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Rather's career put in harsh light
Baltimore Sun ^ | March 5, 2005 | David Zurawik, Sun Television Critic

Posted on 03/05/2005 2:37:42 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

........."This was a man who moved with a surefootedness and determination that if it wasn't ruthlessness, it was just short of it."

Terrence Smith.... said that for two decades the take on Rather was "great reporter, awkward anchor."

"And, yet, nobody said it in public.... "Now you hear some of the most senior and respected voices at CBS - Andy Rooney, Mike Wallace and Walter Cronkite - saying these things. ... So, the question is: Why the bruising comments as he goes out the door?"

Smith suggests that while the flawed story on Bush is a key part of the explanation, the "real answer" goes beyond that: "In the end, I think it goes to a very deep-seated anxiety in people who spent their entire career at CBS News about where the institution is headed. I think they really fault management for all the trouble and uncertainty, but the comments are being laid at Dan's door."

Susan Zirinsky, a staunch Rather supporter and executive producer of Wednesday night's retrospective, also attributed some of the negative assessments of Rather to the volatility of a news division in transition. "This is a hard time at CBS. People feel very sad that Dan is leaving. His leaving has pushed CBS to take a look at where the evolution of news is, and I think some people may not be prepared for that."

....many television journalists say that it is sad to see Rather's tenure ending in this manner. "I think it's tragic that a guy who worked as hard as he did would have his career capped like this, because the Bush report is going to be what he's remembered for," Fenton said. "He'll carry this with him to his obituary. ... Tragic - that's the only word for it."

(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 60minutes; cbs; cbsnews; danrather; msm; newsanchor; rathergate; wantfrieswiththat
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To: Buckhead

Now see what you've done!


21 posted on 03/05/2005 3:34:32 AM PST by Straight Vermonter (Liberalism: The irrational fear of self reliance.)
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To: SkyPilot


22 posted on 03/05/2005 3:37:58 AM PST by Diogenesis (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Rather deserves each and every word of condemnation he gets and continues to make a fool of himself in public. The latest being his absurd performance on Letterman.


23 posted on 03/05/2005 3:39:22 AM PST by hershey
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To: Diogenesis

Thanks for reminding us of Rather's suckup performance with Saddam. He deserves far worse than he's getting.


24 posted on 03/05/2005 3:41:59 AM PST by hershey
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
CBS News White House correspondent John Roberts:"And I think as people get further and further away from this, the really important stuff that happened in Dan's career will come into greater focus. ... Here is a man who's had one of the most important careers in the history of television news."

The idiotic excuses made in this article, by the dying and deceased, for a dead man, leave me gasping for air.

25 posted on 03/05/2005 3:43:05 AM PST by G.Mason ("If you are broken It is because you are brittle" ... K.Hepburn, The Lion In Winter)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; All

1. Rather's MSM media colleagues are furious with him because they see the MSM in a terrible crisis, losing market and prestige, and blame Rather for accelerating the decline. The problem goes way beyond Rather, but he is a convenient target for their anxiety and rage.

2. The most despicable remarks were those of John Roberts, unctuously praising Rather. Rememember, Roberts is hoping that the bosses at CBS will choose him as Rather's replacement. So, in his best Uriah Heep imitation, Roberts sucks up to the CBS powers-that-be, praising their discredited anchor as others condemn him.


26 posted on 03/05/2005 3:43:07 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
He was a small petty man, lacking in thinking skills, with the demeanor and traits of a dictator. His trade was lies ,deception, indoctrination, and propaganda. Now he no more than a broken tool of the left
27 posted on 03/05/2005 3:43:34 AM PST by jec41 (Screaming Eagle)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
A man like "ratherbiased" makes loads of enemies on both sides of the political aile. Now that's he's disgraced himself publicly and is "a power, no more" he's going to find out just how many there are.

And he won't be the one writing the history on this episode. Suffice to say that history will not be kind to rather.

28 posted on 03/05/2005 3:44:53 AM PST by Caipirabob (Democrats.. Socialists..Commies..Traitors...Who can tell the difference?)
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To: Diogenesis

Nice post Dio.


29 posted on 03/05/2005 3:46:10 AM PST by SkyPilot
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To: Diogenesis

30 posted on 03/05/2005 3:47:26 AM PST by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: pt17

Yes, that is a great question.

How does one "taint" a forgery, anyway?


31 posted on 03/05/2005 3:50:11 AM PST by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: SkyPilot

He outed them and that is his intolerable sin.


32 posted on 03/05/2005 3:51:45 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: SkyPilot
In reality, their credibility was lost long, long ago. They just refused to see it.

True I think for those that really pay attention to such things. Now when I hear someone like my sister-in-law, who rarely watches the news, describe the alphabet channels as "crooks" I know they are done.

33 posted on 03/05/2005 3:54:05 AM PST by Straight Vermonter (Liberalism: The irrational fear of self reliance.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

THht show will be a black hole in the ratings..


34 posted on 03/05/2005 3:56:50 AM PST by ken5050 (The Dem party is as dead as the NHL..)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
The article is scathing.

Scathing? This was a puff piece! The guy single-handedly drove the final stake into the heart of the MSM and brought down all of CBS news and the worst thing they can say about him is that he was a little arrogant and biased??

For decades this jerk terrorized conservatives, Republicans and drove public opinion. The only reason he LOST his throne is because people got smart and other news outlets gave them options (Fox, the Internet, etc, etc.)

THIS GUY TRIED TO BRING DOWN A PRESIDENT WITH A FORGED, BOGUS STORY, AND HE FACES NOTHING BUT A TEARY EYED WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE, He still wont even admit those docs were forged!! All that was said was that he got a bum rap, history will redeem him and the worst that could be said was that his newscast was boring (Cronkite.)

What a disgrace. These people should have been jailed for trying to rig a national election, for slandering our commander in chief, for outright malicous fraud.

This article wasn't scathing, it was a teary obit. You can be sure Columbia Journalism School and academicians are busy rewriting history as we speak, excising the whole ugly business as just a footnote, and explaining how the document was a "plant" by Andrew Card.

35 posted on 03/05/2005 3:59:36 AM PST by N. Beaujon (I)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Rather's cohorts know they are tarred by the same brush of bias and would prefer not to be closely aligned with the man.


36 posted on 03/05/2005 4:00:26 AM PST by OldFriend (America's glory is not dominion, but liberty.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"I think it's tragic that a guy who worked as hard as he did would have his career capped like this, because the Bush report is going to be what he's remembered for," Fenton said. "He'll carry this with him to his obituary. ... Tragic - that's the only word for it."

Spare me the pathetic whining.They did`nt have one ounce of concern when it came to President Bush.They were trying to destroy a man personally,they were trying,to in a sense,overthrow the US government through false accusations and yet they plead for sympathy when they got caught.

Rather was like a man blinded by love who walks into a crowded restaurant and proposes to a woman that views him as something she would scrape off the bottom of her shoe.In Rathers case it was hatred,not love, for the President and the Bush family as well as all Republicans in general.
Either way the result is the same,a fool.He deserves whatever scorn and ridicule he receives.

37 posted on 03/05/2005 4:01:40 AM PST by carlr
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To: expat_panama
I thought it was a powder puff softball. The article referred to "the flawed story on Bush". Flawed my tush. A blemish on a cabinet is a "flaw". Inability to use proper grammar is a "flaw". OTOH, the felonious, arrogant, careless, forging of government documents, followed by a week of refusing to admit the falsehood is not a "flaw". This is what we call a "sever criminal sociopathic character disorder".

Thank you. I couldnt agree more. "Scathing"? What Rather, Mapes and Burkett did was scathing. This article was revisionist crud. ("People are just afraid for their jobs". Pul-eeze.)

38 posted on 03/05/2005 4:03:51 AM PST by N. Beaujon (I)
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To: carlr
As seen through the prism of a LIBERAL publication, quoting far left personalities, yes I do say it is scathing. It's rats distancing (sinking their teeth into the wounded) themselves from the sinking ship of "professional journalism" ie lockstep, socialist propaganda.
39 posted on 03/05/2005 4:12:50 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: N. Beaujon; carlr

Post 39 was to N. Beaujon


40 posted on 03/05/2005 4:15:01 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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