Bluemerle

Per Charles Johnson, CBS has now inserted text into it's transcript of the CBS interview that failed to identify a "concerned, Republican, mother" as chapter president of "People against the draft"["Parents against the Draft" by other sources - sw]. It has redacted the transcript, even though the broadcast did not include this attribution, per Charles, is "
absolutely not in Richard Schlesinger’s report as it aired last night"


Here's a June 17, 2004 letter by Beverly Cocco [bold added - sw]

Northeast Times

Just this week I received an e-mail so upsetting that I forwarded it to all my friends, who then forwarded it to all their friends. We are now a good size group.
The e-mail concerned Bill S89 and HR 163. The bill is about reinstating the draft, beginning in the spring of 2005. The draftees will be all males and females between the ages of 18 and 26. There will be no deferments; seniors will be allowed to finish the year, and underclassmen will only be allowed to finish the semester. There is already a document signed between the U.S. and Canada, the “Smart Border Declaration,” which will prevent crossing the border.
Since this is a federal bill, I was advised to contact Sen. Specter, Sen. Santorum and Congressman Joe Hoeffel. Sen. Specter’s office said that these bills are a “secret.”
When I told him that the cat was out of the bag, he offered to connect me with the Washington office. That office assured me that the senator was against this bill. I am still waiting for Sen. Santorum to respond, but Congressman Hoeffel is undecided. His office is sending me a letter detailing his thoughts.
We are now in the process of collecting as much information as possible about this bill and the candidates.
We keep getting told that there are no sponsors for this bill and not to worry about it. But why did South Carolina Sen. Ernest Hollings draft this bill, and why is it sitting in the Senate? We think that it is important to find out before the election.
Meanwhile, we are starting an organization called Parents Against the Draft (PAD).
For more information, call me at 215-632-4997.
Beverly Cocco
Walton Park

I smell a deliberate disinformation campaign. I could conceive of a credulous, silly-headed concerned mom type getting taken in by a hoax email and passing it on to as many people as possible. My own email in-box testifies to the obvious possibility.

However, the statement that Specter's office said either of these two much-trumpeted, democrat sponsored bills were "secret" directly to this woman has got to be false.
She either misunderstood what she was told, twisting it to match her fears, or she made it up. For example, a staffer unfamiliar with the legislation might have told her, "that's news to me, I guess they are keeping it a secret".

She would have to be a very credulous and foolish person to do so, without the power to discern when someone is speaking facetiously.

She wrote in later to the same paper, as late as Sep 9, after having had the matter cleared up with Spector himself.

Thank you,
Sen. Specter

I had the opportunity to speak to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter at his recent town meeting in Northeast Philadelphia. During the question-and-answer section, I identified myself along with my friend, Cookie Catinella, as officers of Parents Against the Draft.
I asked the senator about the prospect of a draft in the future. He was adamant that there will be no draft and eloquently explained to everyone why it was important that we finish up in Iraq, what our future plans are, and why there will be no draft or any need for one.
We found Sen. Specter very knowledgeable and want to thank him for addressing and explaining this very complicated and troubling issue.
Beverly Cocco
Walton Park

So how long has this CBS story been in the can? Is Cocco still worried about a "secret" draft plan? Is she nuts?