I thought Dan Rather’s suit against CBS for wrongful dismissal was a big joke, since it took him two years to get up the gumption to file it. But then it was reported that he could be calling George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush to testify as material witnesses.
Rather is claiming that the Bushes’ open hostility to him stems from a story Rather did on W’s alleged service in the Air National Guard. Turns out some of the sources for Rather’s story were less than, well, accurate, and he was fired over it.
But the thought of George W. taking the stand to answer questions about his service record is intriguing, and it could happen, if the suit isn’t settled and goes to trial:
When asked by Carol Joynt, host of the “Q&A Café” held at Nathans restaurant who worked with Rather at CBS in the 1970s, whether “he’d like to” call President Bush as a witness in the trial, Rather paused, then said “I’d like not to answer the question,” leaving both Joynt and audience members wondering whether the newsman has Bush in his sights.” Joynt later told Yeas & Nays, “From the look in his eye — and he gave me a definite Ratheresque look — I got the impression he will call the president as a witness. Possibly both of them: 41 and 43. He implied the suit is not against them, but what the suit is about stems directly from his antagonistic relationship with them.”
In the lawsuit, Rather claims he was unjustifiably squeezed out of CBS by network executives following a 2004 story about President Bush’s service record in the Texas Air National Guard. After evidence emerged that the story’s primary documents were possibly faked or forged, Rather stated on air that “if I knew then what I know now, I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.”
Joynt asked Rather if he believes the president hates him, and Rather responded by saying that “hate is a strong word.” Then, he began to well up. “You’ve never met anybody who had more respect for the presidency than I do,” said Rather, choking back tears. He stood by his 2004 story, saying “we got the truth, but we left ourselves vulnerable.”
Book ‘em, Dano!
Good for Rather!!! He should be standing up to the members of our evil, good-ol boy club, skull and bones, CFR elite. Let Justice prevail!!!
Actually rather’s documents were not innaccurate.
They were recopied to protect the source of the original documents which would have been determinable from the originals.
however the information on the documents was accurate.
I’m sure Bushco and friends will claim national security or executive privlege or something. They’ll say how their “above the law” and Fox news reporters will Demonize Rather while licking George’s boots with their Sh!t eating grins!!!
As a fan of CBS news (a cousin produced both Democrat and Republican convention coverages for them in 1976, he earlier a director of NBC’s “Huntley and Brinkley” and a high school acquaintance is a “street reporter” for CBS in New York City) I think we should reflect on the lawsuit General Westmoreland filed for millions against the whole NBC network over an NBC news retrospective which alleged “body counts” were manipulated during the Vietnam War. He settled for an undisclosed amount. It is no coincidence, in my estimation that General Colin Powell a great American left the administration and his son, the former chief of the FCC also “left the building”. Now we have a Federal Censorship Commission, with new jacked-up fines and an apparent new imperious “bridge” taking the world admired American independence of news coverages perhaps into the iceberg of intolerance.
Rather got caught with forged documents. INCOMPETENTLY forged documents. Whether he did it because he hates GWB, or just because he was so jealous of Woodward and Bernstein that he could taste it, he still went on the air with a story based of fabricated evidence.
He pissed away decades of credibility, and he has nobody to blame for that but himself (and possible Mary Mapes, who seems to be just as convinced that she did nothing wrong as he is.)
Memo to Wingnut Some Guy:
1. If the docs were forged, they were accurate forgeries. THe man who generated the originals had died, but his secretary, still living at the time of the news story, said they looked just like the originals. The right-wing smear campaign was designed to make everyone forget WHAT the documents said: that G.W. Bush was well on his way to a Dishonorable Discharge.
2. While the provenance of the docs was in doubt, the ‘proof’ that they were forged was BULLCRAP. All the righties ever saw was the same dodgy copies on the internet that I saw. The computer font Times New Roman was SUPPOSED to look like the popular typewriter font, so we needn’t be surprised at any resemblance. Also, the IBM typwriters did have superscript.
3. So where did these docs come from? It appears the originals were destroyed illegally by Bush friends in Texas circa 2000; however, copies would have been sent up the chain of command, and it is these that reappeared. Alternatively, some think Rove planted the docs.
4. Unfortunately, there is more willful obfuscation that hard evidence in this matter. One thing we do know: Bush had more motive to lie than Rather ever would. Here are some things we DO know:
Dubya could never have got into the ‘Champagne Unit’ ahead of hundreds of more deserving applicants unless Daddy pulled strings. Dubya defied direct orders to get a flight physical which would have revealed illicit drugs. Dubya never showed up for about the last 18 months of his enlistment. Cash offers to prove he had shown up have gone uncollected. He is a DESERTER.
Classic Repug tactic: Scream about the fonts so loudly that people will forget about the real story, Bush’s desertion. Same thing with General “Betray Us.”
Good to see Dan going to the mats on this one. The world needs to know what it already knows.
The question is whether the story itself is true — whether Bush evaded his military service. Truth is the ultimate defense.
So what? They will just refuse. That and/or Rather will quietly drop the lawsuit. END OF STORY.
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