Posted on 09/14/2004 6:16:18 AM PDT by kattracks
Publicly Dan Rather's CBS colleagues are putting up a brave front as the disgraced newsman desperately tried again last night to defend himself against charges he used forged documents in a bid to discredit President Bush's military record.
But at CBS headquarters in New York the anxiety level has hit the red zone, with even Rather's allies saying they're dazed and confused over his shaky performance. "I'm distressed," one longtime CBS correspondent, who asked not to be identified, told the New York Times.
Another network source described the atmosphere at Black Rock as one of "deep concern."
"I'd say [it's] not panic," he quickly added. "We all want it to be right. Dan really put himself on the line and I can't imagine him knowingly defending something he knew not to be the case."
Another CBS source said there was increasing nervousness over the star anchorman's decision to stonewall on an independent investigation into his dubious Guard report.
"I've talked to colleagues who would love to see more of a defense," he told the Times.
Even Rather's longtime "60 Minutes" colleague, Mike Wallace, found it hard to defend his embattled co-worker.
"I'm confused by some of what I've heard today," he offered, before insisting that if Rather's documents were indeed forged, it was an innocent mistake.
"You're dealing with genuine professionals. The last thing in the world that any of these people would want is to phony something," he told the Times.
The words I want to hear more than anything in the world - "Hello, welcome to CBS NEWS. Bernard Goldberg reporting. Dan Rather is on assignment."
Why not? Rather himself said that he believes that a person can be a liar and still be an honest person.
Am I crazy, or does missing the guard physical seem to be a lead in to the Kitty book, trying to smear Bush as a drug user. I'm not usually a conspiracy person, but I think the Dems were trying to set Bush up. I think Dan's part of the plot was just the beginning.
According to Rush (yesterday), Rather is to retire in the April '05 timeframe.
As the evidence of the forgery continues to mount I think CBS will eventually have to fold and give Rather the boot. The worst for CBS will be having to reveal that they got the forgery from a DNC operative and Rather and company were willing tools of the Kerry camp and not objective journalists. It sure is fun watching biased liberal CBS squirm.
Pinnacle of the Profession...not sure there's been such a thing for sixty years or so. I've been reading about what the pinnacles of the profession did to Joe McCarthy, and it ain't honest, pretty, or professional.
Yeah, right...and there is a Santa Claus.
The forgery itself was not a mistake, nor was their broadcast a mistake, nor were the questions that he constructed using the shaky foundation.
This is pure and simple partisanship. How else can you explain the stonewalling that Rather's doing? The memos are obvious forgeries...so he loses journalistic credibility (if there was any to begin with) with each denial on the CBS Evening News.
I would if he weren't.
C'mon...this is the same Dan Rather that vehemently argued in Florida--after the Supreme Court decision--that "what this absolutely does not mean is that George Bush won the election." This guy's a Democrat fruit loop, for crying out loud...his partisanship and phony-ness is as thinly veiled as it gets!
No, the last thing in the world that these people expected was to be caught by bloggers. Who knows what CBS etal. got away with before the internet.
Phony is not a verb. Not only do these so called professional journalists take great liberty with the English language, they take great liberty with the truth as well.
I wouldn't either but I would sell tickets.
"Bad Day at Black Rock"
No offense but are you series?
Do you mean CBS was a 'pinnacle of it's profession' - "at the time" - when on Fed 27, 1968 Walter Cronkite went on air and said that the Vietnam War was lost?
Which btw just happened to be after the Tet Offensive, which was a MAJOR defeat for the VC and NVA and a 'HUGH' victory for the US & ARVN military. You mean like "that time"?
I could go back further to WWII, but 36 years is a pretty good example of leftist media bias.
"I've talked to colleagues who would love to see more of a defense," he told the Times.
Please wait until I can catch my breath. I've been laughing hysterically all week long.
Gee, are you really that goofy? Maybe you better do a little critical reading on my post to get a better understanding of what I was conveying. I'm hardly a Pollyanna.
Sorry, I don't take your meaning. Unless you are expressing skepticism. In which case, all I can say is that I've seen a lot of people here on FR with no love lost for what's called the Mainstream Media, and I doubt that Freepers are the most extreme example of that.
I also think that there's a possibility that a Bush supporter (although I very much doubt it'd be someone connected with the Bush campaign) did this in an effort to discredit Kerry.
Or it could be a Kerry supporter doing this for the obvious reasons. But I figure that the least likely possibility is that anyone connected with either the Kerry or Bush campaigns would be the origin of this.
HAH! Very good.
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