There is an old saying that states that there is a limit to smart, but there is no limit to stupid. Apparently, Dan rather fits the latter category rather nicely. But I’m not so sure about it.
NEW YORK (AP) — Dan Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS and his former bosses Wednesday, claiming they made him a “scapegoat” for a discredited story about President Bush’s military service during the Vietnam War.
The 75-year-old Rather, whose final months were clouded by controversy over the story, said the actions of the defendants damaged his reputation and cost him significant financial loss.
Well, look, a scapegoat he may very well have been…. But let’s not be so quick to toss verdicts out, on CBS, just yet.
All that means that Rather wasn’t the only liar. Both CBS and Dan rather are trying to pass this off as a bungled investigation. Most people who are still breathing, regarded as an example of leftist tools gone amok in the mainstream media.
Perhaps you remember the strenuous denials that Rather engaged in;
DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: I know that this story is true. I believe that the witnesses and the documents are authentic. We wouldn’t have gone to air if they would not have been. There isn’t going to be — there’s no — what you’re saying apology?
QUESTION: Apology or any kind of retraction or…
RATHER: Not even discussed, nor should it be. I want to make clear to you, I want to make clear to you if I have not made clear to you, that this story is true, and that more important questions than how we got the story, which is where those who don’t like the story like to put the emphasis, the more important question is what are the answers to the questions raised in the story, which I just gave you earlier.
The bottom line here is CBS thought they had a serious hit against President Bush with the forged documents they submitted to the American people as genuine… and to this day CBS swears the documents were ‘falsified but accurate’, and thought thereby they could throw the election into the lap of the Democrats and John F’ing Kerry. They were driven to this point by a rabid foaming bias that all but the farthest gone can see clearly. That’s the truth.
But think about this… If Rather was that much of an idiot, that he did not understand the slant that both his staff and CBS has a network were putting on the news, and for what reasons they were doing it, he deserves what he got. If he doesn’t understand that the tongue baths he gave the Clinton administration every night for almost a decade, isn’t bias, and then he deserves what he got. But frankly, I don’t think he’s that stupid. He knew full well what was happening. On that basis we are now forced to question the integrity of the man. As I have been since the 70’s, frankly.
So, it bottom lines, here:
Both CBS and Dan Rather gambled on being able to throw the election against President Bush, and CBS managed to push the blame for it off on Dan Rather, when the story blew up in their faces. Rather’s pissed, and I suppose I can’t blame him for that part. CBS threw him under the bus for doing what they’d defined as his job. Such passes for honor among the dishonorable.
I have to wonder, also, if Rather and his lawyers aren’t smelling blood in the water, after the successful court action by Don Imus.
Still… If Rather is going to try and spread some of that blame around, more power to him. The timing of this, would seem to culminate just about the time of the election in November ’08. More stories under public discussion about how the media tried to steal the last election for the Democrats with fake documents, can only help.
Some others blogging this:
Captain’s Quarters, On Deadline, Little Green Footballs, michellemalkin.com, Stop The ACLU, NewsBusters.org, and Hot Air
(edited for flow-Bit)
Tags: Corruption, WHAT biased press?
