Dan Rather stands by his story
Saturday, September 29th, 2007
Sidney Blumenthal has an incredible piece in Salon on the Dan Rather/CBS lawsuit: Dan Rather stands by his story.
Rather could have simply allowed the statute of limitations to run out, lived off his millions, and faded away. But the incident ate at him. On one level, the Bush National Guard story is about Bush and the National Guard. On another, of course, it is about Rather’s reputation. But on yet another it is about CBS’s overwhelming desire to please the Bush White House and censor itself. The White House campaign against Rather has been so successful that many in the national press corps behave as though in mouthing its talking points they are demonstrating their own independent thought.
This lawsuit has the potential to shine a bright light on how CBS and other news organizations have been systematically intimidated by the Bush administration, both the meddling but also the corporate support in suppressing information that might hurt Bush. I hope Rather kicks their butts, they desserve it.
Thank you for blogging/linking to this article from Salon…most enlightening. I have printed it and will share it with others. I hope that Dan Rather is successful in getting the truth out.
Diane: Me too. I think it’s a shame that both CBS and the rest of the broadcasting community has gone against him and because of their influence on public opinion, has swayed the public against him too. No matter what you think of him personally (I think he’s old school with lots of integrity, a la Walter Cronkite, his mentor) you can’t deny that Sumner Redstone and CBS has done the Bush administration’s bidding in firing him rather than standing behind him and his story on Bush’s desertion from National Guard duty.
Let’s keep up the pressure and keep this story alive and credible.
I used to have a professor’s analysis of the documents, his evidence is impossible to come by online now. He said they were genuine. I was in contact with David Van Os, Burkett’s lawyer.
This was a set up.
I hope Rather wins billions.
Yuri: I too hope Rather wins but not for the money but instead because it will out the Bush administration, something our Congress seems to be too chickenshit to do and it will also out CBS, something no one on the inside is willing to do. Go Dan!
I watched the Rather interview recently and was blown away at how easily we’ve been lulled and misled away from the truth of the original story: George W used his family influence and position to avoid the type of military service he so willingly trumpets for others. Absolutely Go Dan!!
Sad to see how the so called liberal media gets co opted.
Sandy: the sad part is, few denied that Bush did this, they just got CBS/60 minutes to pull the story and fire Rather based on one piece of evidence which was later proved to be true. The problem goes deeper than Bush, it’s also the fact that CBS/Sumner Redstone lost it’s ability to do the right thing. I doubt CBS is any worse than NBC or ABC, they’re all whores for ad money and none has told the truth or stood up to Bush, Inc. Sigh. Too bad more people don’t read alternative press.
The money is punitive, but like you, I don’t really care about the money and I don’t think Rather real does either.
How much would it cost to buy our country back?
Everybody knows.
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody knows, everybody knows
Thats how it goes
Everybody knows
–Leonard Cohen
Right on Yuri, perfect quote. Thanks for checking in.
Palast’s take :
“The story is stone-cold solid. I know, because we ran it on BBC Television a year before CBS (see that broadcast here). BBC has never retracted a word of it.”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gyFdZqWDn3c
It’s amazing how the Bush machine and American willingness to be taken for a ride has destroyed Rather’s career and made this moron president. Bush is Bush but he’d be back in Texas had Americans not bought into this crap. Shame on us.