Monday, November 17, 2008

Courage, Dan, Courage!   [Mark Hemingway]

As Jonah likes to say, that Dan Rather continues his lawsuit against CBS over the forged Texas Air National Guard memos can only mean one thing — ours is a just and decent God. This breathless NYT article, "Rather’s Lawsuit Shows Role of G.O.P. in Inquiry," is a good example why:

Using tools unavailable to him as a reporter — including the power of subpoena and the threat of punishment against witnesses who lie under oath — [Dan Rather] has unearthed evidence that would seem to support his assertion that CBS intended its investigation, at least in part, to quell Republican criticism of the network.

So old Gunga Dan is putting his ace reporter skills (read: team of high priced lawyers) to work in a futile attempt to rehabilitate his reputation. And lo and behold, we find CBS was concerned about "Republican criticism" of their libeling a Republican president. Funny how in this case enforcing basic accountability and journalistic standards seemed to be the perfect remedy for quelling such criticism.

11/17 02:47 AMShare