Dan Rather Wins Big Round In CBS/Bush National Guard AWOL Case

Dan Rather won't let go of his 2007 lawsuit against CBS. There's a reason. He's holding a decent hand, and he's got sticktoitiveness.

The July 22 NY Times reports that he's just won access to thousands of internal documents. He's also gotten a fraud charge reinstated against the network that had previously been dismissed.

In my mind, this case means more to him than monetary redemption. The guy made upwards of $10 million a year for a quarter-century of evening anchor duty. That's over $200 million before wise investments. He has the juice to go the distance in this litigation, so it ain't about the money.

I remember it seemed fishy that well-orchestrated internet attacks about the CBS memos from Bush's commanding officer were unleashed literally on the very night Rather's now famous 60 Minutes broadcast (Wednesday edition) aired in 2004. Yes, those memos had questionable lineage, and may have been reproductions.

Still, some of the accusations by the right wing blogosphere (that typewriters in the early 70's didn't have raised th capability) were demonstrably false. I inherited my older sister's electric Smith Carona when she went away to college back then, and it already had that feature.

In any event, Rather did a follow-up the week after the initial broadcast, remember? He interviewed the 86-year old personal secretary of Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, Bush's commanding officer in Houston. The elderly woman, a straight shooter, thought CBS's cache of Killian's memos were not originals, but she fiercely stuck to her guns that everything in them, all the bad stuff about Bush, was accurate.

Her evidence: she'd typed the damn things originally, and was Killian's "right hand" for years. Shrub's presence was naturally a big deal because of his father's national prominence, and she remembered like it was yesterday.

I think Rather's ultimate goal is as much about reopening the whole Bush National Guard story as it is getting his pound of flesh out of a former employer.

Unlike the nuttiness from the anti-Obama "birther" crowd, evidence (from the Boston Globe and others) strongly suggests that George W. Bush literally bailed on his Guard duty, got a transfer to Alabama, and then disappeared for at least the final 12 months of his military commitment, perhaps up to 17 months. Some have a lost weekend; he had a lost year.

Viewed within this context, that's what Bush's whole "Mission Accomplished" photo-op in the flight suit was about: rewriting the biggest embarrassment in his background.

Stay resolute, Gunga Dan. You've got a tiger by the tail.

Comments

[n4m]

My bad. So many felonies, so little time.

[JFaye]

Thank you Mr. Rather for pursuing this lawsuit/story. The truth will prevail as you deliver your best journalistic production and get paid handsomely by CBS. They were wrong for not standing behind you and the story.

[writerjohnny]

Down, down, down, Bush is goin' down. With apologies to Jim Carey and Mathew Broderick.

[breeks]

Umm... there is some serious Reality Distortion Field going on here. The Rather memo controversy is easily one of the most embarrassing incidents in the history of television news, and it helped give the election to Bush. There may have existed typewriters capable of superscript 'th', but there weren't any that create a document that looks EXACTLY AS IF IT WERE TYPED IN MICROSOFT WORD ON DEFAULT SETTINGS. This is a gift that keeps on giving to conservatives who claim media bias.

[dooleynoted]

Ummmm... only distortion is yours. Many legitimate news people, including James Moore, have documented Bush's lies about his Guard service. It wasn't the facts that killed this story but the attack from the right-wing dogs.

[n4m]

breeks: "It helped give the election to Bush."
W didn't get any help from Mr. Rather. He got all the help he needed from Katherine Harris and the company she hired to purge the voter registration rolls.

[WinterParkMom]

Under orders from Jeb.

[ESerafina42]

Wrong election. In 2004 Ken Blackwell was his fairy godfather.

[itolduso]

I fought a giant once. The fight was dangerous and painful, and, according to everyone, unwinnable. When I called him out, he laughed at me. When I begged other giants for help, they turned away in silence. Those who cared about me begged me to run away, and got angry with me when I didn't. They didn't want to hear my cries of pain, so they, too, turned away. When I ran at the giant, he tried to shoo me away, but I kept coming. He got angry & tried to stomp me, but I grabbed onto his toe and hung on. He shook and roared, threatened,swatted, and jumped and twitched.... and though I trembled with fear and was wracked with pain, I wouldn't let go....no matter what.....not ever. And the giant surrendered. Too many people are afraid to stand up to giants, and more & more come to believe it can never be done. That's why someone must......please Dan....never let go.

[larry278]

W is America's most famous ex-drunk & a former POTUS, 2 terms. Can't we give him a lost year or 17 months, not just a lousy lost week-end. He had his own reasons for leaving Tejas & not reporting to a unit in Alabama. Think of the harm W would have done the USAF, USAFR or ANG if he had met his obligation to serve 1 of those outfits. To be tactful, W was redundant to national defense needs then.
Put it this way W was as useful to these outfits as more F-22's would be to the USAF now.

[writerjohnny]

While I agree with the general premise of Bush as a danger to his own troops the fact that brave men and women were dying while he partied needs to be addressed.

[osusana]

Absolutely!

[RadicalRepublican]

The Bushes spent a great deal of political capital and money to cover-up Jr.'s dishonorable service. Mr. Rather is still a real investigative journalist at heart and his lawsuit will help bring more of the truth to light. Too bad the ex-governor had the ability to purge his own records. Everyone else's records from TANG are still available.

[SwampJudd]

HIS RECORD IN TEXAS WAS DEPLORABLE....and all those contributors involved in all those BANK and S&L Lootings ..... Just Like The Flippin Clintons you know !!!

http://sites.google.com/site/thegreattexasbankjob/

[BobLablah]

Dan will always be known as the inventor of the "Fake but Accurate" defense. And the "What's the frequency Kenneth" dude.

[timm0]

Book 'em Dan-o!!!

[luziannagirl]

Mr. Rather, if you can pull this off and prevail in court, you'll not only repair public regard for you as a journalist, you'll change the history books.

It will dispel charges of "media smear" and give the Bush AWOL story instead the ring of truth, exposing exactly who George W. Bush was, and in many respects, still is. It may well be the "come to Jesus" moment the American public needs about many issues.

It'll be the most important contribution of your entire career.

[LeftRight]

On the other hand, the people who would be most likely to experience the "come to Jesus" moment, are the ones who already know that Dan was telling the truth....

[robiform]

...and the ones who won't "come to Jesus" (or Mohammed, Buddha, Vishnu, Moses, etc.) are the same ones who are the so-called "birthers"!!

You go, Dan--prove that you were right and the CBS suits were totally wrong!

[LeftRight]

I always thought that was funny, how they said that it couldn't have been accurate, because the technology wasn't there...... People DO make copies of documents, sometimes even retyping them, you know. And then there's the same lie that the bush supporters and birthers use, that something cannot be accurate because the form it was on is newer than the document is purported to be, never understanding that forms update, and when they do, sometimes you put old information on a new form!!

[drkazmd65]

I have that potential problem with old spreadsheets any time Bill Gates' minions decide it is time to update Excel. Always seems to change my old formatting, and always tries to update any formulas I built into the old file.

Hmmm,....

[Miss Mamselle Hepzibah]

GO Dan, GO!!!!!!!

MMH