Interview · moment 2 of 14
Russ Baker's Origin Story: Iraq, Kerry, and Dan Rather
from Live From The NY Comedy Festival (with Russ Baker) · #80
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
4 minGuest
Russ explains how his interest in the Bush family began during the Iraq War and the 2004 Kerry-Bush campaign, including the collapse of the Swift Boat narrative flip and how CBS anchor Dan Rather was destroyed for pursuing Bush's National Guard story.
- 3:28Russ explains the cardinal rule of vocal performance: never eat cheese before speaking.
- 4:03Tim notes people immediately assume Family of Secrets is only about the Bush family and would rather hear about Trump instead.
- 4:47The Iraq War turned out to be fabricated—they made up reasons to go to war for oil and other interests.
- 5:19In 2004, John Kerry was a Vietnam war hero while Bush had skipped even the National Guard, making Kerry the obvious choice.
- 6:00Kerry got attacked over his Vietnam record while all allegations against Bush disappeared in a coordinated distraction.
- 6:21CBS under Dan Rather tried to investigate Bush's military record and got completely destroyed for it.
George W. BushIraq WarJohn KerryBush familyCBSFamily of SecretsDan RatherRuss