September 17, 2004

ANOTHER THUMB IN THE EYE:

Speaking Out: Air National Guard Colonel Denies Bush Got Preferential Treatment (ABCNEWS.com, Sept. 17, 2004)

Staudt said he decided to come forward because he saw erroneous reports on television. CBS News first reported on the memos, which have come under scrutiny by document experts who question whether they are authentic. Killian, the purported author of the documents, died in 1984.

Staudt insisted Bush did not use connections to avoid being sent to Vietnam.

"He didn't use political influence to get into the Air National Guard," Staudt said, adding, "I don't know how they would know that, because I was the one who did it and I was the one who was there and I didn't talk to any of them."


The full moon crowd had a lot invested in the hope his silence was an admission.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 17, 2004 5:30 PM
Comments

Silence? More like the dog that didn't bark.

I was wondering from the beginning why none of the reports mentioned if he was dead or what he was doing these days. It seemed strange that they had no comments from him, since he was being accused of using improper influence.

Posted by: Raoul Ortega at September 17, 2004 6:03 PM

Well, we know CBS didn't get any "accurateness" from Mr. Staudt. So they didn't say anything about him at all (just like Jerry Killian's son, wife, etc.).

Dan Rather will never be able to appear in public again. Kind of like John Kerry ducking those TV interviews.

Posted by: jim hamlen at September 17, 2004 6:29 PM

Raoul -- I assume that this is an old guy now, and that he didn't want to get dragged into it. I'm a little surprised that he *has* spoken up -- I wonder what particularly raised his dander now.

Posted by: old maltese at September 17, 2004 8:11 PM

True, but you'd think that one of the things they teach in first year Journalism School is to track down sources who are still alive and get even a "no comment" from them, and then tell their viewers/readers. (Used to be "60 Minutes" would revel in getting doors slammed in their face.) Then came the reports that they had talked with Killian's family and left them out when the family didn't have any dirt to add, which led me to the conclusion that if they contacted him, he too didn't say anything useful.

(And you can't fool me. That woman they had on the other night was really Molly Ivins.)

Posted by: Raoul Ortega at September 17, 2004 9:24 PM
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