Comments on the Dan Rather Story

readers' comments
Rather’s Lawsuit Shows Role of G.O.P. in InquiryBack to Article »
Evidence seems to support Dan Rather’s assertion that CBS wanted its investigation into a segment about President Bush’s National Guard service to mollify critics.
Share your thoughts.
Post a Comment
Editors' Selections
RSSAll Comments - Oldest First
1 2 3 Next »
1 - 25 of 55Show:
Oldest First Newest First Readers' Recommendations Editors' Selections Replies
1.
November 17, 2008 4:29 am
Link
If Dan Rather's lawsuit against his old employer - CBS News - should prove that CBS was more interested in silencing the screams coming from Republican bloggers and conservative talk show hosts than it was in finding out whether there was anything to the story, then CBS News will have brought down its own house.When I first heard the story about President George W. Bush, I thought Rather and his team had erred badly. Bad timing and poor sourcing - it seemed to me - were the reasons for the story's failure.But the ensuing investigation should have been an independent and impartial effort to find the truth and to find where the players in the drama had erred. Otherwise, why convene such a panel at all?PAK
— Paul Kellogg, New York, NY
Recommend Recommended by 14 Readers
2.
November 17, 2008 4:29 am
Link
Congratulations, Dan. You were robbed of a proper farewell.
— Sami, New York, NY
Recommend Recommended by 24 Readers
3.
November 17, 2008 4:29 am
Link
The Tiffany Network? Paley must be turning over and over....
— lmscot, Midwest
Recommend Recommended by 3 Readers
4.
November 17, 2008 4:29 am
Link
The M.O. of the Bush White House was blackballing just about everyone who dared to step on the toes of the G.O.P. And sadly, many of America's media outlets were "wrapped around the finger of Bush & Co" so they could access the Bush White House and compete with the Bush White House's preferred networks like FOX.Our news outlets are no longer concerned about honest and straightforward journalism. Instead they're all about infotainment, stirring up "fake outrage," and appealing to the lowest common denominator by appealing to the clueless, uneducated, and uninformed.With this in mind, it wouldn't surprise me if CBS used Rathergate as an opportunity and an excuse to not only appease the G.O.P., but also as an opportunity to "get rid of the old guy" and replace the old with the fresh young Katie Couric. Infotainment has never been about serious journalism, and Katie Couric fits "the infotainment formula" that our news outlets now strive to achieve.I think anyone who's ever lost a job as a result of "corporate blackballing" can feasibly see the writing on the wall if not the likelihood of truth to Rather's accusations.I hope Rather's suit will not only vindicate Rather's reputation, but I also hope the suit proves what many Americans have known over the last 8 years... ...that the majority of what has been reported to the public on the Bush White House has been what the Bush White House wanted us to hear.
— The James, Cincinnati, OH
Recommend Recommended by 62 Readers
5.
November 17, 2008 4:29 am
Link
Whatever the merits of Mr. Rather's case, this piece shines a light on what many already accept: the deplorable state of news at CBS.
— RP, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Recommend Recommended by 12 Readers
6.
November 17, 2008 4:29 am
Link
I wish Mr. Rather all the best, and would like to see him back in force soon.
— hgovernick, Saint Louis, MO
Recommend Recommended by 20 Readers
7.
November 17, 2008 4:29 am
Link
Rather is attempting to demonstrate that "political correctness" was actually an overt effort of the Republicans in getting people fired for doing their jobs. The fire was obvious, who lit the match remains the question.By the way, has ANYONE who served with Bush during his lost year in the Alabama Air National Guard ever come forward to claim the $10,000 reward from Michael Moore?
— queenida1, Silicon Valley
Recommend Recommended by 38 Readers
8.
November 17, 2008 4:29 am
Link
Re: "Jim Quinn, a lawyer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges who is representing CBS, said in an interview that whatever Mr. Rather had learned in the discovery process would not help his case. He said it was the network that had gained the most ground."What Mr. Quinn and CBS seem oblivious to is the damage to their reputation, whatever the outcome of the trial. As a decades-long viewer of the CBS Evening News, I am flabbergasted at the way Mr. Rather was treated.Caving to the Bush administration whilst stabbing a long time employee in the back has to be one of the most shameful episodes in journalistic history.
— Amy, San Francisco
Recommend Recommended by 49 Readers
9.
November 17, 2008 4:29 am
Link
This all seems Part & Parcel of the reach, improperly exercised power and dirty fighting agenda that came to be during the last 8 years - an era when growing Government Secrecy & Unaccountability at the Executive Branch effectively kept secret news and issues each US Citizen is Constitutionally entitled to know about; and which was surpressed using every dirty trick known - including throwing a 'taint' on whomever is the messenger while strong arming institutions.With the names changed, it appears mob-like behavior. Scarier still, we realize that innumberable crimes against our country were made possible by Cheney, Bush and that 'crowd' - PERFECT example is the War Profiteering that continues today. The Musical Chairs that is the Defense Industry AND the Pentagon virtually assures a Closed Loop of conspirators in a world where there is NO oversight nor enforcement while BILLIONS of out tax dollars are taken from us each month through Fraud, Overcharging and other traitorous crimes.If Obama wishes to make an incredible advance in the economic crisis, he can clean up the War Profiteering and free up BILLIONS each month.
— Michael, Northeast CT
Recommend Recommended by 28 Readers
10.
November 17, 2008 6:43 am
Link
It looks like CBS has once again acted fearfully in the face of a bullying adversary. Remember when CBS pulled back on broadcasting a story on "60 Minutes" for fear of upsetting Big Tobacco? This time around it was the Republican Right. So much for big bad liberal MSM.
— CynthiaD, VA.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
11.
November 17, 2008 6:43 am
Link
is this supposed to be shocking. we now know that geral ford was mole on the warren commission, that there were "moles" involved in the watergate scandals, not to mention our beloved clinton special ayatollah ken starr. why should we expect corporations to show more courage when confronted with the righteous indignation of real americans like limbaugh, rove and company. you betcha!!
— george, columbia, sc
Recommend Recommended by 1 Reader
12.
November 17, 2008 6:43 am
Link
As someone peripherally involved in the Killian memo controversy, I've been following the Rather lawsuit with considerable interest. It has always been obvious to me that the Thornburgh/Boccardi commisssion made no effort to determine if Mary Mapes did due diligence in vetting the Killian memos based on contemporaneous journalistic standards and practices. The disclosures arising from the Rather lawsuit are confirming what had been intuitively obvious from reading the Thornburgh/Boccardi report -- that the results of the commission were pre-determined to fit a specific political agenda, and the report was written as a prosecutors brief against Mapes and Rather, instead of an unbiased examination of what was really a minor lapse in journalistic practice -- and one need only examine what passes for "news" nowadays to understand how minor an infraction 60 Minutes committed.
— paul_lukasiak, Philadelphia, PA
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
13.
November 17, 2008 6:43 am
Link
Sadly, the story's no longer newsworthy. We've got 5,000 dead soldiers as a result of a lie shared between Bush and Congress, and the person we've elected to be the next president didn't care enough about those dead soldiers to impeach the character of any of those liars.
— BYOB, PA
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers
14.
November 17, 2008 6:43 am
Link
The really important question that has not yet been answered is who produced the fake documents in the first palce. It smells to high heavan of a rove trick.
— Brandon, PA
Recommend Recommended by 17 Readers
15.
November 17, 2008 6:43 am
Link
There was never a doubt in my mind that Rather was being hijacked by the goons of the Bush administration. I hope he wins zillions and that the story gets front page coverage.
— judi954@aol.com, weston,Fl
Recommend Recommended by 25 Readers
16.
November 17, 2008 6:43 am
Link
I will be delighted to see CBS go off the air. I feel that all 3 networks have given up their right to use the public network. They have been such bias organs that they would publish a national secret if they had some person who would divulge it to them.
— FRANK, BAKERSFIELD
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
17.
November 17, 2008 6:43 am
Link
No doubt the original story was genuine, but the documents provided to CBS were forged by dirty tricksters under the direction of Carl Rove, in a successful effort to sideline a sensitive issue for GWB.
— amboycharlie, Nagoya, Japan
Recommend Recommended by 24 Readers
18.
November 17, 2008 6:52 am
Link
go dan go!pay for the microscope, and get the world!
— bloggod, the dalles, oregon
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
19.
November 17, 2008 6:52 am
Link
When asked if G.W. Bush fulfilled his Air National Guard requirements, the replyis always "He was paid." That's not answering the question. Pay records in the midand late 1960's were hand written, with new records every six months. As a military disbursing office at that time, I can tell of many errors.The question is: "Did G.W. Bush fulfill his Air National Guard requirement?" And, yes, 40+ years later, I can name some of the men who I served with. Who servedin the Air National Guard with G.W. Bush? Please step forward.
— Arnold Shapack, Tewksbury Township, NJ
Recommend Recommended by 26 Readers
20.
November 17, 2008 6:52 am
Link
Somebody forged documents and fed them to a willing press with the express effort to illegaly affect a presidential election and all the liberals and media could do was go after the president and the Repbulicans. This is as close to a constitutional crisis as I have seen in my life and noone seems to care. Why no investigation? Why no outrage? The handling of this affair was deplorable by EVERYONE.
— Bill Redner, Stamford, CT
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
21.
November 17, 2008 6:52 am
Link
The whole Rather-CBS affair smacks of a Rove operation. He is credited with the devious technique of loosing a fraudulent attack, apparently by an opponent of his client, against his client. When the fraudulent nature of the attack is revealed, there is then a strong rebound in favor of his client.
— Al Feldzamen, Ithaca, NY
Recommend Recommended by 11 Readers
22.
November 17, 2008 6:52 am
Link
And what about the control of the rest of the Media, and their painting out what Real TV, Amy Goodman, and overseas media regularly report on the horrendous sufferings of ALL "Occupied" people, where the killers are "police", and the resisters are "militants" ? Who will free our Media ?
— Jock, Cambridge,MA
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
23.
November 17, 2008 6:52 am
Link
I hope that in the course of depositions, Mr. Rather uncovers whether there were any financial pressures from the G.O.P. on CBS, such as threats to withdraw advertising from the network.Meanwhile, I am aghast at some of the candidates for an "impartial" investigation. Ann Coulter? Pat Buchanan?Holy Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, Batman! Jabez Stone had a better panel to try his soul!
— TN, Friendswood, Texas
Recommend Recommended by 12 Readers
24.
November 17, 2008 6:52 am
Link
Dan, From the start I felt that whole story was a set up by whoever the source was. It was a red herring and you took the bait. It smelled of the Nixon days and the Segretti letter only this time the goal was to float a story about Bush's nefarious service and then negate the story implicitly negating the actions of the young Bush. It worked. The real story about Bush died and the story about Rather lived on. I wish we could have investigated the source of this story as well as CBS's role in the cover up.
— Barry Lane, Vermont
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
25.
November 17, 2008 6:52 am
Link
Well, I don't know if I'll live the requisite thirty years for reasonably objective history to be published about the Bush 43 administration, but I'm hopeful this is what my children and grandchildren will be reading: A sordid tale that will leave them wondering how he ever ascended the office in the first place; tainted votes in Florida while his brother served as its chief executive; a tarnished Supreme Court that rubber stamped that travesty, a grandiose "war on terror" that nearly bankrupted the country, inflating its currency, and substantially lowering its standard of living while doing nothing to address the real causes. And then there's this episode, part of the re-election campaign that featured the Swiftboating of a genuine American war hero in order to further the agendas of men of whom the overwhelming majority never saw military service (and yet beat the drums of patriotism repeatedly); their purported leader himself only flew training missions on those rare occasions he decided to show up, no doubt because his hangover had subsided . . .And all this accomplished while loudly proclaiming his faith in Jesus and his father in heaven when it was his own earthly father he duped--in prodigal son fashion--into providing him the machinery and stooges to achieve this fiasco . . .
— concolor1, Salt Lake
Recommend Recommended by 39 Readers
1 2 3 Next »
1 - 25 of 55