CBS, Mapes Knew in 2004 That Bush Volunteered To Go To Vietnam

In a startling revelation by six-time Emmy winner and former CBS news reporter Bernie Goldberg, former President George W. Bush volunteered for Vietnam while a Texas Air Guard pilot, but was turned down. More startling is the fact that CBS knew in 2004.

In a shocking expose titled "A Lost Fact in the Rathergate Mess, Part 1" by Bernie Goldberg, posted earlier today at Mr. Goldberg's website, two very interesting facts are revealed. First, that President George W. Bush, often ridiculed as a coward by the press and the Left for avoiding service in Vietnam, actually volunteered to go serve in Vietnam but was turned down in favor of more experienced pilots. Even more surprising is the fact that Mr. Goldberg, directed by a source, found that news buried deep inside the 234-page CBS report created by outside investigators CBS hired in the aftermath of the 2004 Rathergate imbroglio, in which CBS news anchor Dan Rather and show runner Mary Mapes produced documents from Lt. Col. Bill Burkett "proving" undue influence was exercised over Bush's TANG command staff in keeping Bush in Texas and out of Vietnam. Those documents were proven to be forgeries by Charles Johnson of the Little Green Footballs blog. CBS and Dan Rather eventually dropped the Bush Texas Air National Guard story, stating that the network could no longer stand by the documents' reliability. Mr. Rather later contended that he was forced to drop it. Mr. Rather is now engaged in a $70M lawsuit against CBS over the matter, which led to his ouster at CBS. Perhaps the most startling fact of all, however, is that CBS producer Mary Mapes, who went full-court press with the Bush TANG story in late 2004, actually knew since 1999 of Bush's request to go to Vietnam, yet went ahead with the story anyway. From page 130 of the CBS report on Rathergate:

Mapes had information prior to the airing of the September 8 [2004] Segment that President Bush, while in the TexANG [Texas Air National Guard] did volunteer for service in Vietnam but was turned down in favor of more experienced pilots. For example, a flight instructor who served in the TexANG with Lieutenant Bush advised Mapes in 1999 that Lieutenant Bush “did want to go to Vietnam but others went first.”

Similarly, several others advised Mapes in 1999, and again in 2004 before September 8, that Lieutenant Bush had volunteered to go to Vietnam but did not have enough flight hours to qualify.

The terms RatherGate and Fake But Accurate emerged from the scandal, which many believed was a blatant attempt by Mapes and Rather to swing the 2004 presidential election in Sen. John Kerry's favor, and on the very eve of the election. The term RatherGate now carries negative connotations implying it was the most biased and politically-motivated investigative journalism in US history, and a cautionary tale to others. Mr. Goldberg is also the author of the hit bestseller "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America."