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Rather’s Lawsuit Shows Role of G.O.P. in Inquiry
The New York Times ^ | November 16, 2008 | Jacques Steinberg

Posted on 11/17/2008 11:43:56 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

When Dan Rather filed suit against CBS 14 months ago — claiming, among other things, that his former employer had commissioned a politically biased investigation into his work on a “60 Minutes” segment about President Bush’s National Guard service — the network predicted the quick and favorable dismissal of the case, which it derided as “old news.”

So far, Mr. Rather has spent more than $2 million of his own money on the suit. And according to documents filed recently in court, he may be getting something for his money.

Using tools unavailable to him as a reporter — including the power of subpoena and the threat of punishment against witnesses who lie under oath — he has unearthed evidence that would seem to support his assertion that CBS intended its investigation, at least in part, to quell Republican criticism of the network.

Among the materials that money has shaken free for Mr. Rather are internal CBS memorandums turned over to his lawyers, showing that network executives used Republican operatives to vet the names of potential members of a panel that had been billed as independent and charged with investigating the “60 Minutes” segment.

Mr. Rather attracted the ire of Republican bloggers and talk radio in particular after the segment, which was broadcast on a weekday edition of “60 Minutes” in September 2004. It purported to have unearthed evidence about favorable treatment extended to President Bush during his Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard.

The network eventually responded to its critics by saying it could no longer vouch for the authenticity of the documents on which the report had been based.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush; danrather; gop; media; propagandawingofdnc; ratherbiased; rathergate; rushlimbaugh; talkradio
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To: weegee
how much collusion there was with the Democrat party to obtain them.

They came from the site, Democrats.com.

They are still there.

http://democrats.com/view.cfm?id=23055

21 posted on 11/17/2008 12:24:24 PM PST by Dan(9698)
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To: xJones

Rather is a poster child for the serious psychological issues that infect “true believers” of leftism. There is a very strong delusional quality to his behavior along with a “any means justifies the ends” mentality.


22 posted on 11/17/2008 12:34:09 PM PST by neocon1984
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To: weegee

Something I ponder now and then goes like this:

Let’s say The Dan’s documents got saturation coverage in all media. It is all anyone wanted to talk about. John Francois won the election by a narrow margin. In Feb 2005, The Dan’s fraud is exposed. Now there is a movie.

The fossil Rather would have to hire a platoon of bodyguards, but the election results would have to stand.

Scary stuff. It could have happened and I am confident a slicker rat attempt will be made against a future strong GOP candidate.

The old media deserve every bit and more of the derision we toss at them.


23 posted on 11/17/2008 12:42:58 PM PST by Jacquerie (Democrats - Orwell's Children)
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra
Why does Rather think it was "Republican criticism"? Certainly all of the folks here on Free Republic are the only real Independents, totally free of bias and partisan points of view.

I think CBS' brass tried mightily to make sure we didnt' start going after each and every one of them until there were no more CBS brass!

Rather's just another bitter punk nursing a grievance about getting caught telling lies.

24 posted on 11/17/2008 1:12:51 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

He’s blaming the messenger that caught him in a deliberate lie. He still proclaims “fake but accurate” and stands by his story.


25 posted on 11/17/2008 1:29:47 PM PST by weegee (Global Warming Change? Fight Global Socialist CHANGE.)
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To: xJones

Don’t worry about him. The Dem congress will bail him out. They might even conduct an investigation based on his results to boot.


26 posted on 11/17/2008 2:28:39 PM PST by Pikachu_Dad
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
CBS intended its investigation, at least in part, to quell Republican criticism of the network

What a dopey contention.

CBS was responding to criticism of the story. Naturally, since the story was about a Republican, the criticism was coming from Republicans.

If there was criticism of a negative story about Greenpeace, one would expect that the most vocal criticism would be from Greenpeace. If the story featured obviously forged documents slamming Greenpeace, CBS would likely fire people, in part because of the criticism from Greenpeace that forced them to investigate in the first place.

27 posted on 11/17/2008 2:34:33 PM PST by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: dead

If Greenpeace were pressuring CBS they would fire people INSTANTLY. That’s because they wouldn’t care to have Greenpeace bomb their headquarters.


28 posted on 11/17/2008 4:40:58 PM PST by muawiyah
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