NYO: Dan Rather To Bush: "Answer The Questions"

[Iceburg]

http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage1.asp

Dan Rather To Bush: ‘Answer The Questions’

by Joe Hagan

snip

"With respect: answer the questions," said Dan Rather, the CBS News anchor. He was asking a direct question to President George W. Bush, his re-election campaign and his political allies in the press and on the Web. "We’ve heard what you have to say about the documents and what you’ve said and what your surrogates have said, but for the moment, answer the questions.

...
Mr. Rather said that he was sure that the credibility of CBS News would hold up after the memo scandal had passed.

"I think over the long haul, this will be consistent with our history and our traditions and reputation," he said. "We took heat during the McCarthy time, during Vietnam, during civil rights, during Watergate. We haven’t always been right, but our record is damn good."

[JimmyJazz]

1. give 'em hell Dan

i can't wait for the debates!!!!

[Catfight]

2. Cool, lumping chimpy with all those black marks on American history.

Chimpy will be the pinnacle of damaged American politics.

Hey Hey Ho Ho AWOL Bush has got to go.

[sniffa]

3. nice!

fuck yeah!!! go dan.

[gratuitous]

4. Why do you think they're spinning so furiously?

Answering questions is the LAST thing the Bush administration wants to do. For example, what are you doing Mr. Bush about what's going on in Iraq?

[Catfight]

30. "I'm the President, I don't have to answer questions." GWB

[Cocoa]

5. investigating the story for five years

wow.

I think the questions are beginning to fade, even after just a week. CBS is standing by the story, and they're running out of questions to raise about it.

[SiouxJ]

6. Nice! Equate it with McCarthy etc.

very good! Get that out there.

[DrBB]

7. Mein gott, is it possible?

Can it be that someone on the (more or less) left knows the essential reality here? That counterattack is absolutely, unqalifiedly the only only only only only only way to respond to these utterly shameless slime artists? Look, see, right here, he says it!

Mr. Rather said that the focus on questions over the veracity of the memos was a smoke screen perpetrated by right-wing allies of the Bush administration.

"I think the public, even decent people who may be well-disposed toward President Bush, understand that powerful and extremely well-financed forces are concentrating on questions about the documents because they can’t deny the fundamental truth of the story," he said. "If you can’t deny the information, then attack and seek to destroy the credibility of the messenger, the bearer of the information. And in this case, it’s change the subject from the truth of the information to the truth of the documents.

Jeebus H. Creebus, if we could only get the reality in those two paragraphs to be seen as the obvious plain facts that they are, this whole nightmare would be over.

[yardwork]

26. Yes! This is why it was so important for CBS to fight this and not quit

A lot of people here at DU have said that we should all just drop this story because it's not that important compared to what Bush is doing now. That misses a fundamental fact of politics - it's ALL spin.

If CBS had backed down in the face of intimidation, the bullies would be crawling all over the network's corpse now, and we Democrats would have made another crucial tactical error.

We have to defend the truth, even if it is a minor truth. If we give in to bullying, we've lost.

[psychopomp]

8. The comparison to McCarthy is APT

and the first thing to come to mind for Mr. Rather, you'll note. The atmosphere today is chillingly similar in many ways to the kinds of blacklisting, scandalizing and paranoia from the bad old days of McCarthy.

(sidenote: Ronald Reagan first made his political foray as a mouthpiece for the Hollywood blacklist)

[Iceburg]

36. Indeed ...The terminology was chosen with precision

[HughBeaumont]

9. Yes, EVERY question . . .

. . . why you're such a shit-stupid puppet,

why you surround yourself with Nazi warmonger hypocrites like Donald Rumsfeld, Goebbels Cheney, Karl Rove and John Boy Asscroft,

why your securitate goons are in the same saunas as the media and corporations,

why you choose to hide your CC/RR nutjobs under a disguise of moderatism (am I saying that right?),

why you choose to assert that there was a connection between Saddam and 9/11 despite that theory being completely debunked by . . . oh . . . EVERYONE,

why you continue to trumpet your economic optimism when your idea of success would be to break even in jobs created,

why you support foreign workers gaining high-tech jobs at the expense of American workers despite NO concrete proof that better jobs are being created as a result,

why you hate America's children,

why you hate science,

why you overturned the Presidential Act of 1978 just as Reagan's (and, in turn, your old man's) evil misdeeds were about to be released to the public,

why your "Tough on Terrorism" administration made deals with the MKO, an anti-Tehran organization that's on the State Department of Terrorism listing,

why you have one of the WORST environmental records of any president in history,

why you NEVER own up to your mistakes . . . or for that matter, never acknowledge that you MAKE them.

[mistertrickster]

10. Interesting article . . . the right wingers are past masters at spinning

the argument so they can talk about what they want to talk about instead of the central issue.

Smear boat Veterans for Lies took all the momentum out of Kerry's campaign and made him flail away at the gnats--same with the memos.

But they can't do it forever--Bush has too many failures to spin them all.

[demnan]

11. Wow!

Rather grew some balls all of a sudden.!

[sattahipdeep]

16. Nor does he feel "beset upon

Facing questions it didn't want to answer, the vice president's "political
apparatus understandably, out of necessity, chose to question the
questioner," Rather said. Likewise, he said, his critics are "people who
for their own partisan, political agendas can't deny the core truth of this
story … and want to change the subject and make the story about me
rather than have the story be about the unanswered questions about
President Bush's military service."

His aggressive pursuit of the current story "is not personal. It never is
with me," Rather said. Nor does he feel "beset upon," he said.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told reporters Tuesday:
"The biggest question I have — and I think the American people have —
is where did the memos come from? We're dealing with the alleged
forgery of government documents to influence a presidential race during
war. This isn't politics as usual. It's dangerous. It's possibly criminal.
This is really serious stuff." :puke:

Rather said he had no intention of giving in to those pressures. "Say
what you want to about me, I keep my word," Rather said. "No, I'm not
going to reveal my source."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-rather15sep15,1,1366024.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Los Angeles Times (subscription)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&e=4&u=/latimests/ratherridesoutlatestpartisanstorm

[berry]

28. just a while ago, MSNBC reported that Rep Chris Cox

is calling for a Congressional investigation of CBS. Presumably this is a not-so-veiled threat. Probably he's working in tandem with DeLay. Clearly, the Repugs are not yet willing to give up with the attacks. The thing is, the farther they go in their desperation, the worse they look.

And the incredible contrast to the way the media (excepting CBS) handled the swiftboat liars is stunning. I really want to know what threats are being employed--maybe a book will come out some years from now....

OK, now I'm going to go write a bravissimo e-mail to Rather, too. I don't think I can even imagine all the pressure he and his producer and the others at CBS are under. But I don't doubt that there are some creeps sending death threats, even. I do wish that at least some organizations of journalists would stand up and defend CBS. I feel very uneasy about them having to stand there all alone.

[pfitz59]

55. Chris Cox is a Tom Delay wannabe......

Lying sack of right-wing scum.... "Old mahhhhn, answer zee question...AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

[young_at_heart]

12. Hang in there, Dan.........make him talk!

We all know those memos are telling the real truth.....don't let them make it about CBS. Make this "president" respond by saying something other than "I did my duty"! His arrogance is out of bounds.

[LunaC]

13. Give Rather a big thumbs up!

Let him know you support what he's doing and fighting the good fight........ [e-mail]

Here's the email I sent:


Thank you, Dan Rather, for being one of the last true journalists of courage and integrity remaining on the planet!

Those of us who still value Truth over Propaganda respect and applaud you!

Please, oh please, continue your efforts and set the example for your fellow "journalists" who routinely cede to the pressures of the Bush Administration and become complicit in spreading their lies and obfuscations.

You, sir, are a true Hero! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Kolesar]

20. Great idea. I just wrote them. eom

[plcdude]

23. sent an email also

much in the same vein. Perhaps this form of honest journalism can become contagious.

[Eloriel]

46. I just did. Again.

Thanks for the reminder, and the email addy so others can do so without a lot of hassle.

[Ferretherder]

52. Sent mine!

n/t

[zzapatista]

56. Sent mine. Don't let the haters send more than us.Send him a short thankee

[Bozvotros]

58. Here's mine

Blessings on you, for standing up to these thugs who actually have the effrontery to insist that the HYPOTHETICAL inauthenticity of these documents, negates the avalanche of documents which substantiate them AND the validity and importance of your questions. Bush needs to answer those questions, but as you well know, his gutlessness is (or will be) the stuff of legends. Meanwhile, take comfort in knowing that the hurricane force bullshit and spittle lace bloviation hurled by mindless toadies at you and the peripheral issue of fonts and subscripts, is what Shakespeare said:

“A tale told by idiots,

Full of sound and fury….signifying nothing,”

Thank you, again. Mr. Rather. You are a man of rare courage and integrity.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Edward R Murrow LIVES

in Dan Rather

I think we are seeing that moment again, Have you no shame?

[Politicub]

15. Great juxtaposition, Dan!

Unless you're Ann Coulter, being associated with McCarthy and Watergate isn't the best positioning.

I love it!

Georgie boy could make all of this go away if he would just answer the questions. Maybe he wants to evade the truth so the attention is taken off his pathetic record as President.

[Nickster]

17. Nice

Way to go Dan, my respect for this man just keeps growing. I just hope he really has the goods. I suspect he does, but man if he doesn't.......

[Dhalgren]

25. I think Dan has the goods.

When he says just "answer the questions" - he knows he is on solid ground or he wouldn't say that. Also, when he says, "I am a man of my word and won't reveal the source" - that also tells me that Dan has great confidence in that source. He's not backing down and that means he "has the goods".

[Media_Lies_Daily]

18. I have two things to say: 1. Thank you, Mr. Rather; and....

2. Have you no shame, Mr. Bush? Just answer the questions.

[wicket]

19. God bless Dan Rather

He's always been on of the good guys.

[2Design]

21. this man knows how to deal with Alcoholic/Addict behavior

And I am proud of him not being one of the media minions who help the chaos to hide Bush behavior and failure as a president and failure at much more

[Dhalgren]

22. I just sent a strong "love letter" to CBS and Dan.

We have got to flood CBS with praise for this stand. Both the network and Dan have got to know that they have strong and ardent support. If just a small part of the media will be honest and show concern for their country, we can beat these Bush bastards. Dan IS the MAN!!!

[young_at_heart]

24. I sent him a letter also

Dan IS the man!!!

[Algomas]

40. My letter...

Usually I write to the media in disgust at it's complicity with the Republican coup that occurred in 2000. However, after four years of media self-censorship it is exciting to see Dan Rather get tough. Hang in there and know that some of us are paying attention. If you succeed in reestablishing freedom of the press in this country, history will honor your struggle.
Maybe you could challenge the Bu$hbots to "Bring it On". Also, how about some prime-time coverage of Texans for Truth and their offer of $50,000 for proof of Alabama National Guard service? (http://texansfortruth.com/)
Best wishes for better days ahead,
Algomas

?

[belle]

45. Had sent him an email earlier this week, just sent another.

[ArnoldLayne]

27. Good Luck

Dan I'm behind you 100%. :dem:

[robbedvoter]

29. Love his style! I am using this as a signature in my e-mail:

"We took heat during the McCarthy time, during Vietnam, during civil rights, during Watergate. We haven’t always been right, but our record is damn good."
(used it in my thank you note to CBC)

[DoYouEverWonder]

31. I get the feeling Dan has lived for this moment

for years now, he's kept rather quiet, careful not to rock the boat too much. For the last five years, people have wondered, why is he still hanging on. Sometimes he looked so tired.

But now, when American is at her darkest hour, Dan is taking off the mask and putting his cards on the table.

He knows more shit about this cabal, then most of us put together. He has been there since the beginning and he has seen it all.

It's been a long time coming
It's gonna be a long time gone.

[donkeyotay]

41. whew! That sent a chill down my spine

This might be a life-changing moment for Mr. Rather... and a few other people.

Can you believe the republican balls calling for an investigation??? One channel on one issue doesn't sound like Pravda, and they need an investigation. Sounds so funny right after Powell criticized Putin. Seems a shade pale after Smearboat.

I hope Mr. Rather is just getting started. I'm going to send another email of support.

[Karenina]

32. *dauphin has repeatedly proclaimed

that he need answer to NO ONE. It's W-A-A-A-Y past time for him to be disabused of that notion.

[JimmyJazz]

33. Question:

Is anyone (newspaper, individual, television station) siding with Dan Rather and CBS? Is anyone even taking a "let's wait and see approach?" Thanks for any input. Oh, and I wrote to Dan Rather as well. Dan: :yourock:

[Karenina]

34. *dauphin has repeatedly proclaimed

that he need answer to NO ONE. It's W-A-A-A-Y past time for him to be disabused of that notion. It's called ACCOUNTABILITY.

[sonias]

35. Hang in there Dan

You did the right thing. bu$h knows that the content of the memos is true. That's the real story - he was AWOL and he deified a direct order to take his physical exam. He cut and ran to Alabama, where Poppy found him another cushy job to cover his ass.

Sonia

[Protected]

37. CNN and Fox News both blasting Rather at the same time just now

Wolf Blitzer and Howard Kurtz on CNN plus Andrew Napolitano and two guys I couldn't identify on Fox were all talking about the memos at around 5:30pm EST.

Howard Kurtz said that these were amazing charges to be making against the President. Making charges against John Kerry's military record... Well, I guess that's just fine!

I can't wait for this mess to pass. We need to be talking about Iraq and how horrible things are going there. That's Bush's mess and everybody is giving him a pass on it while the press wastes time trying to discredit CBS and the memos.

[Only Me]

48. CNN and Fox have no credibility left in my HO. They need to come clean an

admit their RWing biased media prostitutes and be done with it.

[Ernesto]

38. Perhaps Dan should compare his own Vietnam experience

with the thing in the lie-house. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Mr. Rather reported from that quagmire on 2 different tours of press duty.....

[joanski01]

39. I just sent my support

e-mail to Dan Rather. Thank you, Dan.

[Raster]

42. Just answer the questions, Mr. Bush!

[Duncan Grant]

43. Reminds me of something Howard Dean would say.

"We’ve heard what you have to say about the documents and what you’ve said and what your surrogates have said, but for the moment, answer the questions.

"I say that with respect," he added. "They’d be a lot stronger in their campaign if they did do that." (-Dan Rather)

What a breath of fresh air! :bounce:

[lostnfound]

44. I haven't smiled in days, Dan..Thank you!! nt

[w4rma]

47. This is some hardcore journalism. These guys are fighting for journalists

all throughout America. Dan Rather and CBS are going be written about right next to Woodward, Bernstein and the Washington Post in future editions of history books.

[The Zanti Regent]

49. Woodward sold out. Dan didn't.

We'll remember Dan long after the MWO WHORE OF THE YEAR for 2003 fades away!

[Mrs_Beastman]

50. New respect for Dan today

[MGKrebs]

51. To CBS:

Thank you for your recent efforts to reclaim the lost virtue of the 'independent press'. This is one battle in a war in which the very survival of our democracy is at stake.

Democracy requires an informed citizenry, and an informed citizenry requires an independent and fearless press. You have shown your peers what it will take. Let us hope they accept the responsibility and live up to your example.


(email sent)

[quaker bill]

53. just answer the questions

We all know that the swifties were full of it. Kerry has answered the questions. He went to Vietnam. People shot at him. For the most part, they missed and he is consequently here to tell the tale. Had the VC been better shots, Kerry's name would be on the wall.

Bush did not go. Political favors were pulled in to keep the fortunate son out of harm's way and preserve his political viability. Less fortunate sons accomplished the same thing by running to Canada. There is no evidence that he even met this minimal commitment.

In 2000 we had a hard time getting people to read this story. If the CBS story did nothing else, anyone who is at all interested in the race now at least knows that doubts exist.

[Hardcore KY Dem]

54. Uh...im sick of this crap

I'm sick of this crap where the media wont do fuck-all to these dirt bags in office. Tip for the media: Lift your skirts, grab your balls, and do your fucking jobs. If they did their jobs they would bend this admin over, grease them up, and aim for penetration. But nooooooooo....grrrrrrrrrrrr this shit really frosts me ass.

BTW...

Dan...your got yourself into a world of shit. Nice work :) Nail these bastards to the wall.

[Dhalgren]

57. Ouch! And welcome to DU?

[sr_pacifica]

59. Good ol' Dan is back in town

Now THAT'S how reporters need to talk to this prez!

[AspenRose]

60. Just a friendly reminder...

Dan Rather: REAL Texan

GWB: FAKE Texan

Dan IS the man. Guts, courage, conscience, the whole package.

Stick it to the impostor, Dan. Some REAL Texans are rooting for you.

[calimary]

61. Another friendly [e-mail]

Be sure to send a message of support and solidarity to Dan the Man and to CBS - [e-mail] - to give them some much-needed positive reinforcement. They dodged a bullet in Congress - Chris Cox's yammering about an investigation didn't go anywhere - torpedoed in committee by his own Commerce Committee chair (Joe Barton, R-TX). Look, CBS INVENTED broadcast journalism - THANK YOU Edward R. Murrow. They've been at it for a LONG time. Their onetime owner, William Paley, was a staunch believer in keeping news separate, and sacrosanct, from the bean counters. Under him, news wasn't expected to make a profit, but instead, just tell the truth. Under that regime, people like Walter Cronkite, Charles Collingwood, Robert Trout, Harry Reasoner, Morley Safer, Mike Wallace, and yes, Dan Rather cut their teeth, and flourished. In fact, when Murrow was told to put a news outfit together, he recruited Cronkite and a bunch of other hardcore newsmen from the newspaper business - where reporters were used to the "shoe leather" stuff - digging for stories, serious investigations, checking and double-checking, and being COMPLETELY separate from anybody's corporate or financial agenda. When Tisch took over, it was the beginning of the end. Now the corporate bosses with their eyes on their quarterly earnings statements rule EVERYWHERE, as we sadly see. CBS is about the only place left where that ethic isn't completely overbearing. Yes, it's hung around their necks, too. But unlike elsewhere, it isn't strangling them.

[Eurobabe]

62. that IS the issue

stop the smoke and mirrors ya damn chimp!

[0007]

63. This sez it all - Almost a quarter of a mill voted on this issue.

Who do you believe more on President Bush's National Guard records?

CBS News
57%
119659 votes

President Bush
43%
90280 votes

Total: 209939 votes