Former CBS Evening News Anchor Dan Rather, despite being fired as a result of the bogus story, continues to maintain that he got it right in September 2004 when he aired forged documents concerning George W. Bush’s record with the Air National Guard.
On CNN’s Piers Morgan Live Monday, Rather said, “No question the story was true” (video follows with transcript and commentary):
PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Let's turn quickly to what’s been going on at CBS, your old network. Your former colleague, Lara Logan, on leave of absence over this report from Benghazi. Many people believe there’s a slight double standard at CBS in the way that you were treated in terms of the way you departed from CBS, and the way that Lara Logan has been treated, and the way they handled this crisis. What do you think?
DAN RATHER: Well, first of all, CBS News has a lot to answer for this. There are a lot of questions. They have answered some of them. I don't want to in any way to add to their burden. I know what it feels like to be the correspondent who is the center of controversy when there are people both above and below you [unintelligible.]
But I will make this point: with our story, the one that led to our difficulty, no question the story was true. What the complaint and, while we, eventually most of us lost our jobs, was, okay, your story was true, but the way you got to the truth was flawed. The process was flawed. That’s not the case with the Benghazi story. Unfortunately – and there’s no joy in saying it - they were taken in by a man who was a fraud.
The dishonesty here is extraordinary.
The documents Rather presented that fateful night in September 2004 were clearly forgeries. Not one person has come forward since proving they weren't.
Yet here he is nine years later saying on national television, "No question the story was true."
And Morgan didn't challenge him at all.
Is this really what passes for journalism in our country today?
(HT Mediaite)
