Truth

Vi“.

MAN 1'. What are they saying about Bush?

Does he deserve reelection?

And here are the numbers. Forty-five percent say yes...

49 percent say no.

Democrats, 84 percent say no.

Eighty-four percent of Republicans say yes.

Independents, 51 percent now say he does not deserve reelection.

"- That's a red flag. MAN 1". And what about for John Kerry?

Is that good news? MAN 2'. It should be.

Look at John Kerry's numbers, Tom. Positive-negative.

Positive 38 percent, negative 38 percent.

This thing is still a toss-up.

Mr. Hibey will see you now.

Thank you.

Ms. Mapes.

I'm Dick Hibey. What can I do for you?

Oh, I think you know.

- You knit? - You don't expect a woman like me...

- ...to knit? - No. But it's good. It's helpful.

Yeah. You mean it blunts my radical feminist agenda.

- Do you have a radical feminist agenda? - You meet a lot of radical leaders?

Do you have a substance abuse problem?

I'm working on developing one.

- I'm serious. - Oh, so am I.

You came to me. If you're not up for this...

I've been in news for 20 years. Won two Emmys, broke Abu Ghraib...

done jail time for not revealing sources. I have neither a feminist agenda...

nor a substance abuse problem. Though I'm gonna take a Xanax...

because this is really freaking me out.

Got any water?

- Thanks. - You have to be ready...

- ...for questions like that. - I'm up for this.

There's an interesting recurring theme...

- ...to the stories you cover. - Mm-hm.

- People abusing their power. - I don't like bullies.

Tell me about your work.

You wanna know if I'm responsible for what happened.

- Aren't you? - Look, I did my job. Believe me.

I don't have to believe you.

What matters is that they believe you. Now, tell me about your work.

I'm the producer. I find the story.

I put the team together. I write and cut the piece.

I work at 60 Minutes.

And what's that like?

Vi“.

Which one of you ordered the duck?

That would be Tom. - Napkin.

- Thank you. Thank you. - Fatso.

- They're gonna run it this time? - They're gonna run it.

- Because you said that last week. - They're gonna run it, Roger.

Hey, uh, you want me to paint it out like this?

Oh, Jesus, no, it makes his genitals look like they were attacked by mad cubists.

Um...

Maybe you could just kind of darken the area.

Okay. Ahem.

Like that?

Okay, now it just looks like there's a black hole there.

From which no light can escape.

They're really gonna run it?

Because Sy Hersh has this...

and he's gonna write a story about how we've sat on it.

Dana, can you tell Roger they're gonna run it, then hit him for me, will you?

I gotta go grab him.

- Can you finish it? Mm-hm.

He was the first journalist to report John F. Kennedy had been shot.

He described the Zapruder film in detail to a nation...

that was not allowed to see it.

Became White House correspondent at the age of 33...

chief London correspondent a year later...

and brought the Vietnam War into American living rooms for the first time.

He covered the Russians in Afghanistan, the hostages in Iran...

and in 1981, became anchor of the CBS Evening News.

He's now anchored more nightly news broadcasts...

than anyone else in U.S. history.

That's not bad for the son of a ditch-digger from Wharton, Texas.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my friend...

and the reason I have this job, Dan Rather.

Long enough to give us a great market share, I'll tell you.

- It's been a real pleasure. Real pleasure. - Hey, Andrew, I need him.

- Well, you're not taking him. - You say that, but here I am.

- You got him? - Mm-hm. In a hotel two blocks up.

- Let's go. - Dan, you can't leave your own party.

- I got 50 affiliates and their wives... - I know.

- ...waiting to talk with you. Goddamn it. - I know.

- You wanna finish this off? I've had three. - Mary.

I'll take that for you, Mr. Heyward.

You know?

General. This is Dan Rather.

Vi“.

- General. - Sir.

Thank you for doing this.

Let's start from the beginning.

Vi“

Americans did this to an Iraqi prisoner.

According to the Army, the man was told to stand on a box...

his head covered with wires attached to his hands.

He was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted.

It was this picture and dozens of others...

that prompted an investigation by the U.S. Army.

Yesterday, we asked General Mark Kimmitt...

deputy director of coalition operations in Iraq...

what went wrong.

Every day we love our soldiers, but frankly...

some days we're not always proud of our soldiers.

The military says six American soldiers...

have been charged so far...

and could be court-martialed. Others higher...

in the chain of command will likely be disciplined.

I remember when you used to say "courage" at the end of every broadcast.

- You remember that? I remember. Do you remember?

You must be very old.

- Why'd you stop? - They made fun of him, that's why.

- No. - No, they did.

- Seriously. Imagine? - Oh, yeah.

Go on, give us a "courage," Dan.

- No, come on. Mary. Come on, just one.

- For me. I don't think so.

For me, for me. Come on.

Just a little one.

Cour... Ha, ha.

- Come on, please. Come on.

- You really want it? I want it too, yeah.

Courage.

- Well, it worked at one time. It did. It did.

Hey. Here's to a great story.

Yeah, once they finally ran it.

Yeah. - F.E.A.

F.E.A.

We're sitting here with Mommy. Thank you for being here.

No. Thank you for having me.

Mommy, you were away for a long time again.

- Mm-hm. - What were you doing?

I was in New York working on the news.

And what does that entail?

I was asking questions. Questions help reporters get to the truth.

- Were you with the men with the cameras? - Mm-hm.

Interesting.

- Can I have a new camera, please? - We'll have to talk to your dad about that.

- I'm trying to get to the truth here, Mommy. - Mm-hm.

Answer the question.

I think this interview is over.

- Okay. - Nice try.

President Bush said today...

he was disgusted by pictures of Iraqi prisoners...

being abused by American soldiers.

Caused a bit of a ruckus, didn't you?

Who, me? You didn't let Robbie watch it, did you?

Yes, because I'm the worst parent of all time.

And the damage to U.S. interests...

in the rest of the world is hard to calculate, but...

- You wanna take a walk? - Here's Martha Raddatz.

No, I think I have to work.

Mary, thanks for coming in. Look, no big preamble.

We love you. We love what you've done. It's...

Let's talk about the new season. What are you thinking?

I might have something for the election.

There's this Houston businessman named Bill White...

who claims that he has documents that show the bin Laden family...

were investors in Arbusto.

Arbusto? Bush's oil company?

You know, could just be lots of sound and fury, but Vanity Fair is into it too.

You know, that whole time period for Bush is funky.

Funky how?

Well, I did some work on it back in 2000.

- You know Ben Barnes? - No.

Oh, he's an old Texas pol.

Barnes says when he was the speaker of the Texas House...

in '68 during Vietnam...

Sid Adger, this big oilman, comes into his office...

and asks for help getting George Bush...

into the National Guard as a pilot.

And Poppy Bush at this point is a congressman...

and Barnes figures he can use the connections.

So he says that he called General Rose, who runs the Texas Air National Guard...

and gets Bush his slot.

Barnes told you this?

Off the record. He's been dining out on the story for years.

I call Buck Staudt, Bush's squadron commander...

and he starts screaming at me, saying how Barnes is full of shit...

because everybody knows he's the one who got Bush into the Guard, not Barnes.

Anyway, while Bush is in the Guard, he meets this guy named James Bath.

And they become running buddies.

And after they get out, Bath, with no résumé to speak of...

becomes chief financial representative...

for the bin Laden family's interests in Texas.

Bush starts up Arbusto, Bath writes him a $50,000 check.

Which your guy, White, claims is bin Laden money?

Okay. Okay, run it down.

But if we go with this, we gotta go early. We can't October surprise them.

All right. If you're into this, I'd like to bring in some other people to help.

Who?

Colonel Roger Charles.

Vi“.

Worked Abu Ghraib for us. Naval Academy grad.

Two tours at Vietnam, then the Pentagon.

When he's networking for us, he's trying to get better armor for troops in Iraq.

Who else?

Well, since Dana's on maternity leave...

I'd like Lucy Scott to run point.