Daily Howler finds the Washington Post burying pro-Kerry evidence [View All]

[Karmadillo]

http://www.dailyhowler.com/

THE PRESS CORPS STILL LOVES THOSE ACCUSERS (PART 1): Was John Kerry under enemy fire when he pulled Jim Rassmann out of the drink? John O’Neill keeps saying he wasn’t—that Kerry and Rassmann (and Kerry’s crewmates) are lying about this affair. It’s one of a string of nasty charges O’Neill and his Swift Vets have aimed at the hopeful. You’d think that big news orgs would want to help voters know if the charges are accurate.

But if you thought that, you may have been wrong. On Sunday morning, for example, the Washington Post revealed important new evidence about this matter—evidence supporting Kerry’s account. But how did the Post present this new info? Incredibly, they buried the new info way near the end of a lengthy, detailed report. Indeed, if readers wanted to learn these new facts, they had to read almost to the end of a 4100-word story!

The lengthy report was penned by Michael Dobbs. Was Kerry under fire when he saved Rassmann’s life? Here’s the first piece of new information—information which supports Kerry’s account and suggests that O’Neill is all wet:

DOBBS (8/22/04): Until now, eyewitness evidence supporting Kerry's version had come only from his own crewmen. But yesterday, The Post independently contacted a participant who has not spoken out so far in favor of either camp who remembers coming under enemy fire. “There was a lot of firing going on, and it came from both sides of the river,” said Wayne D. Langhofer, who manned a machine gun aboard PCF-43, the boat that was directly behind Kerry’s.

Langhofer said he distinctly remembered the “clack, clack, clack” of enemy AK-47s, as well as muzzle flashes from the riverbanks. Langhofer, who now works at a Kansas gunpowder plant, said he was approached several months ago by leaders of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth but declined their requests to speak out against Kerry.

Omigod! The Post had a scoop! Another vet—someone not on Kerry’s boat—had stepped forward to support his account! But where did the Post print this new information? Incredibly, the passage above comprised paragraphs 49 and 50 of Dobbs’ report!...

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