Moving Ahead, Rather Throws Sad Look Back

NY Times ^ | June 17, 2006 | JACQUES STEINBERG

[Pharmboy]

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times, 2004
Dan Rather might work for the
high-definition channel HDNet.

The 74-year-old man with the Mets cap pulled far down on his forehead slid into a booth at a diner on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and ordered a glass of milk without so much as turning a head — so quietly, in fact, that it was hard to believe it was Dan Rather.

In place of the swagger that had served him so well throughout his 44-year career at CBS News was an obvious sadness that his tenure at the network was ticking down to an inglorious end. Mr. Rather complained that since stepping down as anchor of the " CBS Evening News" last year, in the aftermath of a reporting scandal, he had been ill used as a correspondent on "60 Minutes" and had been given virtually nothing at all to do for the previous six weeks.

Among the places he had sought solace, he said on a recent afternoon, was in "Good Night, and Good Luck," George Clooney's homage to Edward R. Murrow and the CBS News of old, a film that Mr. Rather said he had seen five times in theaters, most recently alone.

Mr. Rather's contract with CBS, and "60 Minutes," is not scheduled to expire until late November. But he said yesterday that he and the network were close to an agreement that would end his tenure early, and that he was seriously mulling a new venture that, at least initially, relatively few viewers would be able to see: he would develop and be the host of a weekly interview program on a high-definition television channel known as HDNet.

The offer, he said, had come directly from Mark Cuban, the unbridled owner of the NBA's

[jebeier]

You've done your damage, Dan. Now slink back in to the shadows and STFU.

Yep. I'm sorry, but it's foot-on-the-neck time for ol' Dan.

No sympathy for a man who tried to steal a Presidential election through blatant fraud.

"Could not be authenticated", my ass! The New York Times reveals, once again (as if anybody needed a reminder), that the "cause" comes before the truth.

[bilhosty]

So he is going to be unshakled to find the "truth".


Once a liberal media slime liar always a liberal media slime liar. I will bet nobody even watches his show.

[jebeier]

I will bet nobody even watches his show.

His numbers are going to make Air America look HUGH!

[Pharmboy]

Your post made me laugh along with you...excellent!

[Clioman]

"His numbers are going to make Air America look HUGH!"

Are you series?!

[Vigilanteman]

The Japanese have a good custom for old business stars they can't fire-- move them to an office with a window and nothing to do. They call them madogiwazoku, the tribe by the window. They used to spend their day staring out the window wondering what might have been. Now, they might also be allowed to surf the internet or play video games. But they have to show up for work. Anyone with self-respect generally resigns after a limited amount of time, but some hang on for years and years.

The company continues to pay their salary and pretend to respect their position while their younger colleagues snicker behind their backs knowing what really happened.

CBS ought to be forced to adopt this custom for Rather since (a)they carried his incompetence for so long and (b)it would tie him up so that he'd either have to show up for work or quit cold turkey with no severance package.

[NonValueAdded]

I'm surprised that AlGore hasn't snapped him up for crnt.

[Buckhead]

That passage reminded me of Nixon talking to the portraits in the Final Days.

You'd think a guy 74 would just go fishing or something.

[andyandval]

No sympathy at all.

As far as I'm concerned this a$$hole can't suffer enough.

[PGalt]

BUMP! BUMP!

[AmericanMade1776]

To: Howlin
Howlin, every single one of these memos to file is in a proportionally spaced font, probably Palatino or Times New Roman.

In 1972 people used typewriters for this sort of thing, and typewriters used monospaced fonts.

The use of proportionally spaced fonts did not come into common use for office memos until the introduction of laser printers, word processing software, and personal computers. They were not widespread until the mid to late 90's. Before then, you needed typesetting equipment, and that wasn't used for personal memos to file. Even the Wang systems that were dominant in the mid 80's used monospaced fonts.

I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old.

This should be pursued aggressively.



47 posted on 09/08/2004 11:59:43 PM EDT by Buckhead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1210662/posts

[maggief]

Mr. Rather also recounted that Mr. Cuban, a producer of "Good Night, and Good Luck," had told him that as part of the deal he expected to ask Mr. Rather for informal advice on future film projects. There, too, Mr. Rather said he was game.

He has experience making up stories.

Asked if the network had sought to marginalize him over his role in the disputed Guard report — including his spirited defense of the segment, for more than a week after it was broadcast — Mr. Rather said, "There's a lot I have yet to figure out."

Yet to figure out? They're fake, Dan.

[Pharmboy]

That would work...I used to have a weekend house upstate NY near to where Dan went fly fishing. And, once again, may I offer Freeper thanks to your quick action in bringing this mook down.

[AmericanMade1776]

[jebeier]

Maybe his ol' buddy Fidel can get him a job...

[veronica]

The sad result of Bush Derangement Syndrome, plus hubris.

[rod1]

Hope all the uber-liberal-biased agenda-driven MSM news people see just exactly what is in store for them in their twilight years of careers built on "Shaping" the news.

Bottom line- respect and credibility are earned--not propagandized by low viewership TV networks and fish wrap tree-destroying print.

One can also see it in the widespread "fame of and appreciation for" other liberals (meaning a fawning public incredibly spanning a few blocks of the upper East Side of Manhattan) such as the Johnny Apples, Clymers and Keith Olbermanns etc. of the world.

[nikos1121]

HAHAHAHAH

[andyandval]

upstate NY near to where Dan went fly fishing

I thought I smelled something funny around here last summer!

[jebeier]

Yet to figure out? They're fake, Dan.

Oh, he's figured that out. If he did not know from the git-go, he knows now.

What he is yet to figure out is why he got in trouble for it. His motives were pure. He was helping the cause. Why did the network land on him like a ton of bricks?

This he just can't figure out.