Dan Rather is like an old pickup truck with a busted axle. It pulls hard to the left and can drive you into the gully if you don't pay attention.
This morning Dan Rather was on Joe Scarborough's MSNBC early morning show. And being the war critic that he is, Rather was parroting the complaint about President Bush and the war effort that "we were never asked to make a sacrifice," as if he really would have made a sacrifice to help and not hurt Bush.
His mentor, Walter Cronkite, is famous for swaying public opinion against the war in Vietnam, and Dan Rather no doubt wants to be remembered by something other than Rathergate. So he continues his anti-administration drumbeat perhaps thinking that if Bush becomes unpopular enough then his own below the belt attacks on Bush might be looked upon more favorably.
He's not the first to complain about not being asked to sacrifice, but it seems so disingenuous no matter who says it. And it sounds not only disingenuous but unoriginal when Rather says it. But let's give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest a way he can sacrifice for the war effort. Dan, fight your prejudices against George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Help the U. S. achieve a victory and a stable democracy in Iraq. If you can't help then just stay out of the way and quit criticizing those who are trying to help.
Courage, Dan. And sacrifice.
Updated 6/12/07: Newsbusters point to Mr. Rather's complaint about his replacement at CBS, Katie Couric. Excerpt:
He also found time to twice bash his "Evening News" successor Katie Couric for dumbing down and tarting up the news. After giving the standard caveat that Couric is a "nice person," he went in for kill. Speculating on the program’s declining ratings, Rather complained to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough that "the mistake was to try to bring the ‘Today’ show ethos to the evening news and to dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience."
Face it, Dan. Your style of reporting alienates viewers of all ages.
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