A CBS News report that suggested President Bush did not fulfill his military commitment 30 years ago fell under a growing cloud of skepticism Friday. But Democrats insisted that they had plenty of evidence to continue their campaign to show that Bush got breaks that other young men did not during the Vietnam War.
The controversy over the television report prompted CBS Evening News' Dan Rather to issue an unusually long and detailed response Friday evening. The veteran anchor said that the network stood by its original report: that Bush got favored treatment to win a coveted spot in the Texas Air National Guard and then failed to meet performance standards once he was admitted.
Rather said in an interview that CBS worked exhaustively on the story, beginning before the 2000 presidential election.
"We worked hard, we worked long, we dug hard and did our best to be accurate, to authenticate what we could," Rather said. "This story is true, the questions we raised about then-Lt. Bush's National Guard service are serious and legitimate questions."
Although many others helped report and corroborate the story, Rather said, "I'm of the school, my name is on it, I'm responsible."
But it appeared the network could do little to quell a controversy that was first ignited by its Wednesday-night program "60 Minutes II."
The debate was fueled by conservative Internet sites and radio talk-show programs. And several experts questioned the authenticity of critical memos purportedly written by the man who commanded Bush's squadron in 1972 and 1973.
A retired Guard major general -- who Rather said in an interview would corroborate the CBS account -- instead told The Times that he believed the memos from the late Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian were not real.
But a CBS news executive insisted that Maj. Gen. Bobby W. Hodges, who was Killian's immediate supervisor, had changed his story.
Democrats said the furor over the documents and the news program merely distracted from the larger issue.
They noted that the White House and Pentagon had not produced documents proving that Bush reported for duty when he was transferred in mid-1972 to an Air National Guard unit in Alabama.
And they reiterated allegations that Bush hopped over hundreds of other applicants on a waiting list for the guard slot, which virtually assured he would not be sent to combat in Vietnam.
