pre-FReep details: Dan Rather, Beverly Hills Hotel, MONDAY (11/10) 6 pm

As posted previously, I have confirmed with the Beverly Hills police department that we can assemble on the public sidewalk - right in front of the MAIN ENTRANCE to the hotel:

We will be gathering on the public sidewalk on the WEST side of Crescent Drive, north of Sunset Boulevard.

Ratherbiaseddotcom...what a Grate site!

"That was the night Dan Rather stormed off the set of the CBS Evening News when a tennis match threatened to cut into his broadcast.
After the final game ended sooner than expected, Rather's tantrum left more than 100 stations scrambling to fill an unprecedented six minutes of dead airtime.
By the time Rather was retrieved from a nearby office, more than half of the show's average audience had tuned out. (Why was the other half still watching?). [...]
"In the week that followed, Rather was singed by a firestorm of criticism. Anchor emeritus Walter Cronkite told a reporter, 'I would have fired him. There's no excuse for it.'

Johnny Carson quipped that the six-minute hole 'turned out to be CBS' highest rating of the year. They just signed the black screen for 13 weeks.'"

I miss Johnny Carson...

Sock it to 'em, guys, wish I could be there!

Thanks for the bumper sticker, I printed one up for my pickup Truck. LOL... Anyone who truly enjoys making ol' Dan's life interesting will appreciate the memory I have of my first DC Freep. I flew from Colorado for a TREASON rally in Lafayette park. The first day, we were standing at the gate watching the news guys inside doing their little blurbs, one after another. Rather was there, and one of the guys in the Freep group kept shouting "Drop the Candy, Pull up your pants and step away from the child". Rather started and stopped and REstarted his filming about four times, then glared hard at the Freepers and walked away. Made my DAY!!Highlight of the whole trip! LOL

See also out "after action" thread:

DOWN AND OUT (AND FREEPED) IN BEVERLY HILLS
[LA Chapter FReeps Dan Rather!]
Cinnamon Girl
Posted on 11/10/2003 8:26 PM PST by Cinnamon Girl
What have you got when a bunch of right wing extremists are standing on a corner in North Beverly Hills, in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel, wearing crazy costumes and holding signs while a nearly endless stream of RICH, OLD, WHITE GUYS IN SUV's and luxury sedans pull up the driveway? Why it must be a GOP FUNDRAISER, RIGHT?!?!!?? After all, if it was a gathering of progressive, environmentally concerned, liberal people of conscience celebrating the achievements of DAN RATHER, they'd all be driving hybrid vehicles or riding their ten speed bikes up the driveway, RIGHT?

Welcome to the land of celebrity activists, and DNC activists-- otherwise known as journalists. Tonight was the big night for Dan Rather, who is being honored for his "steadfast commitment to fair and accurate news reporting" by the Museum of Television and Radio. How apropos that Dan's big night is taking place on SUNSET BOULEVARD.

Freepers RonDog, DoughtyOne, diotima, DavidDennis, absalom1, DoctorZin and Outraged were there with some fabulous signs: "CBiaS", "Losing Share? Try the Truth," and RonDog was dressed as Sadam being pitched "softballs." I was dressed as Blind Justice holding a scale with one side reading "left" and the other reading "far left." Hopefully, DavidDennis will be putting up the pictures soon, and he also took video.

We were standing right at the foot of the driveway, on the intersection of Beverly, Crescent and Sunset so we got a lot of traffic, and the attendees not only drove by us, but sometimes the cars on the driveway got backed up and they were forced to be at a standstill next to our signs. One lady started waving her hand at us as if to say, "oh stop it, just go away..."
CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

See also the NEW thread:

Dan Rather Has Learned to Resist
[TV Week's Alex Ben Block discusses Free Republic, Dennis Prager]
www.tvweek.com ^ | November 17, 2003 | Alex Ben Block
Posted on 11/16/2003 11:57 PM PST by RonDog

Dan Rather Has Learned to Resist
In the past 21/2 years my path has twice crossed that of Dan Rather, the CBS anchor who has long represented the best of professional journalism for me. Both times he was in Southern California to accept well-deserved awards. Both times a handful of pickets were nearby claiming Mr. Rather's reporting was biased.

The first time, June 9, 2001, Mr. Rather received a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles Press Club, of which I was then executive director as well as producer of the dinner, and where the honor was graciously presented by CBS's Leslie Moonves.

I never met the picketers that night. They were cordoned half a mile away by security. I did get to share a laugh with Mr. Rather, who said being picketed was a first for him.

It happened the second time last week at the Museum of Television & Radio's annual gala in Beverly Hills, Calif. A handful of people, some in costumes, waved placards at the hotel entrance.

I asked Mr. Rather about it. "Part of being a journalist," he said, "and trying to be a journalist who pulls no punches and plays no favorites, who tries to be accurate and fair and who knows you are going to make your mistakes, is sometimes you have to face the furnace and take the heat."

Mr. Rather, who turned 72 on Halloween, has taken the heat throughout his world-class career. "CBS Evening News" may be in third place but his standards remain first rank. That he is among the best but not the most-watched reminded me of his remarks before the Press Club: "We take some slight encouragement from the evidence, faint as it may be, that there may be some good fight to be fought against the growing proliferation of soft news, news you can use, celebrity news … and all the other market-tested filler that is increasingly crowding out a shrinking news hole."

Inspired to do my job as a reporter, I walked down the winding driveway at the Pink Palace (a k a The Beverly Hills Hotel). The protesters couldn't have been friendlier. They were hungry for publicity. A tall lady swathed in white and holding a makeshift scale of justice, with a tiny girl cowering behind her skirt, told me her name was Cinnamon Girl.

I learned there were 10 of them and they were connected by a conservative Internet news site called Free Republic...
CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.