Dan Rather

He IS Dan Rather!

Asshole

That is ONE unflattering headshot. Ewww.

I've always liked Dan.

[quote]I searched and could not find much on him.

Don't try for work in research.

He was hot

What's the frequency Kenneth?

Love Dan. Glad he's still out there doing his thing.

He hit me in the head with a fondue pot.

I saw him recently on CNN. He's really showing his age. I hadn't seen him on TV in a while and was surprised at how he appears to have declined.

Well, at 92, I would be more shocked if he was looking 50

Wow, he was a handsome man! Yes, I always liked him, too. He had an air of confidence and authority that I liked.

Intelligent

I love him with my heart and soul and brain.

I remember he was doing an interview where he was hammering someone - typical Dan Rather which we normally appreciate.

However, the subject turned and said something like "how would you like it if you were judged forever based on the worst moment in your life?" Then, continued with "like when you walked off the set in the middle of a broadcast."

Dan got diva pissy.

Completely changed my opinion of him.

There are some videos on YouTube of him interviewing (The Big Interview) music artists like Heart. He does a really good job and seems pretty knowledgeable about music. Pretty softball questions, I guess, though.

I always thought it was bullshit that he was basically fired over those docs about Bush 2's military career.

It felt like a move by Karl Rove to discredit all claims about Bush's spotty military career and going AWOL and other items. Meanwhile they created Swiftboat Veterans against Kerry LIES to discredit the military record of Kerry - whose military career was commendable.

[quote] I remember he was doing an interview where he was hammering someone

That someone was George H.W. Bush.

Did he read Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire “in the original Latin”?

Rather what?

He’s a legendary journalist and I really enjoyed his Twitter posts before I was permanently banned. Lives in a condo in downtown Austin (but I’ve never seen him). His daughter Robin is very cool and her speaking cadence is just like his, which I find charming. Haaaaaates Trump.

A good man and a dependable supporter of liberals.

He was there, reporting from Dallas, when Kennedy was shot and the first CBS reporter to confirm (via phone the news desk) that Kennedy was dead.

#FORTITUDE

He was always strange with a frequently awkward delivery.

[quote] saw him recently on CNN. He's really showing his age. I hadn't seen him on TV in a while and was surprised at how he appears to have declined.

If you find that level of decline in a 92-year-old shocking, I advise you never to visit a nursing home and never to live past 85 or so.

Bush Sr was one of the first republicans to push back on the media.

R27. And we’ve been paying the price ever since.

Always kindof an asshole. But generally on the right side of things. He apparently treated Connie Chung with disdain and and abject neglect, for which he deserves an award.

Not as cunty as moi.

To be fair to Bush, he was told he was going to discuss his policies. Rather was focused on Iran Contra. Rather kept pushing.

I love the look on Rather's face when Bush mentioned Rather walking out of the studio.

One of the best. Classy, intelligent, no nonsense, and to the point.

He seemed nice and he was engaging and I enjoyed when he hosted the evening news. I don't know anything else about him.

Just because the cat has kittens in the oven don't make em biscuts.

He was one of ther first reporters to see the film of JFK being shot. He went on the air and described it totally wrong. Whether by honest error or sinister intent is still being debated. He must have been blind either way.

[quote]...he was abruptly fired over his reporting on George W. Bush's National Guard service.

As I recall, the reason for his firing was the following:

Supposedly Rather had received some old letter about GWB's National Guard Service that claimed something negative. As was their policy, CBS analyzed the supposed letter and discovered that the letter was a fake. The reason was that the font used on the supposedly old letter had not even been invented at the time of the date on the letter. They told Rather the letter was a fake and that he should not use it.

Rather ignored the order from CBS.

He was fired for that reason.

Yeah R16. He did several of those for AXS TV. He is either pretty knowledgeable about music or he did good research before the interviews.

Wrong r36–well partially. CBS never properly authenticated the documents, and Rather has said he would not have run with the story if it was determined the documents were fake.

Was he fired because he used the letter?

I followed him on some form of social media for a while, probably Facebook, and in everything he posted he always seemed to be swinging for the fences. He wanted to say profound things and move us and change hearts and rouse people and I started feeling like he should give it a rest and just pass on his thoughts and let us reach our own conclusions.

His AXS interview series with music stars is terrific.

Always thought he got a raw deal from CBS over the GW Bush military thing.

He made a mistake in reporting that. But he also had 40 years of service to CBS at that point.

A suspension would have been the appropriate punishment. Not firing.

I always wondered if Karl Rove was not somehow involved, perhaps creating the fake letter that made its way to Dan. Would have been something out of Rove's playbook. Would have made nice revenge for the Bush family after the interview with GHW Bush 12+ years earlier.

R42 - I think the sticking point was that he wasn't willing to retract the findings. He believed the source and information and we STILL don't know anything about Bush Jr's military service to this day - which is bullshit.

I agree it had Rove's fingerprints on it.

Comparatively, just a few years later, MANY networks were going with the Obama birther lie -over and over and over. Same thing with the Vince Foster crap. Nothing happened to those reporters.

I thought Dan Rather only listened to classical? Or was that Tom Brokaw?

Classy

I remember seeing him on (I think it was) Chris Matthews a couple times , one of those rapid fire yammer fests. He was ill-suited to that formula, ponderous and deliberate. That delivery is out of style.

His roadtrip in 2017 with the cookie-sniffing grandson was charming

He said that Steve Bannon looked like he needed to take a bath

We were spoiled with good looking anchors back then. Brokaw, Rather, and Jennings. Swoon. I like his Facebook posts.

OP, Dan Rather does not have a law degree. He attended law school but for whatever reason did not finish.

Too bad, as he might have made a good oil-and-gas attorney or earnest practitioner of some other arcane legal specialty as deadly dull as he is.

I'm with R6. He was... dare I say—rather handsome.

He was a sassy mouth with Nixon. I have always loved him. We are scandalized by the Paramount CBS/Colbert stuff, but Rove had Rather fired and investigated because of the brouhaha with Bush's "military" records from the National Guard. Back then we all thought Rove was ruthless and scary. LOL!

About Hillary's senate win in 2006, he said, "She ran away with it like a hobo with a sweet potato pie."

His whistling on each S sound he speaks makes me want to kick a hole in my TV. CBS should have sent him to a speech therapist years ago to correct that.

Warning, once you notice it, you'll never be able to unhear it.

Rather was a panelist on this 1999 Charlie Rose symposium discussing who should be considered the most influential leader or revolutionary of the 20th Century. The other panelists were Doris Kearns Goodwin, Walter Isaacson, Irving Kristol, Mario Cuomo, and Condoleezza Rice

He was no Walter Cronkite.

I have respect for the man. He didn't bullshit.

He did great music interviews, had a solid twitter presence before the platform was wrecked, and they fired him for total bullshit. Was on the right side of things and we could use ten of him now.

His interview with Geddy Lee is so great, touches on baseball, Geddy's Holocaust survivor family and is up on YouTube I think.

I saw him in person thirty years ago at the Metropolitan Opera. He was very good looking at the time. The story around town was that he was very well hung.

That whole fake letter business was a trap set for Rather by Karl Rove and company. They knew the man who stood up to Nixon during Watergate would eventually get the receipts for W's lies about his service. It was a really shitty thing to do. Dan had an honorable and distinguished career and didn't deserve to go out like that, disgraced and looking like a fool.

Dan was an excellent old-school (aka REAL) journalist, but at the same time he was an extremely odd man. Weird things were always happening to him (e.g., "What's the frequency, Kenneth?"); who can say whether he generated them or he was just an unfortunate magnet for weirdos? I always used to tell people whenever there was a major news event and there was live coverage on all the stations, tune in to CBS. You'd get the same information as any of the others, plus it was a sure thing that Dan would say something crazy before the night was over.

My mother loved him. She said he got emotional on the anchor desk and that's why she liked him. To me he was a bit too folksy. I am glad he's still around. A lot of these old school TV journalists are gone.

Speaking of old school, Sam Donaldson was a prick but I bet he'd get right up in this administration's business.

R59 what opera were y'all seeing?

It’s so long ago that I’m afraid I don’t remember. It was during the time when Pavarotti and Domingo were the kings, so it might have been an opera with one of them.

Dan was right there in the action during the Vietnam War reporting on it.

[quote]If you find that level of decline in a 92-year-old shocking, I advise you never to visit a nursing home and never to live past 85 or so.

Remember you're in DL Neverland, where a 60 year old man can claim to still look like they are 35.