Be the first on your block to own the FAUX Blocker!!

[Big Train]

So why would you advocate people spending extra money to block a channel that they already don't watch? Are you secretly working for the cable companies?

[freak]

Originally posted by Big Train
So why would you advocate people spending extra money to block a channel that they already don't watch? Are you secretly working for the cable companies?

What I see is liberal conditioning at its' finest.

They can't censor opposing viewpoints via their control of the news media anymore, so, they ask people like him to do it voluntarily.

"Hi, I'm a murderer. Unfortunately, inconvenient laws and social mores have made it difficult for me to kill you. Enclosed is a knife. Slit your writs. Longways - Not across. Thanks for your help!"

[Warham]

Dan Rather has always been sure there was "more than meets the eye" on Iran-contra. Rather had CBS investigate extensively into the scandal in hopes that possibly Ronald Reagan or George Bush were involved. On January 25, 1988, Dan Rather interviewed Bush in a now-infamous interrogation. The interview is now considered so much a part of history by C-SPAN that it sells video tapes of the confrontation on its Web site.

In the interview, Dan Rather kept trying to implicate George Bush, trying to get Bush to say that he was involved in Iran-contra. Over and over again, Rather would ask Bush a question about his knowledge of the imbroglio. When Bush wouldn't concede that he had prior knowledge, Rather would interrupt him and ask him another question about whether he knew. This went on until Rather interrupted Bush for the last time and ended the interview. The interview caused a stir. A number of CBS affiliates called the Bush campaign to apologize for the anchor's behavior. Sam Donaldson, known for his own confrontational interviews, said, "Rather went too far." Mike Wallace, a fellow CBS reporter, said, "The style was wrong. Dan lost his cool."

This section is comprised of reactions to the interview, from George Bush, Sam Donaldson, Bush's wife, and others.

Read the transcript or watch the interview (from the Media Research Center).



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I was doing the Rather live program from my office right in the Capitol.... There were four minutes of clips -- all questioning my word. It was a mean, tough interview. Dan came on, and he and I got right with it. I tried to keep cool.... But I'd be damned if I was going to let this guy walk all over me..."
--George H. W. Bush in his diary, January 25, 1988, included in All the Best, George Bush.

"I won the battle with Dan Rather that night, but he won the war. His coverage of my campaign and presidency was consistently negative."
--George H. W. Bush in his 1999 book, All the Best, George Bush.

"...he was at the very least skirting the truth about his involvement in sending some of America's best technology to the Ayatollah Khomeini."
--Dan Rather to Chris Mathews CNBC's Hardball, June 28, 1999.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When CBS requested an interview with Bush, the following letter was sent to the Bush campaign:

"Part of our early coverage of the 1988 presidential election has been a series of candidate profiles produced for 'CBS Evening News.' We purposely saved your profile for last. Dan Rather is very interested in your profile, and has decided to do it himself."
Copies of the letter were made and distributed throughout campaign headqurters. Bush was given a copy and handwrote the following on his:

"I feel comfortable with Rather. Make sure this guy gets reply soon."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Rather went too far...I don't think we [as journalists] can get to a situation where we make -- on our own authority -- accusations."
--Sam Donaldson of ABC News, 1988.


The Day After: Dan Rather defends his interview with Bush before the press.
"To be persistent about answers is part of a reporter's job."
--Dan Rather defending his interview of Bush on the CBS Evening News, January 26, 1988.

"I thought about that time, 'Look, he was doing he felt what he had to do as a politician trying to position himself to get the presidency.' I was doing what reporters do, and that is asking the tough questions and keep pressing it either until he answered or until it was clear he wasn't going to answer."
--Dan Rather to Chris Mathews on CNBC's Hardball, June 28, 1999.

After the interview, Bush made a comment when he thought the microphone was off:
"The bastard didn't lay a glove on me." "He makes Lesley Stahl look like a pussy."
Bush later apologized at a South Dakota campaign stop:
"If I had known the microphone was on, I wouldn't have done it."

"Journalists of integrity ask questions. We don't come to conclusions before getting what can be considered reasonably honest answers. Especially when an interview subject is involved with allegations of serious wrongdoing in public office, it is the responsibility of an ethical journalist to ask direct questions--and keep on asking them until the subject answers, or until it is clear he refuses to answer."
--Dan Rather in his 1994 book, The Camera Never Blinks Twice.

"A substantial proportion of the public enjoys seeing reporters shut down when they get aggressive because they see journalists as arrogant."
--William Adams, professor of public policy at George Washington University and a specialist on the mass media about why Rather's attack on Bush actually helped the 1988 Bush campaign.

President Bush gave a speech about his campaign:
"The toughest part, for me, was the debates. Some time has passed, so I want to take a moment to recognize my opponent. He was strong, tough, tenacious, a real fighter. I gained a newfound respect for Dan Rather." [laughter]
--George Bush at the Bush-Quayle Campaign Reunion, January 18, 1990.

"President Bush and Dan Rather, the CBS anchor, had become mortal enemies as a result of their live interview during the 1988 presidential campaign. Rather is a self-proclaimed liberal whose weekly radio show on CBS openly condemns conservative policies and ideas. He clearly hoped to damage Bush in the TV interview, rehearsing all day, taping a prosecutorial lean-in about Iran-Contra, and turning over much of his regular newscast to others so he could concentrate on the interview. He immediately went on the attack about Iran-Contra, and Bush countered, asking Rather if he would like his entire career judged by the time he walked off the set during a newscast and left the network dark for seven minutes. Rather was stunned, looked in shock, and came back with shrill and ugly questions. The consensus afterward was that Bush had won big, destroying Rather and establishing himself as a tough competitor. Rather, of course, hated Bush after that."
--Former Bush press secretary Marlin Fitzwater in his 1995 book, Call the Briefing.

"Well, I had my say, Dan. [Rather] makes Lesley Stahl look like a pussy. The worst time I’ve had in twenty years of public life. But it’s going to help me, because that bastard did not lay a glove on me. I'm really upset. You can tell your goddam network that if they want to talk to me, they can raise their hands at a press conference. No more 'Mr. Insider' stuff."
--George Bush to CBS after the interview.

"Trying to ask honest questions and trying to be persistent about answers is part of a reporter's job, and however it may seem at any given time, the intention of even persistent questions in a spirited interview is to do an honest, honorable job."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, January 26, 1988, the day after the interview.

"We owe him a debt of gratitude."
--Bush aide speaking of Rather and his interview of Bush. Bush's campaign benefited from the interview and Rather's Evening News lost ratings during Election '88.

Howard Kurtz, media critic of the Washington Post, asked Dan Rather about why he interviewed George Bush harder than Bill Clinton:
KURTZ: You were also very aggressive with Vice President Bush when you interviewed him on CBS during the Iran-contra affair. But when you interviewed President Clinton a couple months ago, after this long impeachment ordeal, you asked him such things as: "How is the first family holding up?" "Did the past year have a moral?" "What can parents tell their children about this whole episode?" Why didn't you ask him, you know, "Mr. President, with all due respect, you put the country through a terrible ordeal, you lied to your friends and closest advisers, and how can anyone trust you again?" Were you pulling any punches?
RATHER: No, I don't pull punches. I go into each interview thinking to myself, "How can I make this the best interview I've ever done, and how can I make the best interview he's ever done?" But the question is fair. First of all, he'd been asked a version of those questions at news conferences and at other forums -- that's number one. Number two, you know, I've learned that there are three things that every man at CBS News thinks he can do better than any other man: one is to judge a Miss America contest, two is coach the Knicks, and three is to do big interviews. Everybody has their idea about how the interview should be done. I sized up the moment -- the news moment, if you will, sized up President Clinton, and I thought the interview was as revealing as anything he had done. On another day he might have done it a different way."
--Howard Kurtz interviewing Dan Rather on CNN's Reliable Sources, June 26, 1999. Note: Bush had also been asked the same questions by other reporters as well.

"I honestly believed at the time that Bush would be eager to answer the questions, as fully and as often as it took to get them over with, set aside, and, if possible, out of the way of his campaign" "I was wrong, about that and much else."
--Dan Rather in his 1994 book, The Camera Never Blinks Twice.

"The style was wrong. Dan lost his cool."
--Rather's CBS colleague Mike Wallace on the interview, 1988.

"I don't want to have a big running fight with Dan Rather or anybody else, but if you get yourself out there in the public arena, it's important that you defend your principles. And that's what I thought I was trying to do." "I have no hard feelings about it." "I did what I thought was right, and you have got to do that."
--Bush during a 1988 campaign stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Rather went through the day's news, and at the end:
"Now, a personal word, if I may, about last night's interview with Vice President BushCBS did not mislead the Vice President about the subject of the interview."
--Dan Rather the next day on the CBS Evening News, January 26, 1988.


Before the interview Bush made a comment:
"They aren't going to talk about Iran-contra, are they? If he talks to me about the Iran-contra affair, they're gonna see a seven-minute walkout here."

"What my life is about is covering stories," "I'm going to try to keep on asking the questions."
--Dan Rather the next day on the CBS Evening News, 26, 1988.

"One of the best decisions Bush made in the 1988 campaign was to go live with Dan Rather. If he had taped, Rather's editors would have spiked the devastating segment where Bush took the anchorman on for leaving the screen blank during a petty spat he was having with the sports department. A live interview, if promoted properly, is also inherently much more dramatic than a canned one."
"In the 1988 campaign we saw a striking example of how helpful an enemy can be. Nothing did more to eliminate George Bush's wimp image than his televised confrontation with Dan Rather. The media should have learned a lesson from the same event. When a commentator wants to hurt a candidate, he should not take him on frontally. A fight draws an audience and the audience usually backs the candidate or official under attack rather than his interrogator. A better way to hurt a candidate is to make the programs as dull as possible."
--Richard Nixon in his 1990 book, In the Arena.

Barbara Bush:
"George was scheduled to have an interview with Dan Rather before the President's speech. It was billed as a political profile, which they had done on all the other candidates and which had been benign stories devoid of controversy. However, CBS opened with a six-minute 'exposé' on George's alleged role in Iran-contra that was filled with false assumptions. It was just plain ugly. Then came nine minutes of Dan grilling George. There were raised voices on both sides. At one point George sad: 'You have impugned my integrity...if this is a political profile for an election, I have a very different opinion as to what it should be.' George rarely gets angry, but Dan kept on about Iran-contra with the most vicious slander, never listening to an answer. At one time George interrupted Dan and said: 'It is not fair to judge my whole career by a rehash on Iran. How would you like it if I judged your whole career by those seven minutes you walked off the set in New York.' (He was referring to an incident several years earlier when Dan had done just that, resulting in dead air.)
"After the interview each side accused the other of an ambush. Our campaign felt CBS purposely misled them on the content of the interview; CBS said that the Bush campaign deliberately planned an attack. I do believe we came out the winner: CBS reported getting complaint calls; ours were of support.
"I was there and, believe me, there was no plot or plan to attack. But you can just take so much. I really do feel that CBS news programs often start an interview with an unflattering opener, and in this case, an untrue one. This puts many interviewees on the defensive. George often has to remind me of that when I see an interview featuring a political opponent and I'm taking some comfort in their unease. George forgives to a fault, but he will never trust Dan Rather again."
--Barbara Bush in her 1994 book, Barbara Bush: A Memoir.

[twonabomber]

i just programmed FOX News out of my channel list and it didn't cost me a thing.

[freak]

Originally posted by twonabomber
i just programmed FOX News out of my channel list and it didn't cost me a thing.

Well, at least you posess enough horse-sense to not be bilked out of 8.95 + shipping

The solution to my TV censorship issues was more drastic than the blocker, though.

I canceled the cable. Other than the GameCube and an occasional DVD, we don't even turn the thing on anymore.

We don't miss it at all.

[ODShowtime]

Originally posted by Warham


"President Bush and Dan Rather, the CBS anchor, had become mortal enemies as a result of their live interview during the 1988 presidential campaign. Rather is a self-proclaimed liberal whose weekly radio show on CBS openly condemns conservative policies and ideas. He clearly hoped to damage Bush in the TV interview, rehearsing all day, taping a prosecutorial lean-in about Iran-Contra, and turning over much of his regular newscast to others so he could concentrate on the interview. He immediately went on the attack about Iran-Contra, and Bush countered, asking Rather if he would like his entire career judged by the time he walked off the set during a newscast and left the network dark for seven minutes. Rather was stunned, looked in shock, and came back with shrill and ugly questions. The consensus afterward was that Bush had won big, destroying Rather and establishing himself as a tough competitor. Rather, of course, hated Bush after that."
--Former Bush press secretary Marlin Fitzwater in his 1995 book, Call the Briefing.

"Well, I had my say, Dan. [Rather] makes Lesley Stahl look like a pussy. The worst time I’ve had in twenty years of public life. But it’s going to help me, because that bastard did not lay a glove on me. I'm really upset. You can tell your goddam network that if they want to talk to me, they can raise their hands at a press conference. No more 'Mr. Insider' stuff."
--George Bush to CBS after the interview.

Ok, that does a good job in my mind of establishing a motive for GW&Friends to pull a fast one on Dan. I expected dirty tricks from Karl Rove.

Hey, I think it's at least as likely as a primary news source not doing rudimentary fact checking.

[Warham]

Hey, Bush called out Rather on that whole seven minute tirade, and Rather got all tiffy. You have to be able to take it, as well as dish it out.

[ELVIS]

Originally posted by FORD
But Dan has had his moments, like when he put Poppy on the spot for his crimes and treason in Iran Contra, and Bush Sr (in typical BCE fashion) pussied out without answering the question.

RATHER: I don't want to be argumentative, Mr. Vice President.

BUSH: You do, Dan.

RATHER: No...no, sir, I don't.

BUSH: This is not a great night, because I want to talk about why I want to be president, why those 41 percent of the people are supporting me. And I don't think it's fair...

RATHER: And Mr. Vice President, if these questions are --

BUSH: ...to judge my whole career by a rehash on Iran. How would you like it if I judged your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York?

[Jesus Christ]

We don't get FAUX up here, thank Dad.

[Switch84]

'White' sheep of the family

Originally posted by Sgt Schultz
You are 100% correct. I learned that early when I was a student at UW Madison and no dissent was allowed.

LOL! I learned that from my own FAMILY! The entire crew are sheep for the Liberals, and I'm looked at as an alien, because I'm more conservative.

Go figure.....


LMMFAOBT!

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by FORD
And mark my words, Dan was set up by the BCE as revenge for that "attack" on Poppy. (

Tin Foil Beanie Time.