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Rather Boosters October 4, 2004 By James L. Hirsen, J.D., Ph.D. contributor to Newsmax.com Dan Rather and CBS recently characterized the use of forged documents (ones that came from a ridiculous source and were an attempt to smear a sitting president in a tight election during a time of war) and the initiation of contact with one side of a presidential campaign as just a little "mistake." Now, I know the Left wants to obsess over President Bush's National Guard service. And they don't mind watching Rather destroy any trace of veracity that the network news may still have. But apparently Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings now want to ditch their own reputations in order to protect news' Fraternal Order of Overpaid Lapdogs. At a panel that was a part of the New Yorker Festival, Brokaw attacked the Internet by using the language of the war on terror. "What I think is highly inappropriate is what's going on across the Internet, a kind of political jihad ... that is quite outrageous," the NBC anchorman spewed. Outrageous? Wouldn't you think that any outrage one might have should be directed toward CBS? After all, this is the network that despite having a cloud of suspicion and scandal over its head went ahead and aired a vapid piece of speculation about the draft. In it, a Pennsylvania woman was pawned off to viewers as a panicked Bush supporter, afraid that her sons were going to be drafted into the military. She was, perhaps not so coincidentally, contemplating voting for Kerry. Curiously, CBS left out the tidbit that the woman opposes the war in Iraq and heads up an activist group called People Against the Draft. Something else was also left out of the "news" report, and that is that the only people in Congress who have sponsored bills to reinstate the draft are-DEMS! Meanwhile a cranky Brokaw described the brilliant sleuthing of the bloggers who busted CBS's chops for the fake docs as an attempt to "demonize" CBS and Rather. He stated that the Internet evaluation of the phony documents went "well beyond any factual information." Peter Jennings was a bit more subdued. "I don't think you ever judge a man by only one event in his career," Jennings said. Sorry, Pete, like it or not, this incident will be as tightly connected with Rather as the Titanic is with a ship that's going down. Reproduced with the permission of NewsMax.com . All rights reserved Copyright © 2004 James L. Hirsen, J.D., Ph.D. All Rights Reserved