Dan Rather

"You know what, you've been a great journalist for 44 years," The View host Barbara Walters gushed to Dan Rather at the close of a softball interview on May 23 about his new memoir, "Rather Outspoken."

"No matter what CBS says!" an excited co-host Joy Behar interjected. Yes, "no matter what CBS says," Walters agreed of the former anchor/managing editor of the CBS Evening News, who was fired from the Tiffany network for running stories on a discredited phony memo that alleged President George W. Bush was often AWOL when he should have showed up for training exercises when serving in the Air National Guard.

Appearing on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams heaped his idea of high praise onto CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley: "Scott grew up firmly in the Dan Rather school of journalism, which is a great tradition." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Despite that laughable reference to the disgraced former CBS News anchor, who was fired for using forged National Guard memos to smear President George W. Bush in 2004, Williams was quite sincere in his supposed compliment to Pelley. Letterman wondered: "Is he [Pelley] the tradition of the great Dan Rather?" Williams replied: "Oh, a student and acolyte. And I say that as a big, big fan of Dan and a friend of Dan's for many years."

Pelley has certainly followed in Rather's liberal footsteps throughout his journalistic career at CBS.

If this is how Dan Rather at peace looks like, wonder what he's like when angry and embittered . . .

On Morning Joe today, Rather emphatically alleged that he was "at peace" over the Memogate fiasco that led to the end of his career. But he couldn't help himself from suggesting that his reputation had been destroyed by anonymous partisans employing "lies."  View the video after the jump.

Despite appearing on ABC's Good Morning America Monday, former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather canceled his scheduled interview on Fox News's O'Reilly Factor later in the day.

With this in mind, political commentator Bernie Goldberg told Bill O'Reilly Monday night that Rather is "more comfortable with sitting down with a murderer like Saddam Hussein than sitting down with you" (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary):

George Stephanopoulos and the reporters at Good Morning America did not treat Dan Rather like a discredited journalist who disgraced CBS with faked documents. Instead, Rather was extolled as a "legendary newsman," and a "news legend." Those two terms were used four times on Monday.

Stephanopoulos interviewed the ex-CBS anchor who was let go after using discredited documents in a 2004 story about then-President George W. Bush. The GMA co-host sympathetically explained how Rather is "upset" by his abrupt exit: "...You felt that your team at CBS and its corporate ownership at Viacom, didn't back you up in that pursuit of the news and the truth." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

With the way the Obama-loving media have mishandled the Trayvon Martin shooting, there's seems to be no question the Left wants race to be an issue in the upcoming elections.

Appearing on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show this weekend, HDNet's Dan Rather ominously said, "Race will be a factor in this presidential campaign" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

At least one comes to mind, Dan. Guess who?

Turns out that oft-flogged figure from liberals of 98 percent of American women using contraception is too low, at least according to former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who's now working at something or someplace called HDNet. (video clip after page break)

Chris Matthews this weekend, on the syndicated program bearing his name, offered viewers a mock movie trailer attacking Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

In honor of Sunday's Oscars and the presumed favorite "The Artist," Matthews was using the occasion to cinematically show Romney's "downfall" is "when he has to open his mouth" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Appearing as a guest on Thursday's Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN, former CBS News anchor expressed agreement with GOP presidential candidate  Ron Paul in opposing U.S. involvement in the civil war in Syria to protect the civilian population from the terror regime of authoritarian ruler, President Bashar Assad. After describing what he believes should be done to put pressure on Assad, he brought up Congressman Paul's left-leaning views on the Middle East:

Occupy Wall Street attacks income inequality and the richest 1 percent, adopting as its slogan ''we are the 99 percent.'' In October, its protesters staged a ''millionaires march' 'in New York City, parading to the homes of wealthy citizens such as Rupert Murdoch and David Koch. But only some riches bother the Occupiers, who have ignored the massive wealth of celebrities in their own ranks.

The top 25 richest celebrities supporting Occupy Wall Street, according to the website Celebrity Net Worth, possess a combined net worth just over $4 billion.

Well, that didn't take long. It took about half an hour into her new noon Eastern program Now with Alex Wagner for the host to attack the Republican presidential field as insane. And true to MSNBC form, her panel of liberal journalists largely agreed with her.

"When I watched that waterboarding segment, all I could think of is these Republican candidates are putting another brick on the house of crazy that they are building for themselves," Wagner complained after airing a montage of  GOP presidential contenders in Saturday's CBS-National Journal foreign policy debate regarding their views on the controversial enhanced interrogation technique. [MP3 audio available here; video follows page break]

Former President Bill Clinton is making headlines again, this time touting his liberal prescriptions to fix the economy. Those remedies are laid out his new book Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy. The news media is doing their part to promote Clinton's work and his economic legacy, portraying him as the economic savior of America.

This should come as no surprise, since Clinton is still beloved by liberal journalists. New York Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani called Clinton's book "a lucid one-man rebuttal of the Tea Party's anti-government agenda." Kakutani also summarized Clinton's plan, saying "Mr. Clinton serves up a succinct common-sense argument, why both spending cuts and increased tax revenues are necessary for addressing the debt problem."

Dan Rather on this weekend's "The Chris Matthews Show" exposed the person that is believed to be behind the Occupy Wall Street movement.

"The real moving force behind this, what's happening in the Wall Street protesters and the efforts to spread it around the country, is a woman operating out of her apartment in New York" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Disgraced ex-anchor Dan Rather wrote for The Huffington Post last Friday about how Americans are in danger of losing their grip on our history, touting his HDNet special on 9/11. So if Rather cares about history, what would he say about his boss Mark Cuban and the HDNet folks putting on truther-conspiracy documentaries on his network in prime time on September 11, 2011?

Ace of Spades had the scoop. HDNet tweeted: "LOOSE CHANGE, a controversial look at the conspiracy theory that September 11th was an inside job is up next at 9:15pm ET." That would be right after "Dan Rather Remembers 9/11" at 8 pm Eastern. Dan Rather seems to have found the right location for his loose and imaginative career in anti-conservative journalism. He wrote for the HuffPost with his grandpa lecture about how he loved Ed Murrow broadcasts in World War II, then boasted:

Dan Rather this weekend said Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is "for real" and that he can "imagine a scenario where she actually gets the Republican [presidential] nomination."

Maybe even more surprising, on the syndicated program bearing his name, Chris Matthews agreed (video follows with partial transcript and commentary):

As a potential government shutdown looms the liberal media are filling their programs with stories about dire consequences of deep cuts that will lead to troops not getting paid, closed national parks, and late tax refunds. However, a review of MRC's coverage of the 1995 budget fight reveals the media are simply rerunning their tired old arguments from the last shutdown.

On this Wednesday's edition of ABC's Good Morning America, Jonathan Karl tallied the services that could be at risk this time around, as he warned: "If they don't reach a deal and get it passed by then, American troops, including those on the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq, may not get their paychecks. And smack in the middle of tax season, that refund you've been counting on, well, you may have to wait." Karl went on to alert travelers that: "Treasures like Old Faithful and Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Yosemite's half dome, will be closed to visitors. And if you don't already have a passport, don't even think about leaving the country. Last time the government shut down, 200,000 passport applications were stopped in their tracks."

However Karl and others, as quotes from 1995 show, are simply dusting off the old media playbook to blame Republicans, not Democrats, for a shutdown, as they focus on high profile federal projects like national parks in an attempt to frighten the American people into opposing prudent fiscal decision-making.

(videos after the jump)

On Monday's Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN, disgraced former CBS anchor Dan Rather attributed the current protests in Egypt to President Obama's June 2009 speech to the Muslim world in Cairo: "He [Obama] fueled this uprising in Egypt. When he came to Cairo, let us remember, and he spoke of- listen, we stand for freedom and democracy and listening to people. The Egyptians believed his rhetoric" [audio available here].

Host Piers Morgan's segment with Rather aired 36 minutes into the 9 pm Eastern hour. He devoted the entire interview to the Egyptian issue. Near the end of the segment, the CNN personality asked, "If you were President Obama right now, what would you now say?" The former CBS Evening News anchor began by voicing his sympathy for the President: "I'm glad I'm not because it's a real dilemma." He then placed himself in the Democrat's shoes: "I would quietly send word to Mubarak that his days are finished, that we will do our best by him. We appreciate what he's done, but events have moved past him. I would do that quietly. I wouldn't say that publicly."

[Video embedded below the page break]

How do we know that grade-school students in Dallas spontaneously cheered the news that President John F. Kennedy was murdered in their city?

Because it's been repeated ad infinitum for almost half a century. Therefore it must be true, right?

It's a belief that's taken on the aura of holy writ to liberals, thanks to propapandists like radio host and lawyer Mike Papantonio in preserving its mythology for each new generation of true believers.

You'd think someone who practices law would know better. Then again, you might not.

During live MSNBC coverage leading up to President Obama's Wednesday 1PM ET press conference, former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather urged the President to aggressively take on Republicans in the wake of the midterm elections: "[Obama] has to realize that Mitch McConnell has virtually said so that politically he wants to cut out his heart and throw his liver to the dogs." [Audio available here]

Rather declared that the President should "take the Harry Truman, who lost big in1946 and said 'I'm going to fight them. I'm going to fight them.'...He has to be a fighter." He lamented how Obama's "reputation as president so far is he's a little soft. He plays soft." Rather concluded: "He's got to demonstrate, and I think in this news conference, 'yes, I will work with them, but I'm prepared to fight them on things that really matter to me.'"

Video below

Ex-CBS broadcaster Dan Rather on Tuesday appeared on MSNBC and lamented the fact that Republicans have turned Nancy Pelosi into a "villain" and "demonized" her. The famous broadcaster also implied that sexism was involved, gesturing to his female co-panelists, "She is from San Francisco. She is a woman." Before being interrupted, he added, "And the three of you can figure out-"

Speaking of sexism, on the June 11, 2007 Morning Joe, Rather attacked Katie Couric, his successor at the CBS Evening News, this way: "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."

Rather on Tuesday opined of Speaker Pelosi: "Ideal villain. And they made a villain of her and they have demonized her from day one. And what was said earlier, what's made it easy for them is she's been so effective. " The CBS journalist couched his analysis by saying he wasn't judging the Republicans' action, suggesting, "This is the way politics are."

Video after the break.

Yesterday, NB's Noel Sheppard noted the ignominious end of Klein's nearly six-year term as head of CNN/US.

If there is an example of anyone who has overseen a bigger audience decline and loss of competitive position and survived so long, I don't know who he or she is. Fox News, which first passed CNN in total viewers in January 2002 (interesting how this basic factoid is not at Fox's Wiki entry), now routinely trounces CNN and CNN Headline combined by a factor of 1.5 to 1 or more. On Thursday, Fox's primetime audience of 574,000 was 75% greater than the CNN pair's combined total of 329,000.

But before he arrived at CNN to do his damage, Klein inadvertently did the nation a service.

The Washington Post has repeatedly featured a full-page ad in recent days for a Get Motivated! Business Seminar in Washington in October. One of the big names at the event (alongside Colin Powell, Steve Forbes, and Rudy Giuliani) is disgraced former CBS anchor Dan Rather, teaching "How to Communicate Effectively." Then the ad copy gets ridiculous:

Dan Rather, Legendary News Anchor and Journalist, has covered every major story of the last 50 years, with distinction and a fierce dedication to hard news. He is always ready to deliver the truth the way it is! [Emphasis mine.]

Hello, Better Business Bureau? Someone's misleading the public about Dan Rather's record of "distinction" in trying to sell fraudulent documents about President George W. Bush's military service in the fall of 2004. His "fierce dedication" wasn't to hard news. When his story was exposed as phony, he refused to admit he'd mangled the truth.

Dan Rather this weekend smacked down the entire panel of the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show" over the press hyping Pastor Terry Jones's threats to burn Korans on the ninth anniversary of 9/11.

"Media in general bear some responsibility here by running so hard with this story so early and putting such comments as you just said not only on the air, but high on the air, giving it play," Rather said.

When everyone on the set - including Matthews, Katty Kay of the BBC, Andrea Mitchell of NBC, and David Ignatius of the Washington Post - disagreed with him, Rather pushed back, "We do have a responsibility, however you want to describe us, as gatekeepers."

He continued, "We could do a better job of putting it in perspective, putting it into context" (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

On Sunday’s syndicated Chris Matthews Show, after host Matthews asked if electing a President whose middle name was "Hussein" had "opened a door to better relations with the Arab and Islamic world. Or has it opened a door to more xenophobic American negativity?" the panel mostly agreed that Obama’s election was more of a "net plus" for America’s relations with the world's Muslim population. The Washington Post’s David Ignatius had a dissenting view that "President Obama raised expectations that there would be a different kind of America. That in itself could be dangerous."

After former CBS News anchor Dan Rather argued that "I think it's opened the door to both, but, on balance, and in the main, it's still a net plus in terms of the country's reputation," the BBC’s Katty Kay agreed and implicated President Bush in damaging America’s relations with the Muslim world. Kay: "I agree that it's a net plus, particularly when you compare it with what came before and the invasion of Iraq and how much of a problem that was for America's relations with the Middle East."

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell concurred: "I agree because after the invasion of Iraq and with this President and his multicultural background, it is a net plus."

Washington Post columnist David Ignatius then weighed in with a more pessimistic take:

The Poynter Institute welcomed disgraced former CBS anchor Dan Rather to share his thoughts on his long career and on the media in general this week. In an interview with Poynter's Mallary Tenore, he complained "So often, particularly covering politics, enterprises that describe themselves as journalistic enterprises, and journalists who describe themselves as journalists, in fact just become transmission belts."

That's exactly what Poynter's interview was, a transmission belt for Rather's lamest hits, including how the press needs a "spine transplant" and his shameless insistence that his phony-documents Texas Air National Guard story is still true. If Poynter cared about the reputation of journalism, why continue to entertain and spread doubt about the falsehood of Rather's most atrocious "scoop"?

The only thing fresh here is Rather's growing socialism, as he insists (just like Bill Moyers) that money is corrupting politics and the government needs to break some alleged media monopoly where only four mega-corporations distribute most of America's news:

Gloria Borger this weekend ridiculed Barack Obama's dependence on his trusted teleprompter.

During the opening segment of the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show," the host was comparing the current White House resident to the late John F. Kennedy.

After Matthews showed video clips of JFK and Richard Nixon during the 1960 presidential campaign, guest Dan Rather remarked, "I noticed in the acceptance speeches neither one of them used a teleprompter. You can't imagine any candidate today going without a teleprompter for an acceptance speech."

Borger marvelously quipped, "Particularly Obama" (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

It may well be Dan Rather's finest hour. Make that his finest five seconds.

The disgraced former "Evening News" anchor apparently has a brief cameo in "Skyline," an alien invasion flick landing in theaters on November 12. 

Rather isn't the only liberal journalist featured in the film. Self-described socialist and sometime "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" guest host Lawrence O'Donnell is also featured in the movie trailer, which we've included below the page break (h/t Jim Geraghty):

Dan Rather this weekend said the odds are that the Republicans will take back the House in the upcoming midterm elections.

Maybe more surprisingly, Chris Matthews, with a look on his face like someone had given him the worst news possible, actually agreed with him. 

As the discussion on the latest installment of the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show" focused on what Democrats need to do this fall to prevent a disaster at the polls, the former "CBS Evening News" host said what has to be scaring the heck out of liberal media members from coast to coast (video follows with transcript and commentary):