Posted on 03/05/2005 6:31:05 AM PST by MisterRepublican
When CBS announced that it will smile through the pain of Dan Rather's dying credibility with an hour-long retirement tribute in early March, the network released an image of a young Rather posing in front of the Texas School Book Depository, looking gravely into the distance. While a little nostalgia was understandable--what, no photo of Rather huddled over a fax machine last October?--CBS still managed to remind those who knew the anchor during his salad days in Texas how tendentious and unprincipled he was even then.
Eddie Barker, for one, remembers. The news director for CBS's radio and TV affiliates in Dallas at the time of President Kennedy's November 22, 1963, assassination, Barker is widely credited with first reporting on the air that the president was dead, having received word through a doctor acquaintance directly from the hospital ER. Rather, then based in Dallas as a reporter for CBS's national news broadcast and working out of Barker's newsroom, later took credit for the scoop, Barker says. The error is repeated in historical accounts often enough to annoy the now-retired Barker, though he says the falsehood was later acknowledged by Rather.
It was a different lie--one delivered on national news, and at the expense of children--that caused Rather trouble at the time. As reporters from around the world descended on the Texas city, Rather went on the air with a local Methodist minister who made a stunning claim: Children at Dallas's University Park Elementary School had cheered when told of the president's death.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
Besides, most of Kennedy's political opponents in 1963 thought he was too weak on Communism, not too provocative.
Arkie, I believe you. I was a young GI in Munich when we got the news and I saw young soldiers like myself almost come to blows in the barracks. Feelings were running high and it was the first time I knew of anyone having political feelings about any president. Many young people of the day reflected what their parents felt about Kennedy.
As for folks who question your veracity on this thread, they can kiss off.
I have a problem with children cheering anyones death, much less the sitting President of the United States.
CBS must surely be pained. Reference to the retirement tribute is not easily located on the CBS website.
Apparently, it will be narrated by Rather himself. Dan is least likely to say anything negative about his career.
We had one kid who told everyone he was killed with a machine gun and then he made the machine gun noises. He had a big grin on his face. We were about 12 at the time. The kid was always a little idiot so he was ignored.
I don't remember anyone else making stupid comments. I do remember one teacher was a little red in the face possibly from crying but I don't remember anything except a lot of silence.
We just thought he was a worthless pussy with lying drunks for brothers, and a bootlegger for a father.
I was in Hong Kong when I heard Reagan was shot, no one told us, we had to hear it from the Chinese people.
This is a likely explanation for the children's behavior. The parents would then be plagued with a case of "be careful what you wish for."
Actually, at least one FReeper did as well.
I was walking back to my next college class, after having spent most of the afternoon down town, when someone screamed at me : " THEY'VE SHOT THE PRESIDENT ". I yelled back : " SOMEONE SHOT PRESIDENT xxx ? " ( The president of the college )" NO ", PRESIDENT KENNEDY !"
" GOOD ! " , I replied and walked on, a smile on my face, amidst a sea of tearful ones.
Posted by nopardons to onyx On News/Activism 11/17/2003 8:52:43 PM PST #140 of 168
However when one looks back and contrasts JFK with the current crop of Dims he looks almost Reaganesque.
On second thought, many little turds are parrots of their parents.
I remember hearing in my childhood that my daddy says this or that, so it had to be the absolute truth. No amount of reason would change their minds. I always caught my father making some bs storyline, then again, he was a Democrat.
Thanks. If there are doubters about my story here it's really not my problem. I'm just reporting what happened in my school. I'm sure it happened in a lot of other places too as you say it happened in your barracks. I'm not even sure how many children cheered. It wasn't the majority but enough to make the memory stick in my mind.
I don't remember any kids cheering, but I do remember the look on the face of my fourth-grade teacher when she told us. We all just sort of sat in stunned silence, until one girl in our class started laughing hysterically. We all looked at her like she was crazy, and her laughing just sort of trailed off. It was pretty surreal.
I think we were all too young to realize the importance of what had happened.
The famous Nixon interchange with Rather answering Nixon's question "Dan are you running for something?" with "No Mr. President are you?" was only tolerable because the entire country had doubts about Mr. Nixon's veracity at that moment. But when you think about it - it was an absurd confrontation. Nixon wasn't running for anything - he was in the middle of he is second term. Rather was just saying, politely by stating "Mr. President", that he felt he was, egoistically, on the same ground as Richard Nixon. Despite all his faults, Nixon was never as base as Dan Rather.
I think Auletta's piece is excellent, and leaves you with an uncomfortable feeling about Rather - portraying awkward moments with his show's producers who don't even look away from their computer screens when conversing with Rather, like he was this embarrassing old fart who feels he's still a crusading reporter (answering the phone "Rather here...This is Dan Rather"). I think there will be a lot of people inside CBS who will be glad when Wednesday is over.
I say good riddance.
Seems to me that the bias of the parents may have been picked up by the kids.
Then, with the typical cruelty of kids, they responded that way.
Man, that is truly sick!!!!
History shows that Kennedy was so inept that war could result from his in-actions. The Bay of Pigs and resulting Cuban/Soviet missile crisis and Vietnam are 2 examples. That also holds for all the DemoRat Presidents that followed JFK; Johnson, Carter, BillyBoy, and most of the ones preceding also.
As well as the bias of their publicly funded teachers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.