Posted on 03/15/2005 1:15:14 AM PST by JohnHuang2
If Dan Rather had had the loyalty to his ousted CBS colleagues – to resign or to retire right after he was caught using forged documents to try to embarrass or even defeat President Bush – he might have avoided a very grim sendoff from CBS.
It is true that his two long-time competitors, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings, invited Dan Rather to a special dinner in his honor. But that's understandable, given how badly CBS Evening News was beaten in the ratings by Brokaw of NBC and Jennings of ABC.
Then there was a cascade of Rather denunciations from such CBS stars as Andy Rooney, Mike Wallace and Rather's predecessor, Walter Cronkite, who was known nationwide as "the most trusted man in America."
In order, apparently, to try to counteract this, CBS devoted one hour, after Rather's final anchor broadcast, to what was titled, "Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers."
Cronkite was featured just once, announcing that Dan "has confirmed that the President [JFK] is dead." But Washington's Weekly Standard has interviewed Eddie Barker, news director of CBS' radio and TV affiliates in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Barker was widely credited with the first report of Kennedy's death. But he told the Weekly Standard that Rather managed to take credit for this first death report. Barker went on to recall:
* "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' University Park Elementary School had cheered when told of the president's death."
* "The tale was perfect for the moment, reinforcing the notion among distant media elites that Dallas was a reactionary 'City of Hate' ... Except that it wasn't true, and Rather knew it," Barker says. Approached earlier by the same minister with what was a second-hand account, Barker himself had run the story by the school's principal and some teachers, all of whom denied it outright. Because of the shooting, which took place at 12:30 p.m., the principal had decided to close the school early, though without telling the students why. The children at the school – including three of Barker's own – were merely happy to be going home.
* Undaunted, the dogged minister – "a very, very strong liberal and a very, very strong Kennedy supporter," Barker says – moved on to Rather. "Rather came to me, and I said, 'My kids are in school there, and I checked it out, and there's not a darn thing to it,'" says Barker. "He said, 'Well, great – I'll just forget it.' But instead of forgetting it, he went out and did this gut job on Dallas and its conservatism, with the preacher's story at the center of his report."
How could Dan Rather have done such a thing that carried round the world the false story of a Dallas schoolroom whose children cheered at news of President Kennedy's assassination?
Consider Rather's interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly on May 15, 2001:
Bill O'Reilly: "I want to ask you flat out: Do you think President Clinton's an honest man?"
Dan Rather: "Yes, I think he's an honest man."
O'Reilly: "Do you, really?"
Rather: "I do."
O'Reilly: "Even though he lied to Jim Lehrer's face about the Lewinsky case?"
Rather: "Who among us has not lied about something?"
O'Reilly: "Well, I didn't lie to anybody's face on national television. I don't think you have, have you?"
Rather: "I don't think I ever have. I hope I never have. But, look, it's one thing ... "
O'Reilly: "How can you say he's an honest guy then?"
Rather: "Well, because I think he is. I think at core he's an honest person. I know that you have a different view. I know that you consider it sort of astonishing anybody would say so, but I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things."
Let me repeat this admission by Dan Rather: "I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things." Is this what they want, or need, on either of the two CBS "60 Minutes" programs?
I know why he liked Mapes so much , she could make $h!t up too!!!
bump
The incident of the reporting of the Dallas school (non)incident was the typical liberal modus operindi way back in 1963. Amazing!
There must be a large number of dupes out there.
A few years too early for the liberal news machines.
I lived in Dallas when Kennedy was assassinated. NOTHING . . . . I repeat ABSOLUTELY NOTHING even remotely approaching what Rather reported happened at any of the schools. NO ONE cheered his death.
Rather remains a liar and a bottom feeder.
"Dan "has confirmed that the President [JFK] is dead." "
Given Dan's history of lying, has anyone actually checked out if this is true?
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