Mapes illustrates just how serious the problem is

Scott at Powerline offers his take on the Mapes strike back book.

It is a deeply dishonest book that takes advantage of the ignorance, gullibility, and derangement of its target audience. It depends on its readers complete ignorance of the record in general, and of the Thornburgh-Boccardi report on the 60 Minute broadcast segment in particular.

If eye witnesses don’t tell you the story you want to hear, you call them a “foulmouthted Bush loyalist” – or worse. Mapes knows, just knows without any doubt that her side of the story is absolutely correct. The problem is that the facts and eyewitness testimony have to be bent to fit. There are also doubts in the integrity of the base assumptions Mapes makes.

One of these is the “child of privilege” used much like the current class warfare arguments in the tax debate. But studies have shown that Vietnam didn’t have special impact on those less privileged. The national guard did serve on the front. There is always a need for the special skills, like fighter pilots, where few qualify. The ‘child of privilege’ mantra is shown to be hollow and corrupt.

That was then. What is now is the current delusion.

“but something bothered me about their comments.” She was apparently so bothered by the comments that she found no place for them in her script for the September 8 story.

What is it that drives a person, especially one schooled and practiced in journalism, to throw overboard intellectual integrity like this? What is it about people that puts strongly held belief above blatant reality?