Former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg asks that question in the Wall Street Journal.
Now it’s possible that the mystery man (or woman) is someone who lives in Denmark or Tibet and somehow got his hands on genuine documents that make the president look bad in the middle of a race that might turn out to be tighter than the rusted lug nuts on a ’54 Chevy. But I doubt it. I’m betting he lives a lot closer to home, and, who knows, he might indeed turn out to be a “partisan political force” himself. And this is precisely Dan’s problem. This is why, I suspect, he isn’t coming clean, despite the damage to his reputation. Because Dan Rather may be protecting not just his source, but himself; because, if the source turns out to be a partisan, then Dan wasn’t just taken for a ride, but may have been a willing passenger.
As Rather continues to protect his source in the face of overwhelming evidence that the memos the received were fake; it makes you wonder who would be worth destroying your career for? One possible answer to that question is his daughter, Robin Rather.
Robin Rather is very active in Texas Democratic politics, specifically in Travis County.
She lives in the same district as Ben Barnes.
Robin Rather and Ben Barnes worked together on Democratic party fundraisers
We’re now into week two of the Rather/Mapes stonewall. How long will it last? No one knows the answer, but the longer Rather refuse to give up the source of the phony documents, the more likely it is that Robin Rather was involved in some way. If Robin Rather was the conduit for the memos, then Dan Rather’s inexplicable stubbornness makes a lot more sense. What father would not risk everything to protect their child?
You can substitute any other number of folks into the “source worth protecting” category (Kerry, the DNC, MoveOn.org, etc.), but I suspect Rather would give up the goods on any of them before he would tarnish the reputation of his daughter.
NOW YOU GOT IT!!!!
Exactly. Rather was not duped. This whole exercise is just to provide him and CBS with “plausible credulity.” They knew it was likely fake; they wanted to run it and push the whole NG fable. For legal purposes they wanted just enough provenance to get the benefit of the doubt when their hand was called, as they knew it would be.
Good start of a smear campaign on the daughter. You hate the father, why not go after the whole family.
Then again, maybe they came from Barb and Jenna,.
Maybe he grounded them for getting “in party mode” once too often and in return, they decided to punk him with the bogus memos, copies of stuff from daddy’s personal files.
Who cares if their fake documents or not, the people Dan has interviewed says what is in the documents is true…and that is all that matters.
– Several affiliates have cancelled Rathers show slots and are threatening to drop all CBS programming. A flood of Email has hit CBS affiliates and stock holders demanding Rathers “early retirement”. Ratings are down in 6 of the major markets across the board for CBS feeds. That means a daily loss of major coin. Even Rather can’t withstand the pressure for much longer. CBS will try cutting Rather loss instead of burning the source publicly, even though everyone in the Northern hemisphere already knows. The Killian family will be given a sizable settlement while CBS amits no wrongdoing…(sound familiar)
– Where’s that pesky form 180 John so we can see the 31 pages of service record that seems to be having a terrible time locating your web site ….and your discharge certificate… no one can seem to be able to find that either John…Why are you hiding it…Is there something typed in that little window next to “type of discharge” that would be less than sterling for a Presidential candidate…
– Somebody should whisper to the DNC that the idea that you can put out fake documents and then demand Bush respond to heresay and rumors is going to go on hurting Kerry’s chances… Not that many days left DIM dudes…. better get it in gear….
Maybe we now know exactly what documents it was that Sandy Berger smuggled out of the archives?
Oh, sorry.
Kerry is draft-dodger.
Tere, now do I get to post?
If I’m not mistaken, the local Democratic organization you mentioned also invited Burkett to speak back in February.
And that is the same group for which Rather did the fundraiser last year. Sure is an amazing set of coincidences.
Even though we all know the documents are fakes, CNN has a poll on their home page asking the question: Do you believe CBS or President Bush?
Guess how many said “CBS.”
~Cindy
I’m not a “document specialist” or a “handwriting expert”, but IMHO, two of the forgeries were obviously signed by a woman, not a man. I doubt it was Dan Rather’s daughter, but there’s always the possibility it was Mapes…