Most of Rather's pontifications on today's "Morning Joe" rolled off my back, as I flipped between his performance and that of Tiger Woods over the closing holes at Carnoustie.
But something made me sit up and take notice. At 8:34 A.M. EDT, Rather suddenly blurted out: "I'm big on personal responsibility." And yes, he managed to do so without laughing.
This from the man who notoriously brought us Memogate, yet who to this day has refused to squarely admit the truth: that the documents were blatant forgeries.
For documentation of Rather's dodges, weaves and rejections of personal responsibility, check out reports from MRC [NB's parent] here, here and here.
Take, for example, Rather's statement highlighted by MRC on September 16, 2004, in which Rather trumpeted how a retired, 86-year-old secretary, Marian Cox:
flew to New York this afternoon to tell us she believes the documents we obtained are not authentic. But there's yet another confusing twist to this story. She told us she believes what the documents actually say is exactly as we reported.
The "fake but accurate" defense. How's that for being big on personal responsibility?
I waited in vain for Joe to call Rather on the disconnect between his professed values and his performance in Memogate. One person not having trouble with the truth was newsreader Mika Brzezinski when she admitted on last week's show to admiring Rather very much. Check out the loving look Mika gives Dan here. She later gave Rather an Ann Curry-ish arm squeeze.
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
