Top story
Discredited "reporter" Dan Rather still believes that the memos used on a story about President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard are not fake. He believes the facts show the memos and the story are accurate.
Just weeks before the November election Rather and producer Mary Mapes used documents that have been demonstrated to be forgeries in an attempt to sway the November election to John Kerry.
Thursday night, Rather was a guest on a special edition of 'Larry King Live.' Although Rather had been a guest on numerous shows on MSNBC and CNBC, CNN touted the interview as Rather;s first live interview since leaving the anchor chair.
Here is just a brief part of that interview:
Rather: "Now, the documents were a support for those and an important support, and when questions were raised, well, how do we know that documents are true? We had some problems. However, I do want to point out, and I -- listen, anybody who wants to castigate this, us for this, have at it. I will point out that the panel, which was headed by a President Nixon, Reagan, Bush family supporter and a journalist who said that George Bush 1 was one of the greatest people he ever met -- this panel came forward and what they concluded, among the things they concluded after months of investigation and spending millions of dollars, they could not determine that the documents were fraudulent. Important point, that we don't know whether the documents are fraudulent-"
King: "So, are you saying the story might be correct?"
Rather: "Well, I'm saying a prudent person might take that view."
King: "Do you have that view?"
Rather: "Well, I'm saying a prudent person might take that view. Number two, it's important, the panel said that this story was not -- the story was not born of any personal or political bias. Now, that's not all they said. They were very critical of CBS News, of 60 Minutes Weekday, and of myself, very critical of us for all kinds of things that they believe we should have done that we didn't do. And with some of those things, I do agree.
"But I do hope people will keep in mind that two of their findings were what I just described to you. Wasn't born of political or personal bias, and they could not determine whether the documents were fraudulent or not. It's not a complaint, but I do want to point out -- and I understand when people write about this story, they often say, well, they dealt with fake documents or fraudulent documents. Let's just say gently that that's not known. That's not a fact. And if you're going to criticize us -- and I think we should be criticized for some of the things we did and didn't do in reporting -- then gently I say, maybe you wouldn't want to say that, and the panel could not and did not conclude it."
Rather soon summed up, "This much we know: Journalism is not a precise science. It's, on its best days, is a crude art. We make mistakes; I make mistakes. With more than 50 years as a journalist, I've at least had the opportunity to blow more stories, make more mistakes than maybe anybody in television. I'm not proud of this, but I do know the reality of reporting, and as good as they were, and they were as good as anybody in my lifetime, Woodward, Bernstein, Bradlee and company -- they're not -- you make mistakes as you go along. What you hope is the public will understand."
I think I need an interpreter for Ratherspeak. Let's see, there were problems with the documents. Yes, the were forged or fake. The reason the commission could not determine if they were fraudulent is the stonewalling by Rather, Mapes, and others plus the documents given to the commission were copies of copies of copies. No one could determine their authenticity at that point.
Dan admits mistakes. Yes, there are so many it would take hours to recount them all, but more than anything Rather lost his credibility and the viewers' trust by failing to act of the "problems" with the documents.
While Rather will not admit it, it is obvious to anyone that his leaving the anchor chair before he wanted to is DIRECTLY linked o the story on '60 Minutes Wednesday' and the "cover-up."
For CNN's transcript of the program: transcripts.cnn.com
--
Other interesting items
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is a soft-spoken man until it comes to comments about President Bush and Republican leadership.
Last month, while speaking to high school students in Las Vegas, Reid called the president a loser and a liar. TO cover his tracks he quickly apologized to a local newspaper and to the White House for the "loser" comment.
In an interview in Rolling Stone due for release today, Reid continued his sharp-tongued attacks on the President and other Republicans. He said that he did apologize for the lose comment, "but never for the "liar," have I?"
Reid said his Republican counterpart, Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, is "being driven by these right-wing zealots." While Reid said he likes Frist, he thinks he's politically inexperienced. "He's a doctor and doctors have a little different outlook on life," he tells the magazine. "Being a senator is about the art of compromise. Â… And if anyone feels that compromising is unethical or immoral, then they should get in some other business, because that's what we do."
This interview will not help Reid win any Republicans for future compromises.
More from The Hill and the complete interview in Rolling Stone.
--
A judge has set a hearing for August to determinewhetherr to revoke probation for the youth given a second chance after beating a younggirll to death.
Lionel Tate continues to be heldwithoutt bond for the robbery of a pizza delivery man.
If probation is revoked, Tate could face a life sentence.
Fla. Youth Faces Hearing in Pizza Robbery - Yahoo! News
--
More later.
No comments:
Post a Comment