DOWN AND OUT (AND FREEPED) IN BEVERLY HILLS [LA Chapter FReeps Dan Rather!]

Cinnamon Girl

[RonDog]

Celebrating After the Event

Celebrating After the Event
L to R: RonDog (in "CBS NEWS" hat), absalom01; DoughtyOne; diotima (hidden); Bob J; Doctor ZIn
(TAKING the picture is our extraordinary LA Chapter videographer, the amazing daviddennis)

ANOTHER extremely important tradition that we learned from the DC Chapter is post-FReep "food and fellowship..."

...where we review what we did RIGHT, and what we could have done BETTER.

Plus, it is always a lot of FUN to celebrate a successful FReep, and start planning for the NEXT one. :o)

[chicagolady]

Thanks for the report and pixs! Great Freep.
The Rather Biased needs to be made into a BUMPER STICKER!! AND I WANT ONE!

[RonDog]

Thanks for the report and pixs! Great Freep.
The Rather Biased needs to be made into a BUMPER STICKER!!
AND I WANT ONE!

Thanks!

The .pdf file for THIS bumper sticker, courtesy of RatherBiased.com:

...is available HERE:

http://ratherbiased.com/images/red.pdf

[RonDog]

From Yahoo! NEWS, at least the Associated Press has dumped the annoying "being honored for his commitment to fair and accurate reporting" (from Reuters) in THEIR captions:

Tue Nov 11, 6:52 AM ET
The Museum of Television & Radio honors CBS New's Dan Rather
at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.,
Monday, Nov. 10, 2003.
(AP Photo/Filmmagic.com, Chris Polk)

[bert]

Great Freep!!

[RonDog]

I case it appears that we were picking on this "poor old man," see also THIS wonderful commentary from Dennis Prager, at www.townhall.com, which originally inspired my "Softballs for Saddam" parody:

Dennis Prager (archive)
(printer-friendly version)

March 4, 2003

Dan and Saddam

CBS News constantly referred to Dan Rather's interview with one of the world's cruelest tyrants as a "coup."

A coup? For whom? Was it a coup for the American viewing public? Of course not. Other than the lengths to which Dan Rather went to be obsequious to a tyrant, Americans learned nothing from his interview with Saddam Hussein. Was it a coup for the news profession? Again, no. No news was learned, nor was any likely to be.

No, it was a coup solely for CBS News and Saddam Hussein. That the world of television news (not only CBS) regards it as a major achievement shows the depths to which television news has sunk. Obviously, the industry sees ratings as its reason for being.

The moment it was announced that Dan Rather had secured an audience with Saddam, I suspected (and said so on my radio show) that the only beneficiaries would be Saddam and CBS. The only way it could have been newsworthy is if Rather had asked hard questions.

For example, Rather might have asked the world's most powerful sadist:

• You claim to have received 100 percent of the vote in your last "election." Do you think the world believes that in a nation of 24 million people, there aren't 24 people who want another president in Iraq?
  
  
• Eight years ago, your two sons-in-law, Hussein Kamil, the former minister of defense, and his brother, defected to Jordan. We are quite certain that they were told that their entire extended families would be murdered if they did not return to Iraq. And when they did return, they were killed and their bodies dragged through the streets of Baghdad. How do your daughters feel about what you did to their husbands?
  
  
• Was it you or another Iraqi official who came up with the idea of having the children of suspected dissidents tortured in front of the parents?

• Have you seen any photos of the thousands of Iraqi Kurdish families you ordered gassed?

• Do you regret having invaded Iran and causing the deaths of about one million Iraqis and Iranians?

• How many more hundred-million-dollar palaces do you plan to build for yourself while Iraqi children die of malnutrition?

• Where are the billions of dollars Iraq has been allowed to earn for humanitarian needs?

Now, of course, few, if any, reporters would have asked Saddam Hussein these questions. (Television reporters tend to restrict tough questioning to democratically elected leaders they don't like.) But if one is not going to ask a dictator anything approaching the truth about his actions, why bother interviewing him? Isn't the whole thing morally compromised and journalistically meaningless?

CLICK HERE for the rest of that article

[RonDog]

See also, from former Dan Rather co-worker (!) and Reagan speechwriter, Peggy Noonan, at: www.opinionjournal.com:

PEGGY NOONAN

Give Him a Peabody
Dan Rather at a Democratic fund-raiser is not a scandal but a public service.

Friday, April 6, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT

Dan Rather is 69 years old, the anchor of "CBS Evening News" for the past 20 years, probably one of the most famous men in America and a political liberal. He is in trouble this week after a front-page story in the Washington Post reported that he recently appeared at a Democratic Party fund-raiser in Texas. This is considered scandalous because . . .

Wait. Why is it scandalous? Because America didn't know he's liberal? But we know that; we've almost always known it. Because America never guessed that he was a Democrat? We knew that too. When he reports the news, he practically wears a straw hat and sings "Happy Days Are Here Again."

Why is it scandalous that he went to a Democratic Party fund-raiser? For only one reason. Because it formally and officially gives away the game. The game is pretending that he and most of the rest of the American broadcast-journalism establishment do not have strikingly uniform political views.

But it's about time that game was given away. Dan Rather at a Democratic fund-raiser is not a scandal but a public service. I say give that man a Peabody....

-- snip --

Charging the news media with liberal bias is like charging the rain with being wet. It is of their essence, it is what they are. And pretending this is not so is a dull and stupid game. It's also over. It is a fiction that has been overtaken by events.

The "CBS Evening News" was once a behemoth, the premier news show in a three-network world. Now Mr. Rather's show competes with more and newer networks, with cable news, with hundreds of channels. The hegemony of the old elite networks has ended, as we all know.

In the new, more competitive era, with scores of stations competing for viewers, with everyone looking not for a broad base but a solid niche, it's foolish to force highly opinionated reporters to act as if they don't have opinions. After all, it's not as if they are fooling the audience. It would be more practical, and probably better and less infuriating for everyone, if all the TV news shows and networks would admit the truth, declare one's bias.

The British newspapers do that. The Guardian is the authentic voice of bland Blairism, the Telegraph the grunter of conservative critiques. It doesn't make them less honest; it makes them more candid, less able to or willing to fool. This is refreshing. In a niche universe why not declare that your news show is informed by liberal values or conservative ones?

Why continue the charade?

It's not as if anyone believes it..." - Peggy Noonan

[Happy2BMe]

That CBiaS sign (with the RAT logo in the CBiaS eye) is the BOMB!

Excellent - Champion FREEPING kudos to all!!!

[Valin]

You're all bad evil wicked people. :-)

[Happy2BMe]

A million FReeper thanks for posting this . .

For example, Rather might have asked the world's most powerful sadist:

• You claim to have received 100 percent of the vote in your last "election." Do you think the world believes that in a nation of 24 million people, there aren't 24 people who want another president in Iraq?
  
  
• Eight years ago, your two sons-in-law, Hussein Kamil, the former minister of defense, and his brother, defected to Jordan. We are quite certain that they were told that their entire extended families would be murdered if they did not return to Iraq. And when they did return, they were killed and their bodies dragged through the streets of Baghdad. How do your daughters feel about what you did to their husbands?
  
  
• Was it you or another Iraqi official who came up with the idea of having the children of suspected dissidents tortured in front of the parents?

• Have you seen any photos of the thousands of Iraqi Kurdish families you ordered gassed?

• Do you regret having invaded Iran and causing the deaths of about one million Iraqis and Iranians?

• How many more hundred-million-dollar palaces do you plan to build for yourself while Iraqi children die of malnutrition?

• Where are the billions of dollars Iraq has been allowed to earn for humanitarian needs?

Now, of course, few, if any, reporters would have asked Saddam Hussein these questions. (Television reporters tend to restrict tough questioning to democratically elected leaders they don't like.) But if one is not going to ask a dictator anything approaching the truth about his actions, why bother interviewing him? Isn't the whole thing morally compromised and journalistically meaningless?

[MeekOneGOP]

DOWN AND OUT (AND FREEPED) IN BEVERLY HILLS
[LA Chapter FReeps Dan Rather!]

Great Freep California Freepers !

Thanks for the report, Cinnamon Girl !

Thanks for posting pics, Ron Dog ! (post #39) ...

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[FreedomPoster]

Bravo! And ditto on the cartoon hands; I love mine!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

bump!

[LisaFab]

Great job LA FReepers! Looks like everyone had a great job except for the Libs!

[Kudsman]

Great job Americans.

[Kudsman]

Thats the way to do it. Check these folks Jon. I'd lying if I said I wasn't a little envious. The opportunities would be endless if we lived in the land of celluloid heros. LOL.

[diotima]

There we go, much better.

[unsycophant]

It's good to see Rather on the receiving end for a change.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Cinnamon Girl]

I think I saw Larry King drive up in a black Lexus SUV.