I'm not so sure Rather was the "victim" of the hoax. I'd say more likely the "perpetrator."
Look, ol' Dan may just have signed CBS off as a reliable news source. And he may have done so trying to earn a place in liberofascist mythology as the newsboy who did in President GWB. His failing in this will be deliciously ironic, since Dan the Goofball may have to retire "infamously" instead of famously.
I agree with that.
He's not the 1st, nor will he be the last.