America yawned until it turned out that CBS went and tried to back up its pathetic cheapshot with a very cheaply forged memo. Then, not content to have merely blown off one foot, CBS took a howitzer to the other foot by "sticking to its story", even after the rest of the world could clearly see that the memo was created with a modern Microsoft Word program.
Dan Rather and the brass at CBS made the Keystone Cops look like the Manhattan Project. About the only thing CBS did right at the time was find a couple of toadies who were corrupt enough to publish a laugher of a whitewash wherein they claimed that political bias had nothing to do with CBS's shoddy journalism and that it could not be determined with certainty that the forged memos were forged.
It's not only Dan Rather that needs to go - - it's CBS News in its entirety that needs to be buried.
Excellent capsulization - including the almost-never-mentioned fact that nobody would have been overly concerned if W had been on the receiving end of some special treatment 30 years ago.
Another part of this story was Mapes' repeated defense of the certified lunatic (no exaggeration), John Burkett, who was the source of the documents. Mapes held to her announcement that her source was "impeccable". Since when is a mental hospital patient who admits having at least 3 mental breakdowns and who is a rabid Bush hater "impeccable"?