Rathergate Report Update
I had a pressing assignment today (which will continue tomorrow), so I didn't have enough time to do significant blogging. Listened to Hugh Hewitt on fire about it during the drive time and got a chance to read some of the report. First impressions:
1. Rather should be fired. Look, it's ridiculous that he's getting to retire honorably. The panel claims:
"In late August and early September, as the September 8 Segment was being developed, Rather had even greater demands on his time than usual as he was covering the Republican Convention in New York City and then a hurricane in Florida."
Okay, we'll give him a pass on the original segment, although I strongly suspect Rather would have demanded more evidence if the segment had been critical, say, of John Kerry. But how in the world does he get a pass after the controversy erupted? Remember, Rather was the one who assured us that his sources were "unimpeachable". But any intelligent person reading the blogs the day after the story exploded would have seen that there were serious problems with the memos. Rather is trying to claim that he trusted Mapes? Hey, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
2. There is something of a dry wit evident in the writing. I loved this bit:
On Monday, September 20, the CBS Evening News aired a report in which Rather stated that CBS News could "no longer vouch for [the Killian documents'] authenticity." As one of the reasons for this position, the story prominently cited the fact that Lieutenant Colonel Burkett had changed his story and said that he got the documents from a different source that could not be verified. The panel finds this confusing, since 60 Minutes Wednesday had never verified the original source from whom Lieutenant Colonel Burkett initially said he received the documents.
3. Hugh's right that this is not enough. If you're going to say that you couldn't establish political bias, then at least talk about the "appearance" of bias due to the constant hit pieces on President Bush, and the stunning lack of hit pieces on John Kerry despite ample material from the Swift Boat Vets, Captain's Quarters, and Kerry Haters? We found numerous incidents where Kerry lied shamelessly about his war record.
