Yet, in the face of the evidence, Rather insists these allegations are true with the kind of zeal only a partisan can muster. He didn't just rush to judgment on the initial "60 Minutes" report. Within one week, he defended the story twice on the "CBS Evening News," charging that the criticisms of the story were coming from "partisan political operatives" even after numerous experts began to raise questions about the documents on which the story was based. Then he aired a subsequent story on "60 Minutes," which maintained that even if the documents in question were forged, "we do feel that it's important to underscore this point: Those who have criticized aspects of our story have never criticized the heart of it, the major thrust of our report, that George Bush received preferential treatment to get into the National Guard and, once accepted, failed to satisfy the requirements of his service. If we uncover any information to the contrary, rest assured we shall report that also."
But information to the contrary has been widely available since February. As Byron York wrote in National Review in early March, Bush "was given an honorable discharge after serving five years, four months, and five days of his original six-year commitment," having been released early -- a custom common at the time -- to attend Harvard Business School. Nearly two years of Bush's service was full-time active duty. During his time in the Guard, York reports, records show Bush earned the requisite number of points -- 50 per year -- to fulfill his obligation every year he served: 253 in year one, 340 in year two, 137 in year three, 112 in year four, and 56 in years five and six.
Dan Rather and his "60 Minutes" producer Mary Mapes showed no genuine interest in reporting the truth. Their obvious motive was to discredit a sitting president, to portray him as a shirker unfit to be commander in chief. Mapes has admitted she's been chasing this story for five years. Her eagerness to move the story forward included urging Joe Lockhart, the former Bill Clinton White House spokesman now a top aide in John Kerry's campaign, to talk to Bill Burkett, the man who provided the forged documents to CBS.
Rather and Mapes must go. Anything less makes CBS itself a witting accomplice in this partisan political attack.