Dan Is Done (The anchor who sank to the bottom of the sea.)

The American Prowler ^ | 11/24/2004 | Jay D. Homnick

[nickcarraway]

So Dan would rather not anymore, and, really, who could blame him? Lately he had been feeling like a cockatoo on a cactus, anyway. Once you lose the hankerin' for anchorin', it's hard to keep showin' up every day. To make it work, you have to come in each morning with the passion of a fruit fly in a manure factory. Nope, the fire in the belly is gone. Time for new horizons, new adventures, like an orangutan in a bowling alley. Meet folks you haven't met afore.

Oh, he could linger if he wished. He could leave his anchor aweigh in the inertia of dotage. He could sag at the desk with yellowing calendar leaves wilting on the studio wall. Even if too old to ponder, you're never too old to be ponderous. He could sit there until he's a joke, until he's an old joke, until he's an off-color joke, until he's a joke where we forgot the punch line. But he faced reality like a hamster in a beehive. He tendered his resignation with resignation.

Now let's not worry about Dan as an individual. He'll be well taken care of in the Liberal Retirement System which includes a large margarine bar of flattery slathered on a crispy baguette of confiscatory lecture fees. Let us examine rather the implications for the larger culture. Concerning that, two points.

Number one, even if Dan was planning to do this anyway, the perception will remain that it was catalyzed by a single event, that he was turned away at the Guard Gate. His career may have had no more peaks and valleys than the average, but the battle most remembered will be the one at Valley Forge. The fact is that the last impression will be the strongest, and people will have the sense that he left in disgrace.

Whether or not that is accurate or whether it is fair to Rather, one very valuable side effect will be the solidification of the lesson of the forged National Guard documents. Reporters everywhere, journalists, pundits, golden-haired cubs and silver-haired veterans, will internalize this in a profound way.

The whole left-wing (or "sinister," which means the same thing) news world that was birthed by Cronkite and his ilk have been driving their coverage with a license for an entire generation. The news is their baby and they get to give it a name.

You see, news as it happens is an unfinished product in their eyes, a crude representation of reality. It's their job to trim it and prune it, to prime it and paint it, to buff it and puff it and fluff it, to brown it and crown it, to tan it and fan it, to hold it and mold it, to shape it and scrape it, to tamp it and stamp it, to dress it and press it.

The only sort-of limit had been: don't make it and fake it. Old Dan, desperate for relevance like a cockroach in a junkyard, crossed this line, whether through stupidity or malice. Now the whole enterprise is threatened. He is an establishment figure that cannot be dismissed and marginalized; he is no Janet Cooke or Stephen Glass or Jayson Blair.

Hopefully, some intimidation factor will be achieved, some deterrent value, some reigniting of the age-old principle of "Truth or Consequences." The next time Mary Mapes calls to report that she has an eyewitness placing George W. Bush on the grassy knoll in Dallas in 1963, perhaps they'll just let the answering machine pick up.

The second point worth considering is the fact that all this has transpired concurrently with the rise of new media, from talk radio all the way to the intrepid men in flannel building a bonfire with their blogs. Perhaps this confluence will serve to inspire a new generation of intrepid reporters of the Right, or at least the non-Left. Is it too much to hope that the corrupt path blazed by Walter Cronkite distorting the Tet Offensive, having gone around, will now come around?

Are we being unduly optimistic in noting that this setback for CBS is actually a window of opportunity, a chance to redefine the nature of the TV news report? Call me a fool or a naïf, but even Pollyanna wants a crack at it sometimes.

It would be a brilliant decision, a truly inspired one, if CBS replaced Rather with a person who eschews partiality in all its misshapen forms. We could see a brave new world where a plain Joe could go every Friday to get just the facts, ma'am. And CBS could drag other networks along this brave trail toward the truth.

As for me, just the joy of seeing the CBS logo over a head other than Dan's will have me dancing with joy, doing a jig, like a Chihuahua in an alfalfa patch.

Jay D. Homnick is a columnist for JewishWorldReview.

[Texas Songwriter]

The world is changing and like Rush said the old MSM cannot understand us. The blogger, the Freepers are in tough. We have an army of people, experts in medicine,law,education,buisness, fonts, military, politics, economy, and on and on. We are like minute men who stand ready to assess and clarify situations and opinions of the talking heads, and they and like the proverbial tyrant who rides on the back of a tiger. He wants to get off, and he knows the tiger is hungry. I see it more and more clearly that something like FR is making a huge difference. If this very web site had not identified and exposed and the myriad of people on FR had not mobilized, I think it is more than a possibility that Kerry could have been elected. That is making a difference.

[torqemada]

OMG...stop...stop! Laughing so hard I can't see the keys for the tears. I've gotta read more of this guy's work. WONDERFUL!

[Lancey Howard]

If this very web site had not identified and exposed and the myriad of people on FR had not mobilized, I think it is more than a possibility that Kerry could have been elected. That is making a difference.

Back in November of 2000 that was a regiment of freepers who surrounded the Vice President's residence, then occupied by one Al Gore, and chanted loudly and relentlessly, "Get out of Cheney's house!"

[KillTime]

What Rather said of Kerry is true of himself now: "His back is against the wall, his shirt-tale is on fire and the bill collector is at the door."

[leadpenny]

Now that . . . . is a piece of writing!

Thank you, Jay D. Homnick.

[risk]

Rather's announcement made my day. I'm as happy as a clam.

[Caipirabob]

Disgraced Ex-Anchor and Forgery Accomplice, Dan Rather.

IIIIIIIII LIKE IT!

[MeekOneGOP]

I found out that Rather is not off the 60 Minutes program shortly after my ping on the breaking thread.

Here is my email to several CBS email addresses, fyi:

---

To: 60II@cbsnews.com, evening@cbsnews.com, scams@cbsnews.com

Subject: Regarding Dan Rather's Leaving CBS Evening News .....

Regarding the great news, I want to extend my big "thank you."

However, it is my strong belief that since Dan Rather's offense occurred on the 60 Minutes program, he should resign from 60 Minutes as well.

Dan Rather's trotting out FAKE/FORGED documents in a blatant attempt to smear President Bush just prior to the Presidential election was abominable. Ignorance cannot be an excuse. If he is so gullible and stupid that he really DIDN'T KNOW they were forged, then he is TOO INCOMPETENT to be a journalist/reporter. I believe he KNEW they were forged and was warned NOT to go public with such blatantly false documents. Amateurs on FreeRepublic.com spotted them as forgeries just 2-3 hours after the show was broadcast.

Please get Dan Rather off the 60 Minutes program immediately.

Sincerely,

[MeekOneGOP]

PS: I'm ashamed that Dan Rather is from Texas!

---

[beyond the sea]

Here's a few more for the keyboard......

*****

"This race is tight like a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach."

"This race is as tight as the rusted lug nuts on a '55 Ford."

"The Florida voter may be getting screwed harder than a drunken Paula Zahn at CNN's Christmas party."

"If Gore loses Florida, you can call Ned Beatty and fire up 'Dueling Banjos' because Al will be squealing like a pig."

"His lead is as thin as turnip soup."

"The presidential race is swinging like Count Basie."

"Ohio becomes like a sauna for the two candidates. All they can do is wait and sweat."

"One's reminded of that old saying, 'Don't taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek.'"

******

Dan's a real cut-up.

[Grampa Dave]

When you see the Eye, expect the lie.

Note to the left wing maggots in charge of CBS phoney news. We have our eye on your eye!

[Grampa Dave]

[Lazamataz]

So Dan would rather not anymore, and, really, who could blame him? Lately he had been feeling like a cockatoo on a cactus, anyway. Once you lose the hankerin' for anchorin', it's hard to keep showin' up every day. To make it work, you have to come in each morning with the passion of a fruit fly in a manure factory. Nope, the fire in the belly is gone. Time for new horizons, new adventures, like an orangutan in a bowling alley. Meet folks you haven't met afore.

This is some funny stuff!

[Grampa Dave]

[evets]

"Dan's a real cut-up."
Teetotally mortmeetally.

[Grampa Dave]

"Requiescat in fracta!"

[LittleMoe]

Don't count on this guy being done. He will still be on 60 minutes and still in our face.
We just won't tune in- at least I won't.

[Grampa Dave]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287206/posts

Just Now on MSNBC: Bob Zelnick says 60 Minutes Investigative Report Due Next Week
MSNBC


Posted on 11/23/2004 7:12:35 PM PST by StJacques


Just want to post a quick note that while watching "Scarborough Country" on MSNBC right now, Pat Buchanan was discussing Dan Rather's exit as Anchor for the CBS Evening News and one of his discussion panel, former ABC News Reporter Bob Zelnick, commented that Rather's resignation comes in advance of the investigative report on the Bush National Guard story 60 Minutes II ran this past September, whic Zelnick said should be released "sometime next week."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287206/posts

[clyde260]

Sometimes I let my tagline say it all.

[Paulus Invictus]

Actually, he is overdone. Stick a fork in him and throw him into the "dustbin of history" where he can enjoy his retirement, like that moron Conkrite, another aged liberal hack whose mouth is still spewing commie propaganda from the Viet Nam war. Now watch Danny Boy imitate his old mentor. He's sure to write a "definitive" but fictional autobio about his "triumphs" just like the Klintoons did.

[Grampa Dave]

Your tagline says it all.

For 7 decades the MSM has been lying to us and trying to weaken if not destroy America with their lies, spins and fiction posing as news.