Former President George W. Bush came to Atlanta on Tuesday night to address a dinner at Atlanta’s Georgia Tech Conference Center benefitting The Miracle League, which provides an opportunity for disabled children to play baseball. He also plugged his just-released book about his father (and former president) George H.W. Bush. Attendees, which included Gov. Nathan Deal and possible presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson, received copies of “41: A Portrait of My Father.”
The program was a Veteran’s Day theme and attendees heard Bush, without any direct reference to his presidential successor, label Islamic terrorism as “evil” and warn that it will grow unchecked if “the leader of the free world doesn’t fight and defeat it.”
The format was an interview of the 43rd president by Lauren Gunder, the official Miracle League spokesperson. This amazing girl was diagnosed at five months old with Malignant Infantile Osteopetrosis and given zero chance of surviving past age two. She is now 24 years old. The legally blind Lauren fought her disease and is currently a paraprofessional teaching at Parkview High School— and she asked amazingly penetrating questions on everything ranging from Bush’s passions to his presidency. One probing question was: “Who was your favorite interviewer in the media?” The answer is a reminder of how biased journalists tried to smear the then-presidential candidate in 2000— and reminds this writer of a fascinating and under-reported Georgia connection.
Bush didn’t know who the best interviewer was but immediately said “the worst’ was CBS anchor Dan Rather. Although he didn’t go into the details, it was an alert Georgia blogger nicknamed “Buckhead” who helped Bush strike a blow at the smug Rather and his unobjective “60 Minutes II” producer by quickly analyzing and questioning the proportionally spaced fonts used in Bush’s supposed National Guard records that CBS had unearthed.
“Buckhead”— a brilliant Atlanta attorney named Harry MacDougald— often spent many a wee hour surfing the Internet and blogging. At the time of the document flap, he immediately challenged CBS in a posting on the FreeRepublic.com website. “I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old,” he wrote barely four hours after Rather’s Sept. 8 show unveiled its “scoop.” Within minutes, experts were using their Internet superhighway to further analyze the typefaces– not known to have been used in 1972 typewriters– to reinforce McDougald’s suspicions and to prod other news outlets into investigating.
A few days later, establishment media experts were finally weighing in against a defiant Rather, who apologized 10 days later and was later forced to resign. MacDougald later reflected: “As for my part, this tsunami would, without any doubt, have happened without me, so it ain’t no big thang. I will have a cold one tonight, though.”
Yet it really was a “big thang.” And it was obviously weighing on Bush’s mind as he answered the young girl’s question. So hoist a cold one to “Buckhead!” As the former president’s shot at Rather underscored, a competitive marketplace of information, opinion, analysis and questioning can only serve the truth and help inform Americans.
