Rather Puts Neck on Chopping Block (Rather and daughter source?)

http://www.powerlineblog.com ^ | powerline blog

[watsonfellow]

A half hour ago, Dan Rather went on CNN and said that he knows the Jerry Killian documents to be authentic, and knows that they are not forgeries. Therefore, he said, there will be no retraction, no correction, and -- apparently -- no investigation. The text of the interview is not yet available on CNN's site, but we'll link to it when it becomes available.

What does this mean? Last night, it was reported that senior executives at CBS News were promising an investigation. Today, Dan Rather is personally vouching for the documents' authenticity. This can only mean that Rather himself is the source of the documents. This makes sense; if a staffer on the 60 Minutes payroll had come up with the purported records, the story never would have run without the documents being authenticated. Who has the power to drive this story on to the air without an investigation that would include, for example, contacting Killian's widow, or his son? Dan Rather does.

This would appear to signal the end of Rather's career. If the documents are ultimately accepted as forgeries, which seems inevitable to us, he can't survive. My guess: Rather knows that he will be retiring soon in any event, so as his last public contribution, he is doing whatever he can to elect John Kerry.

An informant, meanwhile, has a theory about how Rather got the forged documents: keep an eye on Ben Barnes.

[TYVets]

"Therefore, he said, there will be no retraction, no correction, and -- apparently -- no investigation."

Give Rather more air time and rope to hang himself !

One of Rather's Vietnam War Reports was done from the battlefield in front of a still blazing helicopter.

Years later it was revealed the helicopter had been wreaked for weeks if not months, CBS poured gasoline over it to serve as a flaming background.

CBS Inventive News with Dan Rather.

.

[Conspiracy Guy]

I felt inspired so I had to go write.

Dan Blather

I swear the documents are real,
I’d never use a fake.
Killian must have set me up,
There must be some mistake.
Sure CBS will back me up,
I’m still their hottest gun.
Well no I didn’t ask his wife,
I do not know his son.
My daughter surely did no wrong,
For her dad’s Dan Rather.
George Bush wrote them to trick us all,
Now I’m in a lather.
I do not know what a font is,
How could I have used one?
When I made them they sure looked real,
What is New Times Roman?

Conspiracy Guy aka DIF 9/10/2004

[reagandemo]

Ahhh Dude you should have warned us before posting her picture. Wow no doubt she got her looks from her dad. Now let me clean up my keyboard.

[DWPittelli]

watsonfellow: "She could go to jail for this..."

The only way the source would be in legal trouble would be for fraud, if CBS paid for the documents, and then effectively only if CBS chose to press charges. I don't think CBS would do this, as acknowledging the payment would make them look even worse, and a trial would put their embarrassment up for extended scrutiny.

[Lee Heggy]

Rather is a 'made man' at CBS as you say but he has enemies in there too. I can only imagine how many people he has slighted or bulldozed in getting to where he is let alone staying there. They will be coming out of the woodwork to get a piece of him. I worked one Summer on the NBC Networks press staff as an intern and I couldn't believe the backstabbing. One advanced themselves by assassination. Only the lowest and meanest survived. Dan has a huge payback that only he knows how much is deserved.

[watsonfellow]

Wrong, forging a US Army document is a crime. Doing research on it now, will get back to you shortly. Furthermore, forging a US Army document that impugns other official records is also a crime. Forging a signature is a crime...the list goes on and on.

[sola_fide]

A FReeper on one of yesterday's threads said he was trying to verify if the 77034 zip code was even in use in 1972. I've been trying to check myself, but not having much luck. Anyone seen anything on this?

[ConservativeDude]

good heavens, what a pig!

[Dolphy]

My own theory is that somehow Robin Rather, his leftwing activist daughter, passed the documents to Rather.

It's as good a theory as any. Those documents were fairly quickly and easily detected as forgeries. Rather couldn't have been so stone stupid not to see and ask some of the same questions we have. I think we can only conclude that his source and agenda trumped logic and physical proof. Politics are emotional, so would be his relationship with his daughter. Emotion has taken down better men than Rather.

[sweetliberty]

What I'm finding entertaining about this whole thing is that, even if it WERE true, the RATs are looking to use Bush not showing up for some optional training or something at an alternate duty station (as I understand it) as enough to cover for 260 Swift Boat vets saying that Kerry is a liar and a fraud and basically a dishonorable soldier, for lying before the Senate in 1971 and causing the death of other soldiers, etc. It has become pretty obvious that Kerry has a despicable war record, not to mention his despicable Senate record, and these idiots are trying to cover it up by making a mountain out of a molehill....if it were even true....but it isn't and they know it. They're following their standard operating procedure of "if you lie about something long enough and loud enough, people will believe it" so they've got people looking to see what all the fuss is about. And what they're discovering is that Kerry, who made his "service" in Vietnam the center of his campaign, is all hot air. If Kerry's service was so honorable, why would so many who knew him and served with him stand up against him? If he was so honorable, why does he not produce his records to clear himself instead of just pointing his arrogant finger of blame at his accusers and calling them liars? If he is so honorable, why not answer the charges against him with factual rebuttals? The short answer is that Kerry is liar and a fraud and he CAN'T produce any clear evidence to clear his name. He can't refute the Swift Vets. So he makes more noise. His cronies make more noise and draw attention to his failings. People are questioning and not getting answers, at least not from Kerry. The Bush haters are so blinded by their irrational hatred, that they can't even see that they're helping to elect the man they want so desperately to defeat. These people are dumber than a fencepost.

[Brilliant]

How so? It's not a crime to lie to a reporter or to give forged documents to a reporter. Maybe if she extracted money from CBS on false pretenses and refused to give it back... But we don't have any evidence of that.

[Politicalmom]

MY EYES!!!!

(Now, confess. You photoshopped a wig onto Dan, didn't you?? PLEASE tell me you did......)

: )

[Brilliant]

Hmmmm... Falsified military records.... Maybe, but I suspect that they would have to be used for some particular purpose. I doubt that tricking a reporter qualifies.

[Zack Nguyen]

They should have just had ANDY ROONEY do the forgery on his old typewriter.

They might as well have - it could hardly be a more inept forgery.

[tractorman]

Using falsified military records for the purpose of influencing a Federal election would be motive enough.

[NotADove]

Rather was heterosexually inclined at one time?

[Studebaker Hawk]

If you don't mind, I'd RAT her not..

[Monti Cello]

When do the federal agents start seizing Dan's computers???

FROGWALK!!!

[EllaMinnow]

Dan Rather...

John Kerry...

[Monti Cello]

Robin Rather

Oh my goodness....I think I'd rather not.

That's just a picture of Dan circa 1968 right?