“FAKE BUT ACCURATE” — that seems to be the gist of this longer CBS statement, via Drudge.

UPDATE: Sullivan is giving them hell on Paula Zahn, and says bringing in the secretary is an admission of fraud. Howard Kurtz pretty much agrees: The underlying facts have been “totally overshadowed” by their handling of the story, and it’s a “huge black eye” for Rather and CBS.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Kurtz halfheartedly defends CBS against Andrew’s charges of political motivation, but says it’s hard to understand why they’d blow their credibility on a story with such obvious problems. He can’t understand why they didn’t spend another week on it. Andrew repeats that it was Bush-hatred that blinded them to the story’s weakness.