Photo by Billy Smith III
Posted on 03/09/2005 9:35:35 PM PST by Doctor Freeze
Photo by Billy Smith III
Blogger sheds no tears for Rather
By MARLON MANUEL The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 03/10/05
Amid the wafting smells of spicy meatballs and wine, in front of a Sony projection TV in Sandy Springs, Harry MacDougald clutched a Samuel Adams in his left hand Wednesday night as Dan Rather bid adieu after 24 years at the anchor of the "CBS Evening News."
But MacDougald did not cry in his beer.
Along with 50 guests, including many prominent Fulton County Republicans, the Atlanta attorney cheered the final night of Rather's anchor reign in a basement entertainment room usually used to watch Georgia Bulldog football games.
MacDougald is better known to Web aficionados as "Buckhead," the conservative blogger who first noticed that Rather used forged documents in a Sept. 8 "60 Minutes" story that questioned President Bush's Air National Guard service during the Vietnam War.
"For conservatives, he's been a black beast," MacDougald said Wednesday as a coat-and-tie crowd circulated around a GOP hero. "In conservative circles, Dan Rather has been viewed as an enemy."
Which is why on the night of Sept. 8 — at 11:59:43 — MacDougald clicked the submit button on the iMac in his bedroom and posted a message questioning the documents Rather used, ostensibly from the 1970s.
He noted that the proportional spacing and typeface of the documents could not have been produced by a '70s-era typewriter, but must have come from a modern-day word-processing program.
Shortly after his post to Free Republic, a hub of conservative viewpoints, other bloggers and news organizations also impugned the authenticity of the documents. Rather, though, defended his reporting — a stubbornness that helped lead to his exit from the anchor's chair. The network, and Rather, eventually apologized for the blunder.
"It's satisfying to have been part of a movement to defeat a smear based on a forged document," said MacDougald, 46, an Atlanta native and civil litigation attorney who once defended whistle-blowers in the administration of former Mayor Bill Campbell.
He also helped draft the petition urging the Arkansas Supreme Court to disbar President Bill Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Cary Ichter, whose law firm represents Gov. Sonny Perdue, offered his home as the Rather farewell spot at the urging of mutual friend Phil Kent, former president of the conservative-tilted Southeast Legal Foundation.
Ichter said he typically watches Georgia football games or boxing in his entertainment room. Wednesday, his guests watched a knockout of a different kind — the toppling of a news icon for nearly a quarter-century.
"It was a triumph over the left-leaning media agenda," Ichter said.
Despite the controversy, Rather has had a storied career. The anchor who considered himself a reporter first has been on the scene for big stories ranging from the Kennedy assassination to the Iraqi elections last month.
Ken Auletta, who interviewed Rather for an article in the New Yorker, said his work should stand the test of time, particularly as one of the most aggressive TV reporters covering Watergate.
But none of that mattered to the partygoers, including former Fulton County GOP Chairman Jack Winter and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson — who munched hors d'oeuvres on napkins and paper plates decorated like the American flag.
"Congratulations, fella," Winter told MacDougald as he entered the party.
MacDougald sees himself and other bloggers as part of band of citizen journalists who have upset the order of corporate media giants.
"The information oligarchy that TV had, that's gone," MacDougald said. "They'll never be as powerful as network anchors once were."
As Rather signed off, the crowed filed out — MacDougald with them.
Said MacDougald, "The wicked witch is dead."
— News services contributed to this article.
Hey, I'm in Atlanta and didn't get an invitation. Oh well...
YEA, FREEREPUBLIC.COM'S RIGHT AND SO IS BUCKHEAD ...RTO
The Atlanta fish wrapper panders to liberal black democrats and for them to even mention that a conservative white republican nailed a liberal icon must hurt.
Dan you have been FLAMED.
Yes, as soon as I saw UGA and Buckhead mentioned in the same piece, my day was made. Cream always rises to the top. And to think, this was in the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation!!!!
Define Buckhead as you will, to me he is simply HERO.
Look, just 'cause you got all that recognition and all, you're still just one of us, goddamnit. Now come out and take a bow. (Please?)
Great stuff... it's good to see the credit finally landing where it belongs.
I still stand by my statement. He did not have the cache of a Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw.
It's censorship pure and simple! Dan Rather's right to bee seen on see-BS is CLEARLY spelled out in the Constitution!
/sarc
What a surprise to see Buckhead on the front page of the AJC today. Is it a coincidence that Cynthia Tucker is on vacation this week?
Wow, I'm a blogger! And I've only posted 1 thread (a pretty lame one, at that!). I'm so proud :)
"Buckhead isn't a blogger,....."
It is my understanding that Buckhead does have his own blog site but also posts on FreeRepublic.
Howlin is my understanding correct or not? Thanks, Spunky
I second both nominations!
Standing by your statement above is fine. I didn't see you post where you stated he did not have the cache of a Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw.
I was talking about your other statement with the word "always" bolded in my last post to you. But you knew that.
I was just passing on some facts; some people like facts, some don't. Rather and his News Broadcast were #1 for some time. If that counts as always one of the lowest rated in your book, fine with me.
I am just posting to you now because it's entertaining, I don't expect you to agree with me.
Sorry, 5 years is a long time ago for me. So once - a life time ago - he was the bee's knees. Is that your argument? In any case he is not as big a fish as I see him made out to be. He was not an opinion swayer the way Cronkite was or as "beloved" as Brokaw is or as "respected" as Jennings is.
'Despite the controversy, Rather has had a storied career. The anchor who considered himself a reporter first has been on the scene for big stories ranging from the Kennedy assassination to the Iraqi elections last month.'
But how much of what he actually said was true?
Oh, ok no problem. I was looking at the whole picture.
...Is that your argument?
If you are arguing, fine. I was debating with the facts, and going back more than a year or so.
In any case he is not as big a fish as I see him made out to be.
You are right about that. But he was a major propagandist for years with a respectable venue to sway the public and elections with a false and misleading agenda for more than a quarter of a century.(Sorry, I know this is a long time ago for you.)
He is and was a supporter of communizm and socializm and liberalizm.
So yes, he is just a tadpole, but he influenced people like a big ol' BullFrog.
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