Dan Rather, a man whose career at CBS was destroyed by a lie he couldn’t let go of, appeared on MSNBC’s Hardball where he was outraged at Kellyanne Conway’s coined term of “alternate facts.” “Well, to say it was unfortunate is, to put it mildly. This was a big mistake,” he declared as he started to tear into the president’s advisor, “None of us can go into this world alternative facts.”
“Listen, two plus two equals four, that's a fact there’s no alternative to it. Water runs downhill, that's a fact. It snows in Alaska. There’s sand dunes in Saudi Arabia. These are facts,” he chided, “This idea of alternative facts, this is a propaganda tool.”
The disgraced journalist didn’t let up and accused Conway of crafting the remark, “And look, you and I both know Ms. Conway is a very smart lady and she didn’t offhandedly say this. They’ve made this point before.” The liberal tried to channel the thoughts of Trump’s supports and argued that they didn’t want her to use the term. Trump supporters who really believe in him want us to deal in a world of alternative facts,” he argued.
“Facts and the truth, or as close as humanly possible to get to the truth, are at the very foundation of our democracy and dealing with an informed citizenry. We all know this,” he opined. Rather was very deliberate in calling the term a “propaganda tool” and was very insulting when describing what facts are, so it begs the question of whether or not HE knows what facts are.
In the presidential election of 2004, Rather publish forged documents that purported to so that President George W. Bush shirked his duties during his time in the Texas Air National Guard. As evidence surfaced that the documents were fake, Rather and CBS would not admit the story was false until it was too late. The network’s reputation and Rather’s career were shattered. At the time, there were accusations that those involved in the scandal were secretly rooting for, then Senator, John Kerry to win the election.
Long after Rather left CBS News in disgrace, he still held on to his alternate fact that the story was 100 percent true. In October of 2015, Rather appeared on NBC’s Today and unbelievably pushed the story as Accurate. “What I wouldn't do differently is back off the story. The story was true,” he told them. He insisted that “Because it was true, those who wanted to discredit the story had to attack the process by which we got to the truth and they’ve successfully attacked us on that.” He even promoted a new film which argued that he was correct, while CBS denounced it saying there was ‘little truth’ to the film.
Rather will most likely continue to declare his alternate facts about Bush to be true for years to come. So his declarations of “none of us can go into this world alternative facts” and “the public at large has to think careful about this whole propaganda tool of alternate facts,” are truly laughable. This is also the journalist who explained to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly in 2001 that, in regards to Bill Clinton, “I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things.”
It’s rather ironic that Rather spouted this nonsense on MSNBC, the outlet that houses Brian Williams, another journalist that has a problem with “alternate facts.”
Transcript below:
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MSNBC
Hardball
January 23, 2017
7:10:49 PM EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: Dan, there’s a new phrase. I think Kellyanne is as smart as a whip. I think that one is a mistake. That was a strike out because somebody—I might as well do it—Somebody’s going to do it: Alt-facts. It’s not going to be alternatives, it’s going to be alt-facts and you know what that means. That’s coming.
DAN RATHER: Well, to say it was unfortunate is to put it mildly. This was a big mistake. Listen, we cannot—We simply cannot—I don’t mean journalists or the White House per say. None of us can go into this world alternative facts.
Listen, two plus two equals four, that's a fact there’s no alternative to it. Water runs downhill, that's a fact. It snows in Alaska. There’s sand dunes in Saudi Arabia. These are facts. This idea of alternative facts, this is a propaganda tool.
And look, you and I both know Ms. Conway is a very smart lady and she didn’t offhandedly say this. They’ve made this point before. I don't think that even most of the Trump supporters who really believe in him want us to deal in a world of alternative facts. Facts and the truth, or as close as humanly possible to get to the truth, are at the very foundation of our democracy and dealing with an informed citizenry. We all know this.
And I think we have to be very careful-- not just those of us in journalism and not just the White House, but the public at large has to think careful about this whole propaganda tool of alternate facts.
MATTHEWS: You know, I don’t think you look on the opinion page to find out what time the movie is. There’s certain things you just want to hear the facts. You don’t want to hear the opinion. You don’t want to hear the commentary. You want to see the football game and then the commentary. You want to know who won the game.
…
