Dan Rather will be destroyed....

[kentuck]

..if the right wing has their way. They will not slow down their attacks. They smell blood in the water. And they are persistent. They do it by a thousand cuts. But, this time, it may be their own blood they smell in the water.

It was amazing to watch Republican congressmen vilify his reporting. Tomorrow it will be Rush and Hannity in a full-court press against Dan Rather and CBS. However, Dan Rather's career is complete. He is not worried that they will end it. He has nothing to lose and they have everything to lose.

[Doosh]

1. I really hope they have something up there sleeve

that'll knock these RW fascists for a loop

[rocktivity]

25. I didn't get it at first

Why was Dan Rather interviewing the secretary if she was of the opinion that the documents were fake? As it turned out, because she had no argument with the content of the docs, AND because she was willing to testify that Bush didn't complete his drills, didn't obey orders, and upset Killian. But that's a contradiction. right? Yes, and it works in our favor. If you find the secretary credible enough to believe she's right about the documents, then she must also be right about George's tenure in the Guard!

I've been saying all day that Dan Rather had a few extra cards in his deck. He's played his first one--and put the GOP in the hole.

:headbang:
rocknation

[alphafemale]

34. He looked EXTREMELY confident. He was deliberately guiding that interview

I think he's playing this out perfectly.

I'm not sure where this is going, but I've got the feeling there's something BIG coming.

It's almost as if he's timing the moment to make the repugs look the most foolish and have the damage be the most devastating.

[RoyalWickedness]

35. I think the secretary

may have her own CYA file, containing the memos that she DID type. Now wouldn't that be something?

[alphafemale]

36. She did say there were "similar" memos didn't she?

:evilgrin:

[LunaC]

2. Killing the Messenger

A plan that's never failed for Rove.

[Cha]

6. Until now! Because Kerry/Edwards are going

to win and anybody who has been "killed" by the rove-machine will be resusitated!

[aquart]

3. No, he won't.

And, eventually, there will be the movie.

[kentuck]

9. You are right because the right-wing will not have their way....

They think they can destroy him and they will go after him.

[spanone]

4. I think Dan Rather will kick their asses. He will not lay down.

And people like and respect Dan.

[mbali]

5. Rather didn't just fall off the vegetable truck this morning

[wurzel]

7. Rather has 'em by the balls. Their hearts and minds will follow!

[shance]

8. Dan Rather will be a hero from this. History will treat him well.

Hes answering the truth when no other mainstream journalist is.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. What's the frequency Kenneth?

In other words, Rather will be fine. A good friend (and fellow DUer) was right in pointing out that Rather has been pretty truthful of late. Even before this. He was the one who came clean on how the media was supposed to "act" after Sept 11. :hi:

[napi21]

11. Rather's been around the block a few times. Stay out of his way

and watch. There aren't very many real journalists left in the media, but he is one of the few. I do continue to send him supporting emails at [e-mail] just to let him know he has support out here, but I trust he will win in this avalanch of BS.

There is an advantage to being one of the oldest in the business. You learn a lot of how they come after you, and how to get them too.

[Booster]

21. I just sent him an email saying not to reveal his source

until Robert Novak reveals who in the White House gave him the info re: Valerie Plame - sounds fair to me.

[grasswire]

12. It's a grudge match, you know

He drove Father Bush into cursing on television, hollering about Rather being a pussy yada yada.

It's a blood grudge match. They want to get him as badly as they wanted to get Saddam.

I wonder if W. will take Rather's pistol for a battle trophy?

[SayitAintSo]

19. Really ?

Briefly .... what's the story here .... thanks....

[grasswire]

26. here it is

In 1988, Rather interviewed Poppy Bush. Toward the end, he ambushed Bush by asking about Iran Contra. Bush had thought it would be a softball interview. Oops!

...............
After the interview, Bush made a comment when he thought the microphone was off:
"The bastard didn't lay a glove on me." "He makes Lesley Stahl look like a pussy."
Bush later apologized at a South Dakota campaign stop:
"If I had known the microphone was on, I wouldn't have done it."


"I was doing the Rather live program from my office right in the Capitol.... There were four minutes of clips -- all questioning my word. It was a mean, tough interview. Dan came on, and he and I got right with it. I tried to keep cool.... But I'd be damned if I was going to let this guy walk all over me..."
--George H. W. Bush in his diary, January 25, 1988, included in All the Best, George Bush. "I won the battle with Dan Rather that night, but he won the war. His coverage of my campaign and presidency was consistently negative."
--George H. W. Bush in his 1999 book, All the Best, George Bush.
.......................

Rather also is known for attacking Chuck Colson during the Nixon era.

[SayitAintSo]

45. Thanks for replying on that ... interesting

Looks like a blood feud ... let's hope Dan wins this round.

[girl gone mad]

47. Funny Bush should mention Stahl.

Who broke the latest spy scandal?

IMO, CBS is onto something. They seem to have good sources.

[GingerSnaps]

13. I wonder if Dan has bodyguards?

If not he is going to need them.

[tjdee]

14. "Some people look at me and see a swagger which in TX is called walking".

Dan Rather is a REAL Texan.

He'll be fine.

[Cha]

15. I hear ya!

[KoKo]

16. Well if he goes down and "we" go down...at least one Media person did

their job. And, for that I'm glad. We have done all we could do, those of us on this site filled with anger after the "Selection 2000" we faxed, phoned, e-mailed, did prayer groups, lit candles, tried to channel karma, protested, e-mailed the UN the nights before the Invasion of Iraq, went back and joined campaigns and fought for our candidates.

We here can't do anymore. Dan Rather can't do anymore. It's up to the Candidate who came out of this and his campaign to pull this off and pull us through. There's nothing else.

I applaud Rather for sticking with this, and laugh at and mock the media whores who are showing their "true colors" emboldened by the body count in Iraq and a President who lied and is destroying what most of us thought were the ideals of America.

Let them take it down. Enjoy their perks inside the beltway and their prestige. In the end they will have nothing.

A rant from an exhausted koko...who's just running on the last gallon of gas, here.

[olddem43]

17. Rather is a giant among the current midgets in journalism.

He is the direct descendant of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.

[shrdlu]

18. Something up their sleeve...

was 86-year-old Marion Carr Knox, secretary to dubya's squadron commander. She whopped up on dubya like a red-headed stepchild.

Dan Rather sleeps well tonight.

[Meshuga]

20. Rather will be just fine

[MuseRider]

22. Yes they will do that

but I doubt at this point Mr. Rather cares. We should continue to send mail to CBS. They need to know we are out here and we are supportive of the last investigative reporter out there. I seriously doubt they would have done this if they did not have the answers already and credible sources to prove it. They have only begun this story. I can't help it, my hopes are high. It seems like a small issue with everything else going on but every little bit is helping.

[mbali]

23. Rather will be fine - maybe he's our modern day Joseph Welch

the man who spoke truth to power and began the end of McCarthy with a well-timed and heartfelt "have you no sense of decency at long last?"

[alphafemale]

37. Oh sweet justice. "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" spoken again.

A single statement that broke the back of McCarthyism and cast its twitching carcass to the rubbish bin of bad ideas.

It would be grand. It WILL be grand.

Something similar to that WILL be spoken soon.

I really beleive this. Rather is sitting on something beyond, far beyond what's been revealed so far.

[RebelYell]

24. Dan Rather was in Dallas

on the grassy knoll. I wonder what else he knows.

[Karenina]

27. Dan Rather

is now punching a BIG HOLE in the credibility of a bloated, life-threatening, blood-sucking parasite and by doing so re-establishing his own. He's a TEXAN. Pass the popcorn! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[liberal N proud]

28. This is good, the rove machine has finally pissed of a journalist

One with enought power and clout that they can't just move him to a lesser position without people asking questions.
He could sway other journalist to fall in line as well.
Go Dan Rather!

[wishlist]

29. They want CBS to get in line with other Bush-supporting media

Repub actions regarding the whole forgery issue are a very well coordinated attack and serve as a warning to anyone else and the rest of the media to not mess with Dumbya. Bushco must be very confident that they have either purged or locked away most of his original files that prove the contents of the docs, and they are very confident that the vast majority of media outlets are under their sway.

[Cartooner]

41. AFTER MATT LAUER and NBC'S rip on Kitty Kelly. . .

I WANT CBS TO HAVE HER ON.... IT'S TIME SHE TELLS WHICH MEDIA ARE CAVING TO BUSH AND HIS HENCHMEN.

[PCIntern]

30. Those of us who have been around a while

know that Rather's big break came becasue he was the lcoal CBS reporter in Dallas on 11/22/63. Early on, as a Texan, he was part of the media conspiracy to keep the lid on the Texas assasination of the President who was then replaced by a Texan. Poppy Bush has been mentioned by many in the contexts above back in the early and mid-60's as was Nixon, who named Poppy to those Ambassadorships. Then, Rather was given the WH where he crucified Nixon on several occasions including one press conference where they went toe-to-toe. It was wincingly frightening - here you had a President on his way to a catastrophe and Rather hammered a nail into him right there on live TV. CBS awarded Cronkite's post to him when the real heir probably should have been Roger Mudd but Rather had a certain appeal as a gunslinger, Mudd was very capable and had a terrific delivery but was dull by comparison - he was an intellectual in the CBS tradition of Murrow, Collingwood, and Daniel Schorr - but Rather prevailed. He was not cut from the same cloth as the others, but he was fresh-faced and authoritative.

To his credit, he nailed Poppy, but to his debit, they never really pressed the story on the deal which held the hostages until after the election of 1980, brokered by Bush, Sr.

Rather may have a trump card here - I don't want to speculate on a public thread but I have a strange feeling that something's going to happen real soon. The next 7-10 days will tell the tale. Could be explosive. It might be the kind of thing which would make Woodward and Bernstein's work look insignificant by comparison.

[Cha]

39. Thank you for your insight, PCIntern!

I remember as a teenager driving off the road in Phoenix, AZ when I heard on the radio that Prez Kennedy had been assassinated. I got to my mother's house and saw Dan Rather on tv reporting on it from Dallas. Some things just don't leave you.

[Catfight]

44. I suspected as much too. I'm thinking that the warm-up was to get

the public used to documents being in question, so when the public sees an authentic original, that may have nothing to do with the AWOL story, they are more inclined to understand (spoon fed) what the truth is. The Republicans can't cry forgery on every document that comes out, so I'm thinking they have something so big that this story is just an appetizer to the main course. I'd RATHER hear the ugly truth than a beautiful lie!

The whole Right Wing Republician noise machine is on the line, not Rather and CBS.

[liveoaktx]

31. I was disturbed to catch Scotty's press conf on cspan last night

with the reporters. One guy asked, first, about the AP reporter who did the *boo* story, which was later retracted, and what happened to him (ie, was he punished or banished from the WH Press Corps?) and then that reporter brought up, without mentioning his name, the broadcast media reporting FORGERIES, what was happening to THAT station, and would this impact the debates (ie, since CBS sponsoring one of the debates, would it be changed?)

When the reporter said this, Scotty smirked himself and blew it off but he looked really pleased.

Made me think that the press corps was like a pack of dogs turning on CBS. (The conference was earlier in the day than 60 Minutes, however)
On edit, here's the link to the WH Press Conf with snippet ....
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040915-3.html
Q Friday a week ago, the AP reported from West Allis, Wisconsin, that the crowd booed the President's good wishes for Clinton recovery. But after two Milwaukee talk radio stations broadcast what was all applause and no boos, the AP on Saturday sent out a retraction saying there was no booing. And my question --

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me state for the record that I think the Associated Press corrected that within a very short period of time, on the same day.

Q No, it was the next day.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, it was the same day, I believe.

Q All right. Are you concerned that there is no AP reporting of what they have done to the reporter whom they report put an untruth on the national wire? And I have a follow-up.

MR. McCLELLAN: The reporter made a correction and we appreciated him making that correction quickly -- because it did not happen.

Q Presuming that you would not provide Kitty Kelley a reserved, front-row seat in these briefings, or at presidential news conferences, why do you continue to do so for a network that nationally televised forgeries that malign the President? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I'm not even going to respond to that question.

Q You're not going to respond?

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead.

Q Thank you. One more time with the documents. CBS, even today, is standing by the documents --

MR. McCLELLAN: Does everybody agree, just one more time? (Laughter.)

Q Just one more time for me. (Laughter.) Even today they're standing by the documents that nearly every expert has determined are probably fake. Since it's brought the network's credibility and objectivity into question, is the White House considering pulling out of the debate that CBS is to moderate?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, in terms of the debates -- and I wouldn't connect the two here -- those are ongoing discussions between the two campaigns, and I don't have any update from here at this point

[mbali]

33. The AP and Kelley questions were by Lester Kinsolving, the resident nut

int the White House press corps. He's so far right and conspiratorial that even the press secretrary never answers his questions. These questions are typical of Lester.

[rullery]

32. I'm watching CBS for all my news now!

Ever since Dan Rather boldly presented the story on 60 Minutes about Dubya's dereliction of duty in TANG, I have stopped watching the crap on CNN and FOX that passes for news on those channels. In spite of intense pressure to get CBS to back down, the company has held firm in their support of Rather.

And now we have the elderly secretary who used to work for Bush' commander in TANG. While she doubts that the documents per se are authentic, she states that the gist of them is really accurate. It appears that someone has revised the memos that she did type for her boss. She says that Bush considered himself above having to follow orders from his superiors. When he decided to go off to Alabama to work on a senatorial campaign, he simply abandoned his obligation to TANG.

So the story presented by Rather stands. Bush used political influence to get into the Guard, and political influence to get out of the Guard with an honorable discharge, in spite of failing to fulfill his obligations. Some say that this is old news, and of no import today. But it speaks volumes about the character, or lack thereof, of our current President.

In support of CBS and Dan Rather, whenever anyone calls to poll me as to what television I watch, I will tell them CBS! Let's all do what we can to kick up the Nielsen ratings for these media heroes!

[SayitAintSo]

46. I agree ... CBS for me

I've already written and called them.

[RobinA]

38. This Is Getting To Be

a situation where the usual Repub tactics are working for Dems for a change. The longer they scream about forgeries, the longer this story is in the news and people are on camera talking about what an idiot Bush is. Even though the take-home message will be that the docs are forged (whether they are or not), this issue gets people like the secretary in front of the cameras.

And that's your GRANDMA up there saying Bush is a jerk. Our side can't buy that kind of publicity, and her testimony weighs AT LEAST as much as some bitter Swiftboaters who were down river at the time.

To the extent that anybody will be swayed by any of this, or course. I'm not sure anybody is listening.

[Cha]

40. I imagine a lot of people watch "60 Minutes"..

maybe more now.

[spanone]

42. bush* would love to get Rather for his poppy, just like Saddam

Rather disrespected bush senior in an interview over Iran/Contra.

[cally]

43. I wouldn't want to anger Rather

and I think the Bushistas have. He is relentless and powerful when he wants to be. This is the end of his career and he won't allow his credibility to be tarnished this way. Rather will be fine but Rove and company should be worried.