Disgraced past anchorman Dan Rather is 92 years older, and CBS, the network that fired him for trying to setup the 2004 presidential election, has joined the brazen recovery plan.
In the final days of the 2004 presidential vote, Dan Rather was determined to keep George W. Bush from regaining control of the country. And so he ran a narrative on 60 Minutes II that claimed Bush left the Texas Air National Guard after going AWOL. Instead, the tale was accurate and the evidence was there. Additionally, the narrative was false and was meant to destroy the president during the war. Bush Jr. was exposed as a liar and striver, in comparison with his Democrat opposition, John Kerry, who served a few months in Vietnam.
File Photo: George Bush, Sr. ( Right ) Proudly Displays The Officer’s Bar Of 2Nd Lt. George W. Bush Of The Texas Air National Guard During A Special Ceremony Where Bush Was Sworn Into The Air National Guard Circa 1968 ( Photo By Getty Images ).
There was just one issue…
After the tale was fact checked and authenticated by More, his 60 Minutes team, and CBS, some humble bloggers ( a new thing at the time ) at Free Republic, Power Line, and somewhere proved the documents were not just reproductions, but weak and stupid frauds. Rather’s cigarettes guns were not the item of Vietnam- period typewriters. Rather, they had been created by Microsoft Word.
Found red- handed, rather of apologizing and retracting his lie, More stood firm and finally went “expert shopping” for someone — anyone! — who may keep his con work. Pre- Internet, More, and CBS may had gotten away with this. However, the business press received a whole new level of transparency thanks to the World Wide Web. Every rationalization or wish the story had n’t been implemented received with unwarranted public support. Ultimately, CBS was forced to admit the files were false. Instead, but, to his immortal shame, may continue to insist the tale of Bush going AWOL was appropriate, even if the documents were false.
Bush won election, CBS released a scathing internal investigation, but More still stood behind the history and was finally forced out the next year. Two years later, More sued CBS for$ 70 million, claiming they had made him a “scapegoat” for the story. The petition was gradually tossed.
Since therefore, More has been at his most genuine, using various platforms, including social media, to always prove what many of us knew decades before the Rathergate affair: that Dan Rather is a bitter and dishonest much- left extremist.
But.
The left will always rehabilitate those who sell their souls for the good of The Cause because others must be encouraged to do the same. Even proven liars, plagiarists, and bigots like Anita Hill, Christine Blasey Ford, Al Sharpton, Fareed Zakaria, Joy Reid, etc., are rehabbed.
Rev. On October 9, 2022, Al Sharpton delivers the sermon at the Howard University Chapel in Washington, DC’s Cramton Auditorium. ( Brian Stukes/Getty Images )
Dan Rather was a man of integrity. Everyone else in the media should send a message to the media: If you’re defrauded and lie to the side, we’ll still care for you and your legacy.
Hollywood made an effort to rehab him rather than having him play Robert Redford in a Rathergate film that made it clear the Bush story was accurate. Truth flopped. ( I loved it. )
Before CNN fired disgraced conspiracy theorist Brian Stelter, he did his part in helping to heal Dan by treating him like a top guest and Grand Poobah of journalism.
Brian Stelter, Chief Media Correspondent for CNN, speaks onstage during’ Discovery Gets Cooking’ at Vanity Fair’s 6th Annual New Establishment Summit at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on October 22, 2019, in Beverly Hills, California ( Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Vanity Fair ).
Netflix is going all in with a 95- minute Dan Rather documentary.
And now, CBS, who suffered untold reputational damage at the hands of Rather’s hysterical and dishonest partisanship, is climbing aboard the rehab train:
Minus the suspenders and his cigars, Rather remains just as I remember him: an intently curious, thoughtful, well- read skeptic, who wants nothing more than to wear out his shoe- leather chasing the next headline.
When asked what inspired him to pursue a career as a reporter in the first place, Rather responded,” I’ve never quite known the answer to that question. All I know is, it’s the only thing I ever wanted to be, was a reporter. I get up every morning and as soon as my feet hit the ground, I say, where’s the story”?
This is all CBS has to say about Rather’s illogical meddling in a big, fat hoax in the presidential election:
In 2004 Rather filed a report for “60 Minutes II” that questioned George W. Bush’s service record in the Texas Air National Guard, reporting on “new documents and new information” about the president’s military service. However, it was impossible to later authenticate the documents Rather and his producer relied on for their reporting.
Listen, because I have and will always need them, I’m all for second chances. Because I will always need it, I’m all for forgiveness. However, contrition must come first. rather still refuses to acknowledge that his story was fabricated. He stands by fake but accurate, and that is not only a lie on top of a lie and forgery, that is the opposite of contrition.
Dan Rather deserves only ridicule, contempt, and scorn.
FLASHBACK — CNN’s Cuomo to Dan Rather: What Should Media Do Going Forward? I Wrote a lesson about Anchors” Can Bring Integrity” from You.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time,  , is winning five- star raves from everyday readers.  , You can read an excerpt , here and an in- depth review , here.  , Also available in hardcover on Kindle and Audiobook.  ,
