A farewell to Dan (Just one more week until Rather "retires" from CBS News!)

The Chronicle Online ^ | 3/03/05 | Nathan Carleton

[Libloather]

A farewell to Dan
Poker
by Nathan Carleton
March 03, 2005

Just one more week. Just one more week until Dan Rather “retires” from CBS News’s anchor chair and starts filing reports for 60 Minutes. Just one more week until a 24-year run of biased, misleading, politicized TV journalism comes to an end. As Dan’s colleagues give him a hero’s sendoff, remember the rest of the story:

6/17/87: On CBS’s Evening News, Rather says viewers are wrong in believing the Soviet people want freedom. “Despite what many Americans think,” he says, “most Soviets do not yearn for capitalism or Western-style democracy.”

1/25/88: Rather invites Vice President George H.W. Bush to interview for the last in “a series of candidate profiles,” but wildly badgers him about the Iran-Contra scandal. Rather yells at the Vice President and accuses him of lying: “You and the President were being party to sending missiles to the Ayatollah of Iran!,” he shouts, “...You made us hypocrites in the face of the world!” Rather’s hostile questioning went on for five minutes, and other reporters like Sam Donaldson and Mike Wallace called it over the line. Interestingly, Rather told reporters in the 1990s that he did not grill President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal because Clinton had already answered questions about it.

5/27/93: Rather gives a less-than-objective ‘thanks’ to President Clinton after being congratulated for his new CBS partnership with Connie Chung, saying “Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. President. If we could be one-one-hundredth as great as you and Hillary Rodham Clinton have been together in the White House, we’d take it right now and walk away winners.” Adds Rather: “Tell Mrs. Clinton we respect her and we’re pulling for her.”

4/11/94: Rather blames “the worst of the Christian Right” for gays being “beaten to death in the streets with increasing frequency.”

2/28/95: Rather describes a Republican-sponsored bill as “making it harder, much harder, to protect health, safety, and the environment.”

3/16/95: Rather leads off “Evening News” by describing Republican legislation as a “legislative agenda to demolish or damage government aid programs, many of them designed to help children and the poor.”

4/22/00: During live coverage of the Elian Gonzalez raid, Rather says Fidel Castro “feels a very deep and abiding connection to those Cubans who are still in Cuba,” adding “there’s little doubt in my mind that Fidel Castro was sincere when he said, ‘Listen, we really want this child back here.’”

12/13/00: Rather begins the evening news broadcast by suggesting that a “politically and ideologically motivated” Supreme Court “handed the presidency” to George W. Bush. A month later, on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” Rather twice refers to Bush as an “elected or selected” as President.

1/22/01: On George W. Bush’s first day as President, Rather reports that the President reinstituted a Reagan-era ban on federal funding of overseas abortion “to quickly please the right flank in his party.” When Bill Clinton did the opposite eight years before, Rather described it as Clinton having “delivered on his campaign promise.”

3/21/01: Rather speaks at a Democratic Party fundraiser and raises $20,000 for the Travis County (TX) Democrats.

5/15/01: Asked whether Bill Clinton can be described as “an honest man,” Rather says: “Yes, I think he’s an honest man,” and explains that “You can be an honest person and lie about any number of things.”

9/8/04: On “60 Minutes II,” Rather ignores warnings from experts and uses forged military documents to report that President Bush may not have fulfilled military obligations while serving in the National Guard. CBS also contacts the John Kerry campaign on behalf of the story’s source.

Rather spends the next 12 days defending himself, calling individuals who question the documents “partisan political operatives,” interviewing “experts” who say they are accurate, and claiming to have “solid sources” behind the story, even though he had only one questionable one. Rather also demands that President Bush himself “answer the questions” and quit the “denial,” saying that the story is true even if the documents are false. Rather later admits that he erred in verifying the story.

11/23/04: Rather announces he will step down as anchor in March.

Just one more week.

Nathan Carleton is a Trinity senior. His column appears Thursdays.

[Libloather]

Just one more week.

It could be the perfect time to hold nationwide displays of support - Rathergone parties!

[MikeA]

Dan who?

[mowkeka]

Adios, you liberal son of a b****.

[the_Watchman]

He missed one. Rather was one of the anchors who looked baffled and annoyed as they announced the Reagan landslide over Jimmy Carter!

[FreedomCalls]

He's retiring from the CBS Evening News, but will continue to host 60 Minutes Wednesday.

[Muleteam1]

And I thought he was already gone.

[Lurking2Long]

And I thought he was already gone.

Mentally speaking, he was gone a long time ago...

[BushisTheMan]

He's already gone...to the bottom of the ratings.

[Theresawithanh]

"but will continue to host 60 Minutes Wednesday."

Alas, that's true. He should be gone from TV altogether.

Won't really bother me too much, because CBS is only on my TV when they show football games. Otherwise, I don't get that channel. ;-p

[BigSkyFreeper]

He'll still be around to kick around. He isn't going anywhere. He'll just be in a position to report his nonsense more frequently, through 60 Minutes Deux (a little French lingo there).

[dfwddr]

We are going to miss you, Dan

Good bye....

[Geezerette]

In Phoenix, the Liddy/Hill team (Tom Liddy ... G. Gordon's son) are hosting a "Buh-bye Dan" party at a nice place here in Phoenix the evening of March 9. I forget which place it will be.

Tom sang the song that will be the theme of the party ... sounds like it's going to be a good one. I think they are going to all view the "Tribute to Dan" on tv.

After reading the above, all I can say is "Good riddance to Rather rubbish".

Wish I could go help Liddy/Hill celebrate!! I'll have to hear about it all on KFYI the next day.

g

[DCPatriot]

Thanks...this is a good one to send anyone who asks, "Bias? What bias?"

[demkicker]

I'll be partying in honor of his exit, and won't be surprised if he's responsible for the ruin of Wed's 60 Minutes also.

[Big Horn]

He retired about 25 years ago by me.

[BigSkyFreeper]

WOW! That's cool, I hadn't realized that was G. Gordon Liddy's son! I just thought the name was just a mere coincidence. LMAO!

FAREWELL DAN RATHER

The Day Dan Rather Lied | Listen to the song

A long, long time ago
I can still remember how the news used to make me mad
And I knew that if I could choose
I'd prefer fair and balanced news
And Maybe we'd get straight scoop for awhile
But September made me grin
I thought, at last, we could win
Bias in the broadcast
I knew that it could not last
I can't remember if I sighed
When I read about his desperate try
But something touched me deep inside
The day Dan Rather lied

So, Bye bye, Dan Rather b' bye
Told us Dubya didn't serve
But that was a lie
When caught by the bloggers
You chose to deny
So, this'll be the day your job dies
This'll be the day your job dies

When I turned on the tv news
I did not want to hear some liberals' views
But that's all the networks did
And did you think it was pretty fun
When Dan was embarrassed by Bush '41
The dead air time, remember that one
And I know that you're fed up with him
When he dressed up like Gunga Din
Where were we to go
Before talk radio?
I was physically ill, I mean really sick
When he mouthed off to our Tricky Dick
But I knew we were all in luck
The Day Dan Rather lied

I started singin' bye bye, Dan Rather b' bye
Told us Dubya didn't serve
But that was a lie
When caught by the bloggers
You chose to deny
So, this'll be the day your job dies
This'll be the day your job dies

[2nd Bn, 11th Mar]

Sayonara, Buckwheat!

[Geezerette]

That's it!! Thank you!! I am glad to have the lyrics, since my WebTV (MSN-TV) cannot do the audio thing.

Thanks again!

g

[nutmeg]

I just noticed that Dan Rather will be David Letterman's guest tonight (CBS - 11:30pm ET). I'm not sure if this is a current show (as in taped earlier today) or a rerun from months ago.

Here's Letterman's site: Late Show with David Letterman