The incomparable Daily Howler (Bob Somerby) has been pointing out that our press corps has been doing a generally fumbling job in dealing with the charges of the Swift Boat Liars for Bush.
One of the threads to which he has called attention are the ridiculous claims of William Schachte, who has been implausibly charging that he was present on Kerry's boat and contradicted part of Kerry's story relating to one of his Purple Heart medals. (Scroll down to WHO IS WILLIAM SCHACTE.) Among other things, Schachte has changed his story since last year. Says Somerby:
Is Schachte lying? We have no way of knowing. But what did Schachte tell Kranish last year? If your press corps dared to do its job, they’d call up their colleague and ask him.
Dana Milbank has apparently been doing some work in that direction. And apparently things have happened that might have encouraged Schachte to reexamine his memories of John Kerry.
A Swift Shift in Stories by Dana Milbank Washington Post 08/31/04.
Kerry has said Schachte was not on the boat that night, adding another mystery to the disputed events of 36 years ago. But other events are not in dispute. According to a March 18 legal filing by Schachte's firm, Blank Rome, Schachte was one of the lobbyists working for FastShip on issues such as the effort to win funding for a new marine cargo terminal. On Feb. 2, Philadelphia-based FastShip announced that it would receive $40 million in federal funding for the project.
Golly, do you think Schachte's memory might have been affected by this success in winning tax dollars for his client?
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