Rise and Fall of Dan Rather
By Rick Gordon - Enigmose Political
Dan Rather, a long time spokesman and hero of the Liberal Left has an extensive history of 'yellow journalism', media manipulation, propagandizing and sensationalizing.
His employer during his lengthy tenure as Champion of Left Wing misinformation and media malfeasance was CBS . CBS was the same organization that sponsored much of the liberal societal behavioral modification programs of the 70s and 80s.
Although somewhat eloquent, and admittedly courageous in his Vietnam coverage in his early career, he lacked the real dynamic persona of his predecessor, Walter Cronkite . He was unable to maintain the ratings that CBS News enjoyed under Cronkite, although I doubt that this was his actual purpose for being in the Anchors chair.
Dan Rather had sponsors, I shant speculate on who they were or are, but they held control or at the very least extensive power at CBS and elsewhere.
Dan Rather Fake News from the JFK Assassination
Shortly after the JFK murder , Dan Rather who was covering the assassination, incorrectly reported that school children had cheered when told of Kennedy's shooting. The story was later picked up by the Associated Press. Eddie Barker, head of the Dallas-area CBS news accused Rather of blatantly lying and stated he was aware that the kids were cheering because they were being dismissed early ,the children were given no reason for the early school closure.
Barker, whose children attended the defamed School, said he had told Dan Rather the story was bogus and that Rather said he was going to drop the story, that they were not going to do anything with it, When the story did air, Eddie Barker recalled. ..I jumped him and told him to get the hell out of that newsroom.
Barker wanted to fire Rather immediately, but Big Brother at CBS News management intervened and what would should have been the end of the line for Dan, was parlayed into a promotion to the CBS white House correspondent in 1964. The official line at CBS was Rathers 'brilliant coverage' of the assassination and the days and weeks following . Someone high up at CBS was looking out for Mr. Rather.
Rathers lackluster professionalism is also evident in his description of the Zapruder film, which was not shown on TV. Rather reported the headshot forced Kennedy's head to be thrown violently forward, when in fact it was actually thrown backwards. Seems Dan Rather could never get the facts straight, which is one of the most elementary principles of journalism.
Vietnam Era
Vietnam Veterans - Invented Story / Bogus Vets
In June 1988, CBS presented an hour-long special "CBS Reports: The Wall Within" . The show was praised by critics, the Washington Post called it "extraordinarily powerful" One Vet Terry Bradley, told Rather he had tortured and skinned alive whole Vietnamese families, 50 men, women, and children in a single hour. George Grule claimed he was stationed on the U.S.S. Ticonderoga off the Vietnamese coast during a secret mission. Grule claimed to have witnessed a friend walk into an airplane propeller which turned him into mincemeat and sprayed Grule with his blood. Coaxed by Dan Rather, Steve Southards, vividly described slaughtering hordes of Vietnamese civilians, and blaming the North Vietnamese. "... you went into the village, killed people, burned part of the village, then made it appear that the other side had done this?" Rather replied. Grizzly fantastic horrifying tales, ALL FABRICATED - ---
B. G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley, in their book *Stolen Valor : How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History
*, claim that they had obtained the service records of all six soldiers, documenting where each was stationed throughout the Vietnam War. Only one of the men actually served in Vietnam; he claimed he was a Navy SEAL, but the records contradicted his claims and listed him as an equipment repairman , the other 5 never even set foot on Vietnamese soil. I can understand and possibly forgive One charlatan slipping through, but not 6 !!!!
A similar incident occurred In 1998, apparently CNN took lessons from the same folks who controlled Dan Rather when they ran a report that the 1970 Operation Tailwind used Sarin gas to kill American defectors . The Pentagon denied the story. Skeptics proved it extremely improbable that such an atrocity went unnoticed , and CNN had no facts or viable witnesses to offer the slightest bit of credibility to the story. After a short inquiry, CNN red-faced - issued a retraction.
During an appearance on CNN American Morning, Dan Rathers predecessor at CBS, Walter Cronkite stated: 'It surprised quite a few people at CBS and elsewhere that, without being able to pull up the ratings beyond third in a three-man field, that they tolerated his being there for so long.'
Dan Rather On Ronald Reagan
"We have had conversations with CBS off and on over the past three years. Most of them have been friendly and I would like to think they have all been professional. We are not asking for favorable stories. We are asking them to be fair." "This Administration has felt that of the networks CBS has more frequently than the others written stories that were thought to be slanted or unfair." - New York Times, November 14, 1983 Quoting David R. Gergen, Reagan White House communications director
"This whole irresponsible press bilge about hostages and Iran has gotten totally out of hand. The media looks like it's trying to create another Watergate." Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate
* --Ronald Reagan in his diary, November 12, 1987, quoted in Bob Woodward's 1999 book,
"..... We always felt that CBS had a little extra zinger against the President." --Larry Speakes, former Reagan White House spokesman, in *Speaking Out: The Reagan Presidency from Inside the White House
"It [the Iran-contra Report] talks about a President, at the very least, out of touch, neglecting his constitutional responsibilities. A President making wrong statements to the American people, and winding up in one of the worst credibility crises in U.S. history. In the end, ... conclusion says responsibility ... lies with Ronald Reagan." --Dan Rather on a CBS Special Report after the report was released, November 18, 1987.
In a infamous Evening News interview Dan Rather aggressively grilled Vice President George Bush about Iran-Contra, repeatedly stopping him mid sentence and argumentatively assaulted him. Rather recklessly declared "You've made us hypocrites in the face of the world." In Stark contrast to a 1999 interview of President Clinton where he allowed Clinton to portray himself as a virtual choir boy, and the conservative Republicans who sought to impeach him as an evil force lurking in the shadows. January 25, 1988
President Reagan submits a budget: "It contains more for guns, less for butter, and it is out of balance and will add to the deficit." --Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, January 9, 1989.
"In America in the 1980s, what former President Reagan and those who support him call the Reagan Revolution put more money in the pockets of the rich. We already knew that. But a new study indicates that those who did best of all by far were the very richest of the rich." --Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, March 5, 1992.
"Everyone knows the rich got richer in the 1980s [Reagan and Bush]. Now a new study shows how dramatic the change was. According to the Economic Policy Institute, more than half of America's new wealth went to the richest one-half of one percent of families. The bottom 60 percent of families in income saw no gain or got poorer." --Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, October 29, 1992.
RATHER CITES WHITE HOUSE CRITICISM NY Times Nov. 1983
Dan Rather - George Bush Showdown Dan Rather - George Bush ShowdownDan Rather On The Clintons
"If we could be one-hundredth as great as you and Hillary Rodham Clinton have been in the White House, we would take it right now and walk away winners....Tell Mrs. Clinton we respect her and we are pulling for her." Dan Rather CBS Evening News, May 27, 1993
'I hear you talking and, as I have before on this subject, I don't know of anybody, friend or foe, who isn't impressed by your grasp of the details of this [health care] plan. I am not surprised, because you have been working on it so long and listened to so many people.' Dan Rather interview with Hillary Clinton, September 22, 1993
"Ken Starr drops another load on President Clinton....Good evening. Just as President Clinton was enjoying a day talking up the economy, officially announcing the first U.S. budget surplus in three decades, Ken Starr hit him again. The Republican independent counsel and special prosecutor decided late in the day to announce his decision to press his subpoena for samples of Monica Lewinsky's handwriting, fingerprints and her voice." May 26, 1998. {Aww Poor Bill, should have given him a Cigar to cheer him up.}
"I would not be astonished to see Hillary Clinton be the Democratic nominee in 2000....Hillary Clinton is the Person of the Year in that, you talk about a comeback kid -- be the strongest candidate for the Democrats." Interview with Larry King, December 3, 1998.
"Once a political lightning rod, today she is political lightning. A crowd pleaser and first-class fundraiser, a person under enormous pressure to step into the arena, this time on her own." 60 Minutes II, May 26, 1999
Connie Chung, co-Anchor from 1993 to 1995,
Rather , at one point , co-anchored the CBS evening news with their former Washington correspondent -Connie Chung. Chung was eventually dropped by the network, and Rather went back to his coveted spotlight. The CBS excuse was a heated interview with a fireman during rescue efforts at the Oklahoma City bombing and her infamous"just between you and me" interview tactics used against an elderly woman- Newt Gingrich's mother - to admit Gingriches opinions of Hillary Clinton.
You Tube Video Connie and Newts Mom
Gingrich Assails CBS ... calls Connie Chung `unprofessional,' `despicable'
In a blatant attempt to sway the upcoming Presidential elections, Dan Rather presented four forged documents highly critical of then President George W. Bush's service, during the Vietnam War, in the Texas Air National Guard . The source of the documents, Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, states that he burned the originals after faxing copies to CBS.
The memos, alleged to have been written by Bush's squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, indicate that Bush got preferential treatment as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard and failed to obey a superior's order to undergo a physical . Experts suggest they were written on a computer or word processor rather than on a 1970s typewriter.
Experts Peter Tytell , Thomas Phinney and Joseph Newcomer concluded that the documents are outright forgeries. Newcomer has over 30 years of computer font technology experience. Dan Rather, as was frequent during his career, openly lied when he stated on air that "the material" had been authenticated by experts retained by CBS. CBS backed him up, he was a favorite of Big Brother somewhere high up in the controlling Hierarchy.
On September 9, CBS News released a statement saying the memos were "thoroughly investigated by independent experts, and we are convinced of their authenticity."
The authenticity of the documents was challenged almost immediately. Scrutiny from REAL journalists eventually led to a public apology from CBS , and grudgingly ... Dan Rather. "Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that the documents are authentic, which is the only acceptable journalistic standard to justify using them in the report. We should not have used them. That was a mistake, which we deeply regret." CBS News President Andrew Heyward
Rather was removed from the CBS Evening News in March 2005, six months after he charged that Bush disobeyed orders and shirked his duties during his National Guard service.
It's Worse Than You Thought. The Weekly Standard, January 11, 2005
The Digital Dish: Making Headlines, Not Setting Them Creativepro.com, September 23, 2004.
Rathergate Media Myth Busters
FOX Interviews Commander's Son Fox News
"Buckhead," who said CBS memos were forged, is a GOP-linked attorney- Seattle Times
Rather Defends CBS Over Memos on Bush
