My piece on the report, its conclusions, Mapes, Rather, and the blogosphere is up now.

Lucy Ramirez isn’t the only thing missing from the CBS Report. Thomas Joscelyn emails:

I searched the report and could not find any mention of the DNC advertising campaign that began (I think) within one day of the CBS news story. It seems unlikely that the “Fortunate Son” campaign could have been conceived so quickly by the DNC. There is no mention of the campaign or how it was that the DNC had a slick advertising campaign all ready to go right after the CBS story.

Like I said, I can’t even find any mention of the campaign in the report.

I just thought that was interesting.

Yes, it is. Surely that could have gone in the political agenda section at the report’s end, no?

Does anyone remember Joseph Forte, the former Tar Heel who some called the greatest freshman to play at UNC since Michael Jordan? He left his sophomore year and became a first-round draft pick by the Celtics. So where is he now? Playing for the Asheville Altitude in the National Basketball Developmental League. In yet another cautionary tale for NBA aspirants, the Washington Post‘s Eli Saslow follows the former DeMatha/McDonald’s All-American from his rise under coach Bill Guthridge to his downward spiral at Boston and Seattle, picking up an arrest record along the way–all because he “just couldn’t handle it.”

In truth, the drugs and weapons possession charges are incidental to the story. What made Forte a liability was a rotten attitude. How rotten? This anecdote by Saslow should suffice:

Before a game against the Michael Jordan-led Washington Wizards on March 26, 2003, Forte walked into Seattle’s locker room wearing a Jordan jersey. When a teammate asked him why he was wearing an opponent’s jersey, Forte responded, “Man, I love the Wizards.”

Forte did not play and the Sonics lost the game, 80-74. Afterward, in a shower filled with downtrodden teammates, Forte sang gleefully until 7-foot-1 center Jerome James attacked him.

Maybe it’s just me, but getting attacked by a 7-foot-1 center in a shower would make me stop singing pretty quickly.

The new searchable PDFs (they’re new to me!) are a God-send and make the “index” a relic of the past. Browsing through the report, I’m shocked to find almost no reporting on whether or not the mysterious “Lucy Ramirez” exists.

You’ll remember that Burkett claims he was contacted by a Lucy Ramirez, who arranged to give the documents to him. One would have hoped that the Thornburgh-Boccardi panel would have investigated the existence and/or whereabout of this woman.

Didn’t happen. So far as I can tell, “Lucy Ramirez” is references just seven times (on three pages). Is she real? A figment of Burkett’s imagination? Here’s what the report says: “First, [CBS News, after the story aired] sent personnel into the field to attempt to find Ramirez and thus possibly to confirm the new account. This effort proved unsuccessful.”

That’s it. Exit Lucy Ramirez, stage left. If the panel did any investigation of their own on Ramirez, I can’t find it. She’s a major component of the story, and if she doesn’t exist it’s important information, no?

The New Donkey has a very thoughtful post on Clinton, triangulation, and the Democratic party. This passage is particularly striking:

“In this context, ‘Clintonism’ can at worst be described as a less-than-successful, last-minute holding action against a Republican Majority, but not as its cause.”

Worth reading.

Some preliminary thoughts on the report’s section on political agenda are up now.

I haven’t read the CBS report in any detail whatsoever, but at least they deserve credit for releasing it on a Monday morning and not, as many suscpected, on a late Friday afternoon. Good for them.

If you like interview subjects who aren’t afraid to get a little dangerous, check out this bridge-torching interview with ’80s prop-comic celebrity Gallagher. He defends his art and drops the shizzle on comedians he hates. For instance, asked about how good Letterman was during his stand-up days:

It was terrible. You see how it is every night. He does three jokes. But Dave once told me that he didn’t need an act. He told me that he was going to be a talk-show host. What I never got was that he was never funny enough to be a guest, so how does he become the host? But that’s America for you. America wants the mediocre. It doesn’t want the heroic or the moral.

On Tom Hanks:

Yes, it’s frustrating. [Hanks] didn’t go on the road [as a stand-up] and work anywhere. I went off on the road and worked. He and Michael Keaton would meet someone in the movie business and, bang, they’re millionaires and living in Beverly Hills. You have [my] skill and ability and you’re renting a condo.

This is Wil Wheaton territory. Just the way to start a Monday morning.