Provocateurs
October 2nd 2009 16:09
Dan Rather, the former CBS News anchor and “correspondent,” had his law suit against CBS dismissed by the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division. The suit, for $70 million, claimed that CBS unfairly forced Rather to retire for attacking then President George W. Bush, who Rather accused on air of having received preferential military service during the Vietnam War.
Rather, a correspondent on “60 Minutes Wednesday,” reported on September 8, 2004 that new documents had surfaced proving that President Bush did not serve the required number of days in his Texas Air National Guard Unit during the Vietnam War, but was assisting his father during a political campaign. The documents were supposedly leaked by Bush’s former commanding officer, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian. However, the authenticity of the documents was questioned over several days when it was noticed by bloggers that the documents were not written on military typewriters, but on personal computers, which did not exist during the Vietnam War. This led to claims over the Internet that the documents were forged, and these claims were picked up by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Chicago Sun-Times. Rather defended the documents, and CBS initially defended Rather, claiming experts had verified their authenticity, but some of the experts later recanted their endorsements. CBS later retracted the story, but it was too late for Rather.
The strange part of all this for the rather openly liberal Rather is that he tried to do in President Bush the same way that Bush trashed John Kerry and John McCain: slandering their service record and personal lives. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Bush/Rove used two groups, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the 527 group, to attack John Kerry’s service record. Kerry was award three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Silver Star; the Bush/Rove campaign and their henchmen paraded Vietnam War veterans who claimed to have served with Kerry and who testified that Kerry hadn’t earned any of his medals. After, the damage was done to Kerry’s campaign, it was later proved that only one of his accusers actually served with him, and all of the accusations were false.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, McCain, fresh off a victory of George W. Bush in New Hampshire, found himself in a tight primary in South Carolina. Bush/Rove attacked on several fronts, accusing McCain of having abandoned the Vietnam POW’s and MIA’s because of McCain’s stand on normalizing relations with Vietnam (Bush conveniently forgot McCain’s Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Cross, and Navy Commendation Medal, none of which Bush had to show for his military service), and he attacked McCain for having fathered a black child, one of the most scandalous things you can accuse a white man of in racially polarized South Carolina. Of course, the accusations were untrue; the McCain’s had adopted a child from Bangladesh, but the damage was done and McCain lost the election. As both Kerry and McCain found out, and Bush/Rove knew, the public is very willing to accept a lie as fact.
Rather, or rather Rather’s ego often got the best of him; he didn’t just want to report the news, he wanted to be the news. Who can forget seeing him running around Afghanistan during the Muhajideen/Soviet Afghan war dressed as a Taliban reporting while he was hiding behind boulders? What about the poor camera man who had to follow him and film the report? Was he dressed as Taliban, and did he get any of the glory? What about the famous shot of Rather covering the hurricane, standing under a palm tree, pelted by the horizontal rain? How about the poor camera man who had to follow him and film the report? Was he wearing any rain gear, and did he get any of the glory? For all of his glory hounding, Walter Cronkite said of Rather when Rather left CBS: “It surprised quite a few people at CBS and elsewhere that, without being able to pull up the ratings beyond third in a three-man field, that they tolerated his being there for so long.”
Rather currently has a weekly one hour show, “Dan Rather Reports,” an investigative news report on HDNet, a cable station owned by Mark Cuban and Philip Garvin in Colorado that broadcasts in high definition 1080i. I don’t know if this small show on this small station is large enough for Rather’s rather large ego; maybe he should just retire to his native Texas with that other prevocateur, President the 43rd.
Rather, a correspondent on “60 Minutes Wednesday,” reported on September 8, 2004 that new documents had surfaced proving that President Bush did not serve the required number of days in his Texas Air National Guard Unit during the Vietnam War, but was assisting his father during a political campaign. The documents were supposedly leaked by Bush’s former commanding officer, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian. However, the authenticity of the documents was questioned over several days when it was noticed by bloggers that the documents were not written on military typewriters, but on personal computers, which did not exist during the Vietnam War. This led to claims over the Internet that the documents were forged, and these claims were picked up by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Chicago Sun-Times. Rather defended the documents, and CBS initially defended Rather, claiming experts had verified their authenticity, but some of the experts later recanted their endorsements. CBS later retracted the story, but it was too late for Rather.
The strange part of all this for the rather openly liberal Rather is that he tried to do in President Bush the same way that Bush trashed John Kerry and John McCain: slandering their service record and personal lives. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Bush/Rove used two groups, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the 527 group, to attack John Kerry’s service record. Kerry was award three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Silver Star; the Bush/Rove campaign and their henchmen paraded Vietnam War veterans who claimed to have served with Kerry and who testified that Kerry hadn’t earned any of his medals. After, the damage was done to Kerry’s campaign, it was later proved that only one of his accusers actually served with him, and all of the accusations were false.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, McCain, fresh off a victory of George W. Bush in New Hampshire, found himself in a tight primary in South Carolina. Bush/Rove attacked on several fronts, accusing McCain of having abandoned the Vietnam POW’s and MIA’s because of McCain’s stand on normalizing relations with Vietnam (Bush conveniently forgot McCain’s Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Cross, and Navy Commendation Medal, none of which Bush had to show for his military service), and he attacked McCain for having fathered a black child, one of the most scandalous things you can accuse a white man of in racially polarized South Carolina. Of course, the accusations were untrue; the McCain’s had adopted a child from Bangladesh, but the damage was done and McCain lost the election. As both Kerry and McCain found out, and Bush/Rove knew, the public is very willing to accept a lie as fact.
Rather, or rather Rather’s ego often got the best of him; he didn’t just want to report the news, he wanted to be the news. Who can forget seeing him running around Afghanistan during the Muhajideen/Soviet Afghan war dressed as a Taliban reporting while he was hiding behind boulders? What about the poor camera man who had to follow him and film the report? Was he dressed as Taliban, and did he get any of the glory? What about the famous shot of Rather covering the hurricane, standing under a palm tree, pelted by the horizontal rain? How about the poor camera man who had to follow him and film the report? Was he wearing any rain gear, and did he get any of the glory? For all of his glory hounding, Walter Cronkite said of Rather when Rather left CBS: “It surprised quite a few people at CBS and elsewhere that, without being able to pull up the ratings beyond third in a three-man field, that they tolerated his being there for so long.”
Rather currently has a weekly one hour show, “Dan Rather Reports,” an investigative news report on HDNet, a cable station owned by Mark Cuban and Philip Garvin in Colorado that broadcasts in high definition 1080i. I don’t know if this small show on this small station is large enough for Rather’s rather large ego; maybe he should just retire to his native Texas with that other prevocateur, President the 43rd.
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