From Greg Pierce’s Inside Politics column at the Washington Times: Inside Politics - September 30, 2004.

CBS strikes again

“Apparently, the fraudulent memo scandal has taught CBS News absolutely nothing.” Charles Johnson wrote yesterday at littlegreenfootballs.com. He was referring to a “CBS Evening News” story on Tuesday that suggested that the Iraq war and other military actions might force the government to resume the military draft — a line being promoted by Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

Mr. Johnson quoted another Web site, RatherBiased.com:

“In a story that was a textbook example of slipshod reporting, CBS reporter Richard Schlesinger used debunked Internet hoax e-mails and an unlabeled interest group member to scare elderly ‘Evening’ viewers into believing that the U.S. government is poised to resume the draft.

”At the center of Schlesinger’s piece was a woman named Beverly Cocco, a Philadelphia woman who is ‘sick to my stomach’ that her two sons might be drafted. In his report, Schlesinger claimed that Cocco was a Republican and portrayed her as an apolitical (even Republican) mom worried about the future.

“Schlesinger did not disclose that Cocco is a chapter president of an advocacy group called People Against the Draft (PAD), which, in addition to opposing any federal proscription, seeks to establish a ‘peaceful, rational foreign policy’ by bringing all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Like Schlesinger’s Cocco, the group portrays itself as ‘nonpartisan’ although its leadership seems to be entirely bereft of any Republicans.

”The group’s domain is registered to a man named Jacob Levich, a left-wing activist who in a 2001 essay compared the Bush administration to the totalitarian government portrayed in George Orwell’s ‘1984.’“

Littlegreenfootballs’ Mr. Johnson added this postscript: ”CBS News also reported that there are two bills in Congress to reinstate the draft, but failed to mention that they were both introduced by Democrats.”