Dan Rather , there's something I need to get off my chest.

[JoeB131]

I'mma post the whole tweet, 'cause I know less tha half of you guys will click the link to read it and this is important.

"If I may, there’s something I need to get off my chest.
As democracy remains under siege, it has been frustrating to watch how the press covers politics these days.
I am reminded by lessons that came to me during the Nixon years as a CBS News correspondent, which I’ll add here:

1. Enough with Both-sides-ism

When one side lies intentionally and repeatedly, they are no longer entitled to the benefit of the doubt. They should be held to account, right away. Do not simply repeat the narratives they spew.

2. Prioritize Live Fact-Checking

Rigorous and robust fact-checking is the best defense against misinformation, intentional lies, and deflection.
If Trump says the sky is green, the story isn’t that the sky is now green; the story is that the sky is still blue and Trump got it wrong.

3. Ask Lawmakers Hard Questions

Ask about the fundamental principles of democracy. Push them to go on the record that Biden won the 2020 election.
Ask if they support the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

This writing is not to offer any claim of knowing it all. Your correspondent has made his share of mistakes, but after more than seven decades I believe I have picked up a few useful guideposts.

Good journalism is always worth it. Our democracy depends on it."


Words of wisdom from someone who's been there before.

Yeah, I can't take anything Rather says seriously after the National Guard Memo incident.

That's when he tried to pass off a fake document created on MICROSOFT WORD as a memo created in 1973.

 

[odanny]

Yeah, I can't take anything Rather says seriously after the National Guard Memo incident.

That's when he tried to pass off a fake document created on MICROSOFT WORD as a memo created in 1973.

It was a FAKE, it was PLANTED by Karl Rove in order to STOP the discussion on Bush being AWOL for his National Guard duty and it worked perfectly.

Within 45 minutes after CBS aired the report, it was outed as a fake, they were simply waiting on it to be reported.

Rather knew the truth but relied on a fake source and was fooled. His producer screwed him.

 

[leftwinger]

There's only one side that intentionally lies to their audience.

Hint: One of their propaganda outlets had to shell out nearly 1 billion dollars due to their blatant lies.

They seem to be back on track for another dose.

rigged courts you ignorant holler monkey.

 

[JoeB131]

It was a FAKE, it was PLANTED by Karl Rove in order to STOP the discussion on Bush being AWOL for his National Guard duty and it worked perfectly.

Within 45 minutes after CBS aired the report, it was outed as a fake, they were simply waiting on it to be reported.

Rather knew the truth but relied on a fake source and was fooled. His producer screwed him.

It was reported to be a fake because it was an obvious fraud.

I did military paperwork for 11 years. I knew it was a fake just looking at the formatting. No officer would have EVER put that in a memo.

As far as Bush being "AWOL". You can't go "AWOL" from a National Guard posting. You can be coded as "Unsatisfactory participation" in a Unit Training Assembly. But more likely, you would be coded as an excused absence of some sort. Since Bush was an officer, he was probably granted special permissions to do alternative training at a time when the Guard was phasing out the kind of plane he flew.

Some background. Bush was a qualified pilot of a F102. The Texas guard was replacing those with F-4s. And there was no real desire to retrain F102 pilots who were scheduled to leave when they had hundreds of F-4 pilots returning from Vietnam looking to continue their reserve service.

Here's the thing. I think Bush was an awful president. (Even though I voted for him twice). But the only reason why Rather and other "journalists" were rehashing these debunked National Guard stories was because about the same time, people were asking serious questions about John Kerry and HIS conduct during and after the Vietnam War.

 

[sparky]

Sounds like Dan was Rather set up .......~S~

 

[odanny]

Bush never had any actual flight hours, in fact, instead of getting them he was working as a campaign aide to someone in Alabama, none of the pilots in that TANG unit remembered ever flying with George W. Bush because he never flew.

 

[citygator]

Dan Rather is spot on. CNN bending over backwards to not call out the ridiculous lies of the right and normalizing Trump's nonsense so that righties like them. Futile. They need to go back to reporting the news which is the nonsense spouted by right wing nuts.

 

[JoeB131]

Bush never had any actual flight hours, in fact, instead of getting them he was working as a campaign aide to someone in Alabama, none of the pilots in that TANG unit remembered ever flying with George W. Bush because he never flew.

That simply isn't true. He took pilot training for nearly a year at the beginning of his service. In fact, there is no question about his service from 1968 - 1973. The only questions came up was in 1973-74 when the whole National Guard system was literally falling apart as all the draft dodgers stopped showing up to drills, and the guard was trying to incorporate all these returning Vietnam vets who wanted to continue their service.

So somewhere in that mess, Bush took some alternative training in Alabama because he was working there at the time.

Seems to me he was trying to do the right thing in a system that was rife with all sorts of abuses.

 

[JoeB131]

Dan Rather is spot on. CNN bending over backwards to not call out the ridiculous lies of the right and normalizing Trump's nonsense so that righties like them. Futile. They need to go back to reporting the news which is the nonsense spouted by right wing nuts.

I agree with what he's saying, but it's kind of like getting recipes from Jeffrey Dahmner. The recipe is perfectly valid, but the messenger is all wrong.

 

[westwall]

I'mma post the whole tweet, 'cause I know less tha half of you guys will click the link to read it and this is important.

"If I may, there’s something I need to get off my chest.
As democracy remains under siege, it has been frustrating to watch how the press covers politics these days.
I am reminded by lessons that came to me during the Nixon years as a CBS News correspondent, which I’ll add here:

1. Enough with Both-sides-ism

When one side lies intentionally and repeatedly, they are no longer entitled to the benefit of the doubt. They should be held to account, right away. Do not simply repeat the narratives they spew.

2. Prioritize Live Fact-Checking

Rigorous and robust fact-checking is the best defense against misinformation, intentional lies, and deflection.
If Trump says the sky is green, the story isn’t that the sky is now green; the story is that the sky is still blue and Trump got it wrong.

3. Ask Lawmakers Hard Questions

Ask about the fundamental principles of democracy. Push them to go on the record that Biden won the 2020 election.
Ask if they support the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

This writing is not to offer any claim of knowing it all. Your correspondent has made his share of mistakes, but after more than seven decades I believe I have picked up a few useful guideposts.

Good journalism is always worth it. Our democracy depends on it."


Words of wisdom from someone who's been there before.

This coming from a political hack who got busted for knowingly lying.

He has zero credibility.

 

[martybegan]

I'mma post the whole tweet, 'cause I know less tha half of you guys will click the link to read it and this is important.

"If I may, there’s something I need to get off my chest.
As democracy remains under siege, it has been frustrating to watch how the press covers politics these days.
I am reminded by lessons that came to me during the Nixon years as a CBS News correspondent, which I’ll add here:

1. Enough with Both-sides-ism

When one side lies intentionally and repeatedly, they are no longer entitled to the benefit of the doubt. They should be held to account, right away. Do not simply repeat the narratives they spew.

2. Prioritize Live Fact-Checking

Rigorous and robust fact-checking is the best defense against misinformation, intentional lies, and deflection.
If Trump says the sky is green, the story isn’t that the sky is now green; the story is that the sky is still blue and Trump got it wrong.

3. Ask Lawmakers Hard Questions

Ask about the fundamental principles of democracy. Push them to go on the record that Biden won the 2020 election.
Ask if they support the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

This writing is not to offer any claim of knowing it all. Your correspondent has made his share of mistakes, but after more than seven decades I believe I have picked up a few useful guideposts.

Good journalism is always worth it. Our democracy depends on it."


Words of wisdom from someone who's been there before.

Talk about Chutzpah. His research people believed a fake document, and he paid for it.

 

[the watcher]

Dan Rather is spot on. CNN bending over backwards to not call out the ridiculous lies of the right and normalizing Trump's nonsense so that righties like them. Futile. They need to go back to reporting the news which is the nonsense spouted by right wing nuts.

There are no real journalists today, with the retirement of Seymour Hersh you are left with Anderson Cooper, who did his apprenticeship with the cia. "Journalists" today are embedded with the mil/security/corp machine and are fed stories and how to spin them, In return the reporters have access to exclusive bullshit, and can pass as relevent.

 

[hadit]

I'mma post the whole tweet, 'cause I know less tha half of you guys will click the link to read it and this is important.

"If I may, there’s something I need to get off my chest.
As democracy remains under siege, it has been frustrating to watch how the press covers politics these days.
I am reminded by lessons that came to me during the Nixon years as a CBS News correspondent, which I’ll add here:

1. Enough with Both-sides-ism

When one side lies intentionally and repeatedly, they are no longer entitled to the benefit of the doubt. They should be held to account, right away. Do not simply repeat the narratives they spew.

2. Prioritize Live Fact-Checking

Rigorous and robust fact-checking is the best defense against misinformation, intentional lies, and deflection.
If Trump says the sky is green, the story isn’t that the sky is now green; the story is that the sky is still blue and Trump got it wrong.

3. Ask Lawmakers Hard Questions

Ask about the fundamental principles of democracy. Push them to go on the record that Biden won the 2020 election.
Ask if they support the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

This writing is not to offer any claim of knowing it all. Your correspondent has made his share of mistakes, but after more than seven decades I believe I have picked up a few useful guideposts.

Good journalism is always worth it. Our democracy depends on it."


Words of wisdom from someone who's been there before.

Some self-reflection and humility would go a long way towards creating a little bit of credibility there, Dan. Just saying. "Your correspondent has made his share of mistakes" is a meaningless token gesture designed to provide cover, instead of what could have been an admission of what you have inflicted on the American people while furthering your own agenda.

IOW, lambasting today's media for not being enough of a propaganda outlet for the democrat party is not "important", as OP claims.

As an aside, I find it amusing that Dan cites live fact-checking when his own fake documents were uncovered within hours of his broadcast and his story tanked. At the time, one wondered how he thought he could get away with broadcasting such obvious forgeries. Maybe he thought it would take long enough to discover that the effect on votes would be set and it wouldn't matter. I, too, would like to see actual journalism being done. When the talking heads all give the same story while using the same words, ala "gravitas", it's obvious that they're all just reading something somebody else wrote, and they're all reading the same thing.

 

[hadit]

Talk about Chutzpah. His research people believed a fake document, and he paid for it.

Given how quickly and easily the forgeries were uncovered, one has to wonder if they really believed the docs were legitimate, or just wanted so badly to believe that they ignored the red flags. That should have sparked some introspection, but apparently it didn't.

 

[Polishprince]

Who?

This is Dan Fucking Rather, the fellow who tried to rig the 2004 election for John Fucking Kerry if you'll remember? He presented forged documents presuming to document President Bush's misbehavior in the Texas Air National Guard.

Totally fake, Dubya should have had Rather shot for treason.

 

[surada]

The father of fake news has something to say? Be still my heart.

You learn well.

Insult after insult: All of Trump's ugly campaign rhetoric in one place

All of Trump's ugly campaign rhetoric in one place. In case you were looking.

mashable.com

The candidate's vitriol, invectives and crass commentary have changed the rules of political discourse. From referencing a television host's menstrual cycle to using vulgar phrases to describe opponents to his encouragement of violence at rallies, Trump's insults have known no bounds — and have been a dominant storyline of the campaign.

 

[odanny]

That simply isn't true. He took pilot training for nearly a year at the beginning of his service. In fact, there is no question about his service from 1968 - 1973. The only questions came up was in 1973-74 when the whole National Guard system was literally falling apart as all the draft dodgers stopped showing up to drills, and the guard was trying to incorporate all these returning Vietnam vets who wanted to continue their service.

So somewhere in that mess, Bush took some alternative training in Alabama because he was working there at the time.

Seems to me he was trying to do the right thing in a system that was rife with all sorts of abuses.

George W. Bush Was AWOL, But What’s “Truth” Got to Do With It?

Dan Rather and Mary Mapes weren't the first to report that George W. Bush was AWOL during Vietnam. But they screwed up so badly they were the last.

theintercept.com

 

[Lord-Humungus]

Stay stupid.

Truth hurts

 

[Lastamender]

You learn well.

Insult after insult: All of Trump's ugly campaign rhetoric in one place

All of Trump's ugly campaign rhetoric in one place. In case you were looking.

mashable.com

The candidate's vitriol, invectives and crass commentary have changed the rules of political discourse. From referencing a television host's menstrual cycle to using vulgar phrases to describe opponents to his encouragement of violence at rallies, Trump's insults have known no bounds — and have been a dominant storyline of the campaign.

No rules have been changed. Obama started this hate. Trump only gives it back to them.

 

[GLASNOST]

George W. Bush was AWOL in Vitham.

George W. Bush Was AWOL, But What’s “Truth” Got to Do With It?

Dan Rather and Mary Mapes weren't the first to report that George W. Bush was AWOL during Vietnam. But they screwed up so badly they were the last.

theintercept.com

What's wrong with that? I was AWOL in Vietnam several times but I don't think I ever got caught. Going over the concertina wire into the local village of whores was easy in the dark if you knew where to step. Some boom-boom and back in the tent and no one was the wiser.