Posted on 07/13/2006 6:17:19 PM PDT by LdSentinal
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather says he has considered filing a lawsuit against the network where he had worked for 44 years.
Appearing Wednesday night on CNN's "Larry King Live," Rather paused after a question from King and then said he wouldn't talk about whether he would file a lawsuit against CBS. But he acknowledged, "I can't say that I've never thought about it."
It wasn't clear from the interview what Rather considered to be possible grounds for a lawsuit.
A CBS spokesman commented late Wednesday after the interview, saying, "CBS believes that it has dealt with Dan's departure in a completely fair, equitable and honest way, and we wish him nothing but the best." CBS declined further comment.
Rather said that he brought up several times while at CBS that, after his departure from the anchor desk and assignment as a "60 Minutes" correspondent, the network wasn't living up to its end of his contract. CBS has said that with the many "60 Minutes" correspondents, there weren't enough assignments for him.
Rather said that he had never been told what led to his departure from CBS. He said he wasn't sure whether it was related to the aftermath of the "60 Minutes Wednesday" story on President Bush's military career that relied in part on unsubstantiated documents.
"They handled it in a curious way," Rather told King about the circumstances surrounding his departure. "I wish I knew the whole story, I wish I had an opportunity to say, 'Hey, what's happening? It's Dan, you know me."'
He also said that he had never heard from the head of the corporation or the head of the news division. Rather didn't mention in Wednesday's interview that the day after CBS announced he had left the network, he went to lunch with CBS News president Sean McManus. McManus is said to have explained to Rather that it was McManus's decision and that there wasn't enough work on "60 Minutes" to suit Rather.
Rather wouldn't directly answer former colleague Mike Wallace, who questioned his behavior after the "Memogate" scandal that led to the firing of producer Mary Mapes and the forced resignation of four other CBS employees. Wallace and others, including several in the CBS old guard, said Rather should have resigned.
"They have to answer for themselves for the times in the past when things might not have gone right," Rather said.
As for the September 2004 "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on President Bush, Rather said that CBS had been the victim of forces that wanted to attack the weakest part of the story.
"Do I believe the truth of the story? Absolutely," Rather said.
Why get all professional now? Just make something up.
Dan, you probably made a seven-figure salary for decades...just drop this thought - along with your vain "legacy" dreams.....enjoy your millions and chalk up your failure to 'experience'.
What's the frequency, Kenneth?
Hubert Humphrey. Now that character brings back memories--when I served in detention for a week with my buddies for singing 'Dump the Hump'.
Buckhead, May I please have your autograph?
:-)
Dan is just gonna have a big heart attack and die. That may be the best ending for everyone.
Maybe, Dan, they aren't telling you because they know you.
>I served in detention for a week with my buddies for singing 'Dump the Hump'.
.... and it's on your PERMANENT RECORD!
(PS, I'm proud of you!)
Patience is a virtue...but when it comes to the likes of this assclown liar, I truly hope that he fades into obscurity fast.
Dan Rather gives me the urge to projectile vomit.
Does he have a new show, or something?
Let me know so I can avoid it.
We were out eating dinner and the place always have Fox News on. I had my back to the television but our friend was facing the television and he saw Valerie Plame's picture shown and then Brit's face and he said "Even Brit's having a hard time not laughing."
Another neighbor stopped by and joined us and he's an attorney. He just kept shaking his head, ordered another drink and said: "We need to have this on Court TV so we can watch the final humiliation of the Wilsons."
Think about how much fun it would be to follow. Dan files suit against the very people he conspired with to defraud the country the truth about the Rathergatge memos. CBS, you know, has all of the internal memos which were covered up by Attorney General Thornberg. They will have to huddle together to decide again which documents they would continue to hide. Discovery could be very, very funny.
Bring out your dead,
Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.
Oh, dear. Do you think we should "lawyer up?"
Go Dan.......Go!!!
Great to see the Libs eat their own!
I like it. Got a lot of potential for Schadenfreude.
He screwed up royally, flat out refused for days to admit even the potential that the provenance of the documents might have been dubious. After days of pressure he even went so far as to find a "witness" to claim that a memo "like that" one he put on the air was written, in the failed attempt to cover for what was becoming a clear embarassment for him, his team and his network.
How many people lost their jobs because of his decisions? He doesn't seem to care or show any remorse for that. He'll "stand by his story" and possibly "sue" because the negative repercussions of his bad judgement came to haunt his employer and colleagues alike?
If any of us make a very bad decision, and then make it worse, and it causes our employer and colleagues to suffer a loss of credibility and significant financial losses, we should be fired.
Perhaps his letter of resignation was a forgery?
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