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September 11, 2004

Stonewalling for Fun and Profit

Wandering the blogosphere, the right side continues to demonstrate the numerous flaws in CBS' infamous documents, while the left side seems torn between desperately trying to show that the documents could be real, arguing that whether or not the documents are real doesn't matter when the big issue is whether or not President Bush fulfilled his obligations (a standard they had no interest in when it came to the Swiftvets, but never mind that), or piously declaring that they are above such partisan concerns and want to talk about real issues. CBS, meanwhile, continues to stand by the documents despite what appears to be overwhelming proof that they're fake (I'm not going to sum it all up here, because I'm lazy, but the number of potential flaws and the fact the General mentioned in the most damning memo had been retired for a year and a half when it was allegedly written tend to make me think CBS got snookered).

So why is CBS holding firm? Because stonewalling works. Ask President Clinton. Back in 1998, few doubted that the Monica Lewinsky story would sink his presidency if it was true. Yet when the facts emerged, Clinton walked away virtually scot-free. By drawing the investigation out over a prolonged period and painting it as part of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, Clinton was able to rebrand the scandal and prevent it (barely) from bringing down his presidency.

Or review the history of Watergate, to take an example from the other side of the aisle. What people tend to remember today is that both Republicans and Democrats were getting ready to impeach President Nixon, forcing him to resign. What is less well remembered is that only happened after the release of the tapes demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt the complicity of the White House in the cover-up. Without that evidence, the House might have been able to impeach Nixon, but the Senate would not have convicted, as the Republicans had enough Senators to prevent a two-thirds majority vote.

The average person simply doesn't follow politics as closely as weird junkies like me. Without a smoking gun that proves beyond all doubt that the documents are fake, this argument comes down to a question of kerning and proportional spacing and other such minutia that, while quite suggestive if you take the time to really look at it all, is far too detailed for the average person to bother with. So what the average news consumer is left with is two sides arguing over technical points, with neither side clearly right or wrong. (Yes, I do think that the documents are probably forgeries, but the way it's going to be reported is CBS stands by documents in the face of outside questioning.)

CBS may yet survive this. Unless one of the other major media outlets comes out and says the documents are forgeries, dreams of unseating Dan Rather and revealing the bias of the mainstream media will remain unfulfilled. I do believe that the blogosphere has done some impressive work in identifying these problems and running down the facts, we're still stuck waiting on the mainstream media to see if anything will really change.