Legal Commentary

Dan Rather Lawsuit Progresses

By TChris

Remember when talkers on the right became so irate over Dan Rather's report (based in part on documents that may have been fabricated) that George Bush skipped out on some of his National Guard service? As BTD discussed here, the stink about the allegedly forged documents distracted the public from the underlying issue: whether Bush actually reported for duty.

Distraction is what the GOP does best, and its roaring umbrage cowed CBS. Anxious to prove that it had no liberal bias and to appease the corporate interests to which both CBS and the GOP are beholden, CBS "investigated" Rather and limited his work, effectively forcing his resignation.

Rather sued, claiming the rigged investigation violated his contract and damaged his reputation. According to this report, Rather has uncovered evidence to support that claim. [more ...]

Among the materials ... are internal CBS memorandums turned over to his lawyers, showing that network executives used Republican operatives to vet the names of potential members of a panel that had been billed as independent and charged with investigating the “60 Minutes” segment.

It's difficult to say that investigators were "independent" if they had to be approved by Republican operatives.

Some of the documents unearthed by his investigation include notes taken at the time by Linda Mason, a vice president of CBS News. According to her notes, one potential panel member, Warren Rudman, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, was deemed a less-than-ideal candidate over fears by some that he would not “mollify the right.”

That's an interesting standard: an investigator is only "independent" if that investigator will "mollify the right." The right was eventually mollified by Richard Thornburgh, Ronald Reagan's odious attorney general.

The list of candidates CBS considered reads like a Who's Who of the right wing commentariat:

Another memorandum turned over to Mr. Rather’s lawyers by CBS was a long typed list of conservative commentators apparently receiving some preliminary consideration as panel members, including Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan. At the bottom of that list, someone had scribbled “Roger Ailes,” the founder of Fox News.

With the possible exception of Buchanan, who has mellowed a bit with age, it's difficult to think of more a more vicious group of conservative ideologues.

Rather's lawsuit also revealed that CBS received updates from the investigative panel while it was assuring the public that it was staying out of the investigation.

Rather hopes to bring his case before a jury next year.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 17, 2008 (boomark / email).