enthusiasm for this task was noted as being kinda remarkable.
I’m not saying I don’t have the figure or legs to wear that black dress, dark hose, and black stilleto heels. I’m just saying it was uncomfortable.
Yes, and that applied especially in Scythia.
Which you visited after the Assyrian jaunt for those spectacular silver torques.
Which civilisation promptly collapsed.
Something about the visit of a black-clad spike-footed he/she demon and ‘the horrible fate of the Lords’ is the chronicled last death-rattle of that civilisation.
Wouldn’t happen to be able to shed a little light on that, would you?
MarkL
Minionmeister to the VRWC
Egads. First MentalFloss shows up, ready to spell check my Utnapishtim and verify the accuracy of my memories of past missions into the past. Now my head minion, MarkL walks in, ready to divulge some confidential information on his boss. This is uncomfortable. Don’t they know who I am? Now I know what Dan Rather felt like.
Posted by wronwright on 2007 09 22 at 07:02 AM • permalink
Something about the visit of a black-clad spike-footed he/she demon and ‘the horrible fate of the Lords’ is the chronicled last death-rattle of that civilisation.
Look here good man. Not every civilization that collapsed catastrophically had something to do with me going back in time in the Tardis. (wronwright remembers attempting to track down Stoop Davy Dave who absconded with Tardis I with the “assistance” of paco, Michael Lonie, and crittenden, shudders and moves on). Let me just ask who do the words “black-clad spike-footed she demon” and “horrible fate” remind you of? Shall I add the word “Amazon”? Or perhaps “Zulu spear”?
I’m not the only one who travels back in time in the Tardis you know!
Posted by wronwright on 2007 09 22 at 07:14 AM • permalink
It’s about time someone pay closer attention to what wronwright gets up to in that Tardis. I’ve often wondered at the carte blanche Rove gave him when he hired him. Thank goodness Mental Floss has returned to get the ball rolling.
(Is the fact that Rove “retired” a causal agent in this job evaluation?)
P.S. Mental Floss: please do not link to that jewelry page again. Because of you, I can no longer wear my Nimrud stuff (except in the privacy of my own boat, where I dance to the light of the full moon in nothing but my Nimrud stuff).
Let me be the first to apologize for the wanton use of facts and reason !