According to Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, CBS News anchor Dan Rather is a victim not as has been proven a perpetrator of the massive fraud that has been referred to as “Rathergate” or “Memogate”.
Cohen’s column which ran on September 23rd said ” Rather did not concoct the apparently phony documents showing that George Bush was something less than a punctilious member of the Air National Guard. Someone else did. Rather was not trying to put something over on CBS or the public.
He was the first one snookered.” Dan snookered? Rather was so desperate to prove these documents were genuine that even after being told by the now 86 year old secretary that she didn’t type the memos asked if the information in the documents was basically true. Cohen is right, except that the one doing the snookering was Rather. Cohen blames the internet bloggers and the right wing press, particularly FOX News for being partisan in their attacks. He writes that Rather would have done the same story on John Kerry. Is he talking about the same Dan Rather who spoke at a Texas Democratic party fundraiser in 2001? Rather later called that an error in judgment. Too late, the cat was out of the bag. He concludes his column by saying “competitive juices and an outsized lust for a scoop — truth in a hurry — led to a calamitous mistake.”
This had nothing to do with finding dirt on the President, right? The producer had been working on this story for five years. This was no simple case of being misled. This was concerted effort to influence the election.
Yes Dan, you must have courage. The courage to resign.
Express your feelings by contacting CBS.
CBS News
524 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019-2902
Phone: (212) 975-4114, or (212) 975-3691 for Dan Rather’s office
Fax: (212) 975-1893
For those on the Internet, you can contact CBS Evening News through the “http://cbsnews.com/feedback/fb_news_form.shtml” target=_blank>Feedback” section of its website.
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