Why is Dan Rathers leaving?

[AnIndependentTexan]

[troubleinwinter]

1. Maybe because he's 73. He'll stay on 60 Minutes, though.

[southernlad]

2. Possibly (the rumor mill here) because CBS would not...

stand by him on the Bush stories. They referred all the lashing back to him instead of standing up for their man.

[Deja Q]

27. Typical corporate america.

All about money.

[MrUnderhill]

3. Unfortunate timing. THough I guess we'll learn more in a few weeks.

I suppose it's possible the "report" will have something damaging in it... but it's more likely it was just his time. I had heard rumors all during the election that this was his last time around that corner.

[knowbody0]

4. i want to believe integrity

he could no longer spew the misinformation.i think i am an unreasonable optimistic freak

[greenmutha]

11. I'm with you, knowbody0. I think Dan is leaving because he can no longer

stand being muzzled about all that is going on. (I'm hopelessly optimistic too...)

[Eric J in MN]

5. Dan Rather was slandered by rightwing bloggers and tv news

competetors, for using documents for a story on Bush's National Guard service which had proportional spacing and superscript supposedly not around in the 1970s.

The White House has since released other National Guard documents from the same period with same characteristics, but no one has apologized for slandering Dan Rather.

[sweetladybug]

7. Wasn't Dan Rather one of the news men that anthax was sent to?

I hate to see him leave, but if Bush wants him gone, he is gone one way or another.

[Cleita]

23. Bush wants him gone, one way or another.

You can be sure of it. He will be the example held up to the rest of them, a venerable icon brought down crashing before the huns.

[Pepper32]

29. Yeah, CBS is just rolling over for Bush like the rest of the MSM. n/t

[BOSSHOG]

6. He is 73 years old?

He will have been doing the same thing for 24 years in March?

He will be able to concentrate his efforts on being the pain in the ass he is alleged to have been to conservatives who don't like the truth told about them?

[Nederland]

8. I'll Say It

Since no one else will.

Dan Rather is leaving because of the botched National Guard story.

Yes, he was scheduled to retire sometime soon, but if your question is why is he retiring now rather than waiting till his 25th year as anchor, the answer is the Guard story. There is simply no other good explanation.

[Mick Knox]

10. agreed

He fucked up.

[pretzel4gore]

12. sorta helped geebush out too

i think rawther's a devil.....

[Mick Knox]

21. Try not to be so hard on him

happens to the best of us.

[Cleita]

18. I see you you are still with the party line.

The Guard story about Bush will not go away. You can crucify all the Rathers you want, but the truth is still there. Bush didn't do his duty so therefore he is unfit to be commander-in-chief. Nothing will ever change that. Even Napoleon went into battle before he became emperor of France and he also went into battle with his troops after. All Bush can do is deliver plastic turkeys.

[Nederland]

24. Absolutely Right

CBS put together a really good story on Bush's guard duty. If they had simply done a betting job of vetting their sources and left out the memos they would still have had an excellent piece that would have been devastating to the President. As it ran though, the story became about typewriters and fonts. Its a shame really.

[pretzel4gore]

26. poor wee lil cbc news, trying so hard against big mean world!

when cbs is reporting truth, suddenly it's a voice crying in the wilderness? bull....cbs is one of the most powwerful news orgs on earth...they could reduce geebush and his entire family to international pariahs just like that.....same way they mocked clinton carter algore and kerry....and with geebush cbs has enough facts to put bush in prison for life...call me cynical but cbs news has never admitted it knowingly lied about the 'Gulf of Tonkin' incident, even after quietly fessing up that the incident was staged for war machine's benefit..cbs has never undoctored its archive after doctoring news reports that were incriminating to bush....and now they want bush to be look at critically? no way...cbs is a bushevik organization.

[helnwhls]

20. true BUT 2 scoops of wrong

you merit a dingdingding for getting the right answer, but it was such an obvious rove on one of the few true voices with any props that my heart hearts.

I know I am preaching to the choir, but thanks for typing it.

[medeak]

9. cbs news producer left yesterday for cnn

surely there is a connection there?

[Mandate My Ass]

13. He was "Gored"

Hopefully, like Al, he'll be freer to speak what's really on his mind.

[Cleita]

17. If Gore gets that cable channel he is going for, Rather may be on

board. Think about it.

[Biased Liberal Media]

14. Well I liked Dan Rather and I'm sad to see him go

I think that the problem is the aforementioned botched story and the whole thing over Bush's records and CBS not backing him up. I'd like to know the truth.

[Cleita]

19. Anybody who watched him over the years knew

he was a journalist through and through. CBS will hear from me.

[Straight Shooter]

15. I think he's disgusted with journalism in general

Dishing out slop and calling it real food, he can't take it anymore.

Honorable people tend to walk out on professions which put them in dishonorable binds.

And, yes, he was strung up by Rove.

[n2mark]

16. Rather

I really feel bad for Dan Rather, he always was a man of integrity until these assholes took over the WH then anyone honest in the media are out the door. I'm pushing my hair back, shaking my head and my hands are cupped in my face. All I can feel or say is JC what in the hell is going on?

I go to bed at 10:00 put on my radio, what do I hear? Right wing radio or christian radio, what is happening? I don't want to listen to that crap, the choices are RW talk, christian radio or the stupid infomercials. Do I need to shut off all audio and visual news and information? The other alternative is sports radio... not my interest.

I'm ranting probably where I should not, sorry.

[agincourt]

22. So that Michael Savage,

can get back on TV, at CBwhoreS news channel.

[Pegleg Thd]

25. We will just have to wait

until he writes his biography to find out the truth. Look for it next year.

[Shrek]

28. Seems to me he's not leaving

He's giving up the anchor's chair but he'll still be on 60 Minutes (at least that's my understanding). He can commit a lot more journalism on that show than he could reading the news from a teleprompter, IMO.

[spanone]

30. If you listen to the media, it's because he took on bush* & failed.

I truly think that Rove set him up and cut him down. For bushdaddy.