I disagree with you on this one, pardner, but from your lips to God's ear.

By the way, I have images of Sullivan sitting in front of his computer right now with his fingers in his ears going, "It's not true, it's not true, it's not true . . . ."

My Sully vision is almost the same as Allah's, except he's singing "Tomorrow" from Annie.

This is too big to be ignored by the mainstream media. Oh, but wait, I've said *that* before.

The media may have to start ignoring this like John Kerry ignores them.

I like yours better, Rocketeer.

If the story gets traction in the wider media which is likely I don't see how Rather could last until November. It isn't like there will be a commission setup over this. I'll go with October 15.

Also who says Rather made up the story the direct connection between MoveOn.org and the people who put out this story is documented, why doesn't this get back to Kerry? Of course that is why I see Rather falling on his sword sooner rather(har) than later....

All of this assumes something rather key.... that Rather will admit that the documents are faked. Since he's never admitted being wrong about anything before, I have cause to doubt it.

That being said, it then comes down to CBS investigating who faked them, or if Rather and/or CBS staffers faked them, finding someone to blame for it all.

And if the fakes came from Democrat partisans either inside, or outside the media, will charges be filed?

Retirement? I'm picking him in next year's Dead Pool.

Bithead: What types of charges?

If its a lawsuit against libel, then I'm afraid no public figure can win that (public figures virtually cannot win lawsuits about libel or slander due to that little thing we call free speech.)

On fraud, well, I guess they could do that.

As much as I'd like to see Dan go down it ain't gonna happen. Unless I missed something nobody is saying Dan forged the documents himself. He will just cast himself as a victim of 'todays dirty politics'. Poor Dan, get back up on that high horse.

If---IF---the forgery angle gets enough traction, expect Rather to neveer admit it and retire in eight months or so, citing his age.

Rocketeer, I am deeply troubled by your fantasizing about Sully. And I question the timing of your vision.

Please explain to me why Dan Rather takes the hit and not the producer of Sixty Minutes, which actually advanced the documents. Dan only interviewed Barnes, right? And there's no formal connection (yet) between Barnes and these documents.

In any case, they say they did check their authenticity with a handwriting analyst, so I think the expert will take the blame instead of CBS (see my comment in the post below).

Whether CBS's "handwriting analyst" is Madam Lazora, who also reads tarot cards and chicken entrails, has yet to be determined.

Umm, that was me. sorry.

Allah --

Dunno if you've checked Sullivan's site recently, but your prediction rang completely true. Sully's "gut" tells him these are the real McCoy.

The less said about the trustworthiness of Sully's gut, the better, I think.

I remember Dan breathlessly announcing a co-presidency with Ford and Reagan in 1980.

Here is what Rick Ballard over at Roger L. Simon has to say about Dan's possible retirement:

"Rather can't retire yet. All his money is tied up helping the daughter of the former minister of the Ghanian treasury get some funds unblocked. He is expecting good news any day now."

I'm still ROTF...

You guys are way too generous. Rather will skate. His producer will go on to sire some more whiney offspring. And in the end, some lowly researcher down on rung zero of the ladder will get blamed - IF - this ever gets traction.

I agree with James - the more interesting story is not about CBS but about possible connections to the Kerry campaign. The one argument I would offer at the moment that this is a Kerry iniative is the sheer incompetence of the forgery. Doesn't that kinda make you think Kerry Campaign spent millions of dollars and hired the best people they could find to produce the memo?

Show tunes? Did I hear a show tune? How about "The Impossible Dream" from Man of LaMancha. Just the reprise version at the end of the show to get it over with as soon as possible. Ack! I hate musicals.

It would just be too wonderful for Rather to go down disgraced. Life is not that sweet. I agree that, even if this likely hoax is part of the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, Rather will bob and weave his way to fight another day.

Didn't Susan Estrich basically provide the blueprint for this smear/forgery? I wouldn't rule out the Kerry campaign just yet.

SULLY UPDATE: Just segued into I Will Survive.

Funny you should say. I was just going to delete my nasty prognostication that Dan was gone by tomorrow night; now I think I'll keep it.

Kind of early for the Dan dead pool,thoughl I think they'll let him exit gracefully. Official retirement in a few months - a long vacation preceding.

I have one word of advice to Dan Rather in this trying time:

COURAGE.

Dave
Garfiled Ridge

Sully's on to "We Are the Champions," but he can't hit the high notes like Freddy Mercury could. So it's just not the same.

I'm going to go with Rather retiring sometime after the first of the year. I just don't think the MSM has as much room to maneuver any more--they don't have the power they once had.

What kind of charges?
If the documents in question come form the DNC and Kamp Kerry, as is now being reported.... is this not electrion fraud?

Dan Rather's exit will be on his birthday, which is coming up, ironically, October 31st: Halloween! Good thing he did that hurricane story last week! He got his CBS anchor job reporting on a big storm down in his native Texas. What goes around comes around, eh?

Okay now, folks. It's in the name itself. How do you say "CBS" out loud. Yep! "See B.S." What a h00t!

It's truly time for dan rather to retire or be fired.Realize this,Dan rather has been the same narcissistic person,who reports the news only how his liberal bias sees it.He has consistantly for the last thirty years,omitted facts,made huge stories out of half truths and trivia,and considered himself aloof and detached from the millions of people he spoke to every night on t.v.
He is so self absorbed,that when connie chung was hired to work along side him when his ratings plummeted,that he went into one of his hissy fit rages and engineered her removal.Don hewitt his former boss at c.b.s.cowed to everything he said.Was hewitt afraid of Dan?
dan has said on several occasions,that the t.v. audience is naive and stupid.He sounds sometimes like a man with a messiah complex.News anchors are supposed to report factsthrough their presence and voice.Not push a personality cult,or tell stories.The time has come to retire this dinosoar of a bygone era.Sadly he never filled the shoes of Walter Kronkite,the man he replaced.This fact bothers Rather.WE as people deserve facts and truth on the news,not bias and spin.GET RID OF RATHER.STOP THE CBS PROPAGANDA MACHINE

poker me up

Does anyone know the date of Dan Rather's last appearance on CBS Evening News? All I can find is that it is sometime in March. We are planning a "retirement" party and want to be sure that it coincides with his departure.