I am not as kind to Dan Rather as Peggy is. I was at the press conference Nixon held at the NAB convention in Houston Texas. It was during Watergate. Rather instead of asking Nixon a question went into a long accusatory speech. Rather ended his long diatribe with a "When did you stop beating your wife?" type question.
Nixon asked Rather if he was running for office. It was a mild rebuke because Rather was acting like a candidate running against Nixon not a journalist trying to learn what was going on.
Rather replied, "NO. Are you?" Rather's weak reply told me two things. Rather is not quick on his feet and he is not very smart. If he doesn't have a Peggy Noonan to put words in his mouth, he is up the creek with out a paddle.
Rather can best be described as a dishonest reporter on one of the big three networks. His goal back then was to GET Nixon. Later his goal was to get Reagan. His goal was to get G.H.W. Bush. His goal was and is to get G. W. Bush. He has never tried to make the nation better. He has never been about getting the story for the people. He has always been about the destruction of Republican Presidents of the USA and advancement of the socialist agenda.
In my opinion Rather and ilk are enemies of freedom and of our nation. They are all about power, control, and the leftist agenda.
They are being destroyed by their own bias. But more can and should be done to expose the over the air networks for what they are.
What needs to be done is for government to investigate the ratings scandal. For over a decade the three networks have leaned heavily on Neilson to pad the rating results in their favor. The three over the air networks and their stations pay the lions share of the rating fees. They do their best to see that ratings are massaged to favor the networks.
Go to one hundred homes and note what they are watching. Now look at the ratings. You will find that far fewer people are watching the three over the air networks than the ratings show.
We need a congressional investigation to document the fraudulent ratings that cause advertisers to over pay for spots on the network shows.
Note that the Swift Boat Vets bought Cable networks and had a huge effect. Kerry's 527s bought the over the air networks and their stations for far more money and had far less impact.
That is one media scandal that congress should expose and it would solve the network news bias problem. Rather and all the rest would be out of business.