Dan Rather is hiding behind the findings of the Thornburgh report, ignoring the meat of the report.
NEW YORK (AP) - During a valedictory appearance with David Letterman, Dan Rather pointedly ducked a question about whether CBS News President Andrew Heyward should have quit after last fall's discredited story about President Bush's military service.The only problem for Rather is that the document expert that the Thornburgh/Boccardi panel had examine the documents concluded that they were forgeries. The panel ignored the content of their report in preparing their findings.About half of Rather's "Late Show" guest shot Thursday was spent talking about the story and the independent investigation into how it got on the air despite the use of documents CBS ultimately couldn't vouch for.
Rather said the people who lost their jobs are "never very far from my mind."
He paused when Letterman asked him whether the CBS News president should have "taken a bullet" and stepped down.
"He's on vacation right now," Rather said, "but when he gets back you can ask him."
Rather said that to his mind, two of the panel's most important conclusions were that it could not demonstrate that political bias played a part in the stories or conclusively account for the origins of the documents in question.
CBS's Sept. 8 story began falling apart when experts questioned the legitimacy of documents supposedly written by Bush's National Guard commander that suggested the future president had received preferential treatment.
"Although they had four months and millions of dollars, they could not demonstrate that the documents were not authentic, that they were forgeries," Rather said.
The full report is available in a web version here at Wizbang.
RatherBiased has a full transcript of the Letterman appearance. They will have the video available this afternoon.
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Comments (7)
Regardless, Rather has it b... (Below threshold)1. Posted by julie | March 4, 2005 11:25 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Regardless, Rather has it back-assward. It was his job to prove they were authentic, not the investigatory panel's job to prove they were forgeries. What a jerk.
1. Posted by julie | March 4, 2005 11:25 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 4, 2005 11:25
2. Posted by Big Bang Hunter | March 4, 2005 11:36 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
- After this latest appearence whatever happens to him happens to him. He has continued to lie through his teeth at every opportunity, just as he did last night. What you see is a so-called "professional journalist" glibly asserting that "they couldn't prove we lied so what we did was proper". From this position its apparently the policy of CBS that you can make up anything you want and use it in anyway you want, putting it out over the air as "news", and as long as no one can prove you are lying thats the exceptable test for their journalistic honesty....
- Rather couldn't help himself and his obvious left wing dislike for Bush, and so last night he crossed yet another dangerous line in yellow journalism when he said as an aside..."[while] we couldn't prove the memo's were authentic we had "other things" that told us the story was true"....
- At this point if I were the Bush Whitehouse I would inform CBS that as an orginization until they made a public condemnation of Rather, his actions and words, and the entire sordid affair, they would no longer be welcome on Capital hill. But Bush is taking the high road and letting Rather and CBS continue their path of self destruction, and just possibly thats the worst cut of all, as they stubbornly insist on falling on their collective swords.....
- I have not the slightest doubt that CBS management continues to stonewall because of the hammer of potential litigation that the half dozen or so of "players" are holding over their heads....
2. Posted by Big Bang Hunter | March 4, 2005 11:36 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 4, 2005 11:36
3. Posted by Just Me | March 4, 2005 12:10 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
A good bit of that investigation was still a cover-up, I guess so Rather can go around citing it as proof that he and the company he worked for didn't do anything wrong.
3. Posted by Just Me | March 4, 2005 12:10 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 4, 2005 12:10
4. Posted by Robb | March 4, 2005 12:52 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Heard about this book on the radio this morning:
"Rather Dumb - A Top Tabloid Reporter Tells CBS How To Do News" by Mike walker.
Funny, Dan Rather and CBS receiving scathing criticism and instruction on journalist procedure and integrity from the gossip editor of the National Enquirer. How the mighty have fallen.
4. Posted by Robb | March 4, 2005 12:52 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 4, 2005 12:52
5. Posted by Robb | March 4, 2005 1:10 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Forgot the link to the website for the book ^^
http://www.ratherdumb.com/
5. Posted by Robb | March 4, 2005 1:10 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 4, 2005 13:10
6. Posted by Red | March 4, 2005 2:32 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Dan, please leave, please leave quietly. To borrow a line from 'Gladiator,' "a people should know when they are conquered".
Oh how this must chap him that he is going out like this while Brokow gets a King's send off. Could not have happened to a better guy.
6. Posted by Red | March 4, 2005 2:32 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 4, 2005 14:32
7. Posted by yup | March 16, 2005 9:53 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Haven't liked Rather since he helped Bush 41 get elected by making him look like a tough guy (remember "George Bush is too wimpy to be President"?
Anyway, I won't support him here, but the dirty l'il secret is he used the wrong documents to show GW had strings pulled so he could protect Houston from the VietCong.
The story is true. It was reported back in '99, although not in the U.S. (London's Guardian).
Rather is sloppy, the rest of America's media is lazy and cowardly.
7. Posted by yup | March 16, 2005 9:53 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2005 21:53