Inside Dan Rather's Head...

[Jackpine Radical]

Didn't Dan some time ago comment deploringly on the failure of the media to actually do journalism anymore? Seems at that time he thought his colleagues were afraid of being cut off from access to the White House or something.

Ya gotta wonder if--after his recent experiences with other networks' outright collaboration with the White House, denial and lying about the credibility of CBS and its evidence--he is beginning to realize how naive he was to think that the simple truth would be an adequate defense against the depths of depravity and evil that have pervaded the "news" media in this country.

Or do you think he actually had some idea of what he was getting himself into?

I think the stakes here are tremendous. What the other networks are doing to the CBS story is really the furthest out into pure and vicious advocacy that anybody but Fox has yet gone. It seems that all the nets have decided they have to draw the line in the sand here. If all their lies blow up in their face on this one, and if Bush goes down, they may never recover any semblance of credibility.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. CBS is a cut above the rest. Dan knows what he is doing.

The evidence tells us that the papers are REAL.

[AnnInLa]

2. "vicious advocacy?"

Why do you term what CBS did as "vicious advocacy?"...A more accurate characterization would be "truly fair and truly balanced reporting." Maybe I misunderstood your point?

[Jackpine Radical]

6. D'oh. Talk about ambiguity--I meant that the attacks against the CBS

story were advocacy rather than journalism, and that they were of a vicious character, in that they are smearing witnesses' characters, etc. Thanks for giving me the chance to clarify that.

[AnnInLa]

10. Sorry! Sometimes, I "miscalculate".........eom

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Dan Rather is not the only CBS hero!

Walter Cronkite has been telling the truth all along!

[napi21]

4. Dan's been around for a long time, and he's a smart guy,

I wouldn't ever dream that he didn't realize what he was doing. I think he's letting all the crazies rant and rave for a while, and then release some additional data with proof.

[luaneryder]

5. Dan's been around the block a few times

He knows what he's doing. And when Bush goes down CBS will be the only credible TV news source left.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

7. Let's go back to 1963 and the JFK assassination....

...Rather claimed at the time to have actually seen the assassination, and strongly supported the "lone-nut" assassination theory even before Kennedy's body grew cold. It has only been discovered over the last five to ten years that NONE of the photographic evidence of that day in Dallas places Rather in the area in which he claims he was an eyewitness.

His next assignment for CBS was a long way from manning a desk for a CBS affiliate in Texas...he became the White House correspondent for the LBJ presidency within weeks of the assassination. A nice raise in salary as well as personal prestige, wouldn't you say?

Rather has consistently supported the theories presented by the Warren Commission in 1964. That includes supporting the outrageously ludicrous "single-bullet" theory dreamed up by Warren Commission attorney, Arlen Specter, another individual who profited from his support of the "official story".

In light of the above, I can only hope that Dan Rather has gotten journalistic "religion" and has decided to "damn the torpedoes" of NeoCon rightwing hatred.

I also hope that Rather has not been chosen by the NeoCons to deliver a less than flattering portrayal of George W. Bush in an attempt to conceal a personal background even worse than we currently think that it is.

[coalition_unwilling]

8. Rather actaully reported from the field in Vietnam

Since Vietnam essentially devolved into the slow realization that the government had chumped the American people and the press, I think Rather started seeing the parallels between Iraq and Vietnam. Once you start distrusting the government about one thing, it's hard to believe them on any other thing.

Rather stated that, after 9/11, journalists failed to ask "tough questions" because (paraphrasing) they were afraid of being "necklaced". Perhaps he took heart from the strength of the anti-war movement which now is a majority of Americans; meant no loss of viewership, meaning "ad dollars", if he started asking "tough questions."

[young_at_heart]

9. Ted Koppel showed solidarity with Dan

He said on Nightline that he would have run with the story if he'd had access to the documents. He said, "My old friend, Dan Rather, etc." Nice to see a fellow journalist with some integrity and good reporting not cowering behind the corporate giants!