The new conspiracy theory about Memogate

There's a US congressman that is trying to give an interesting spin to the whole CBS "Memogate" fiasco. According to this wild accusation, CBS News and CBS ego Dan Rather were given the forged memos about President Bush's Air National Guard service from none other than the Sith Master himself, Karl Rove.

You see, this was supposedly all part of an elaborate operation to discredit CBS News and get back at Dan Rather for the ax that regularly he grinds against the whole Bush family. Of course there is no PROOF that the memos came from Rove. In fact, nobody knows who created the memos that were given to the Texas finger-pointer who then gave to CBS News producer Mary Mapes. It could have come from Darth Rove. It could have come from Rush Limbaugh. It could have come from Hillary Clinton. It could have come from Dan Rather. Cripes, it could have come from ME! It could have come from anyone!

But all of this is pretty much irrelevant to begin with! Okay, so it may have been a trap. So what? That still does not excuse or detract from the fact that CBS News ran with the story, even when their own experts couldn't vouch for the validity of the memos. That still does not excuse or detract from the fact that Mary Mapes contacted the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign office and tipped them off about the story before it was aired. That still does not excuse or detract from the fact that Dan Rather continued to push for and defend the forged documents as though they were the genuine article.

If these people did their jobs as they were supposed to, the memos would have been dismissed, the story would have never run, and the "trap", if it really was one, would have never been sprung. That is it in a nutshell!

There are people who get caught up in police stings who have no idea that they're about to get arrested. Sure, they may have some hints about something being wrong, but they're so caught up in the moment that they just ignore those warning signs. That doesn't excuse from the fact that they got caught. The same holds true for CBS News and Dan Rather. They got caught and now they have to pay the price.

By the way, I'm told that the three CBS executives who were "asked" to resign have instead retained attorneys. They feel that they did nothing wrong and are being made scapegoats for Dan Rather. Well I hate to break it to you, but, yes, you are! That's what underlings are there for! And at least you were ASKED. Producer Mary Mapes was just canned outright. So go ahead, fight away. You'll probably get offered a more generous settlement package for your troubles, but you won't get your jobs back. THE EGO that is Dan Rather needs his scapegoat, and guess what? You're it!