Tim Blair

RATHER ROUNDUP

What the peoples is saying:

• James Lileks: "Remember when you believed what they said on the evening news?"

• Hugh Hewitt: "Solzhenitsyn wrote about the Soviet Union --in 1975-- that '[y]es, yes, of course --we all know that you cannot poke a stick through the walls of a concrete tower, but here's something to think about: what if those walls are only a painted backdrop?' CBS has proven to be a painted backdrop. It really is over."

• Tony Blankley: "I hate to see a noble creature in its death agony. Yet that is what we are observing. This week, it is Dan Rather and CBS News, through their failed effort to prove the legitimacy of their forged Bush National Guard documents, who are being revealed as hapless, helpless victims of an anarchic, swarming, overwhelming Internet blog technology. Soon, other great news institutions inevitably will be revealed for their inadequate capacity to fully report the news."

• The Arizona Republic: "Rather shrugs off attacks on the story as the work of 'partisans.' A network executive denigrates those people raising questions on the Internet as 'a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas.' The network couldn't announce its indifference to public opinion more clearly than if Rather himself began concluding his newscasts with the declaration, 'Arrogance!'"

• Jonah Goldberg: "I don't want to overstate the extent of my glee over the Dan Rather imbroglio now known as 'Memogate.' But, it may well be the Greatest. Story. Ever (apologies to the Comic Book Guy from 'The Simpsons'). If this story were a street urchin, I would take into my home, give it my name, and raise it as if it were my flesh and blood. If Monty Hall gave me the choice of picking this story or the coolest thing ever to reside behind Door No. 2, I would pick this story without a moment's hesitation. Cancel Christmas, suspend Hanukkah, blot out the sun with copies of the forged memos, and I will be perfectly happy."

• Jennifer Harper: "Critics have gone beyond questioning the credibility of CBS anchorman Dan Rather. Some are now calling for his resignation, a boycott of CBS and a federal investigation just a week after Mr. Rather stepped before '60 Minutes II' cameras, claiming he had damaging memos that proved President Bush shirked his National Guard duty three decades ago."

• Michelle Malkin: "Rather and his geriatric empire are combating these powerfully persuasive blogs with anemic smears and sneers. And they are losing so very, very badly that they can't keep on top of their own spin."

Posted by Tim Blair at September 16, 2004 02:32 AM