Good Morning . . .
The drama surrounding Rathergate and the report on the ill-conceived segemnt on the President is still festering at CBS.
Following the release of the report CBS requested the resignations of three prominent news officials deeply involved in the scandal. Josh Howard, Betsy West, and Mary Murphy have yet to resign and continue to collect their paychecks. They will do so until their contracts expire.
While most of the suspects remain silent and have hired sttormeys, Josh Howard, executive producer of '60 Minutes Wednesday,' is speaking out against his colleagues and CBS management.
Try to revise history and his role in the scandal, Howard is now asking CBS President Leslie Moonves to retract statements made about Howard, to restore his reputation in the news industry, and to admit his role and the role of CBS News Prsident Andrew Heyward in the matter.
A report in the New York Observer says that Moonves may be liable for a claim of defamation because in his remarlks he failed to say "in my opinion." Instead Moonves said 'the producer did this . . the producer did that.'
A CBS source according to the article is standing behind the inverstgative report into Rathergate and that Howard was simply trying to revise histoiry and blame others for his failure.
With the upcoming departure of Dan Rather, CBS News is planning a tribute to the primary culprit in the scandal on his final day in the anchor chair March 9. It is unlikely that Rather will come clean during the interview. It is unlikely that any reporter at CBS News has the nerve to ask the questions.
There is, however, a fatal flaw in the investigative report into Rathergate, it failed to declare that the memos were not authentic and it failed to see the liberal bias that has permeated CBS News for decades.
The CBS Three Won’t Slink Off; Hiring Lawyers
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There is good news coming from PBS headquarters in Virginia. PBS President Pat Mitchell is resigning next year.
Mitchell who came from CNN failed to lead the taxpayer dependent network into propsperity and growth.
Under her watch PBS ratings declined, station revenue declined. PBS dues soared, and membership declined.
Her failures were also the architect of the 'Postcards From Buster' debacle and demonstrated the arropgance of PBS and many of its stations. Critics from the left and the right admoished PBS for the 'Buster' affair.
Whoever PBS finds to replace Mitchell, it, like CBS, has lost its credibility, failed in its mission, and is not a good steward of taxpayer money.
While the administration has cut the appropriation for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, it is not enough. Personally, I would rather see empty Amtrak trains than the liberal bias and arrogance that comes from public television.
New York Post Online Edition: news
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The rhetoric is heating up in the Senate over President Bush's list of judicial nominees. The list contains the names of several nominees denied votes by a Democrat filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader Henry Reid (D-NV) says the democrats will likely employ the same tactics that prevented the nominees from receiving a vote on the Senate floor.
When asked about the nominees by reporters, Reid said "unless there's something that is new that I'm not aware of with each of these men and women, we will vote the same way we did in the past."
Unfortuinately for the new head obstructionist in the Senate the nominees did not receive a vote up or down. They did receive the refusal of Democrats to abide by the Advise and Consent clause of the Constitution.
Will the Republic leaders in the Senate use a rule change to prevent a filibuster for judicial nominees? Let's hope so.
If the Democrats can find enough votes to prevent confirmation, fine. That would give the nominees the appropriate conclusion to their nomination. Confirmation should not be stopped by a minority of Senators.
Republican Corrects the Record on Judicial Nominees -- 02/16/2005
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More in the Afternoon Update.
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