Tuesday, June 20, 2006

So long... farewell... auf wiedersehen... goodbye

Dan Rather leaves CBS in bitter end to 44 years
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Newsman Dan Rather has left CBS News in a bitter departure clouded by a reporting scandal over President George W. Bush's military record, ending 44 years as reporter, anchor and the face of the network.

His career spanned highlights of recent U.S. history, from President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination to the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon in 1974.

Rather said his departure on Tuesday came after "a protracted struggle" with CBS executives who, he said, had "not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there" since he stepped down as anchor in March 2005.

Leave it to Dan to make this even more of an embarrassment than it already was.
Rather, 74, said he was leaving with a desire to return to "regular, meaningful reporting," adding that CBS had offered him "a future with only an office but no assignments."

"It just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing," he said. "So I will do the work I love elsewhere, and I look forward to sharing details about that soon."

DUDE!! You are seventy-four years OLD, for Pete's sake! Move ON... find a HOBBY... you're just not as special and wonderful as you've allowed yourself to think all these years. You're just a guy, and you need a LIFE apart from Big Media. This was your chance to exit quietly; just like Nixon, eventually you would've repaired your tarnished image if you could just behave yourself and shut up.

Dan suffers from the same brand of lunacy the Dixie Chiclets suffer from. At its core, it's the disease of narcissism... thinking you're more important and more special than you really are. Thinking you're the center of the known universe, and that anyone who doesn't see it that way doesn't count anyway. The same kind of people who used to use the term "flyover country" to refer to anyplace in the US that wasn't on one of the coasts.

The phrase "Shut up and sing" or "Shut up and read your teleprompter" would just not register with these kinds of people.
"You never expect someone who's been the face of the network for so long to just be given an office which is essentially a closet ... and then not to be given air time and then to have it leaked to the press that he's being booted," said New Yorker media critic Ken Auletta. "It's jarring."

Rather stepped down as anchor last March and has since worked for "60 Minutes." The Los Angeles Times quoted him on Friday saying he was rebuffed when he offered to help cover Hurricane Katrina, Iraq and Afghanistan.

He wanted badly to be in the center of the action, and just couldn't take the hint.
"Too much is made of anchors and their personalities," Rather said, adding more attention should be paid to the role of a free press and the "corporatization" of news.

Dan hit TWO major truths here, but he's speaking the wrong language and doesn't hear what he's said. Let's see... yes, too much IS made of anchors and their personalities. You've been an overpaid buffoon for years; you should just realize that and use all those millions to buy yourself a bicycle to ride around the block. Be content.

Second major truth -- the free press and the over-corporatization of the news -- that's already being solved as we speak. It's even the reason you're out on your @$$. It's called BLOGGING.

You oughta kill two birds with one goofy election-night witticism, here. Start your own blog. Jump in, old Dan. Of course, as you said back in '04, don't taunt the alligator until you've crossed the creek. You afraid you've done riled up the 'gators?

Snip, snap!

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