babylonsister "Dan Rather's Legal Battle With CBS Takes Nasty New Turn"

[tuolumnejim]

FFS, as the saying goes "the stupid is strong" in this thread. 

Link

babylonsister  (1000+ posts)        Fri Sep-18-09 09:24 AM
Original message
Dan Rather's Legal Battle With CBS Takes Nasty New Turn
 http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-09-... /

Erasing Dan Rather

by Lloyd Grove

The epic legal battle between CBS and its estranged ex-anchorman has taken a nasty new turn. Rather's camp accuses the network of holding footage of him hostage.

The trouble started with Rather’s much-criticized, ultimately career-ending 60 Minutes II report on President George W. Bush’s military record, just before the 2004 election. It resulted in his 2007 breach-of-contract and fraud suit against the network and its parent company, Viacom. But as the $70 million suit heads for possible trial in January—with yet another preliminary hearing scheduled next Monday in New York State Supreme Court—the tone has grown increasingly bitter, and the shrapnel is flying thick and fast.

The latest contretemps involve such momentous issues as: whether the forced-out anchorman, who held the job for 24 years, would be welcomed at the recent funeral and memorial service for his legendary predecessor, Walter Cronkite; whether the 77-year-old Rather was sufficiently represented in a CBS News special celebrating Cronkite’s life and times, or in photos displayed during the memorial service at Avery Fisher Hall; whether an independent filmmaker hoping to make a Rather documentary would be granted access to CBS News archival footage; and whether CBS, in Orwellian style, is trying to make Rather a non-person and erase him from the corporate memory.

snip//

Meanwhile, CBS has not been shy about publicly trashing its onetime star, even to the point of questioning his sanity. "It's like he is in some paranoid nightmare where everybody is out to get him. We're all witnessing the poor guy thrashing around, tormented,” 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager told the Los Angeles Times’ Matea Gold last month. Gold noted that “the network made available several executives who spoke acidly about the anchor whose work they once touted.”

For such a high-stakes battle, such tactics seem surprisingly low. But Rather’s friends say he is at peace with his decision to pursue the lawsuit, which so far has cost him an estimated $5 million in out-of-pocket expenses for pre-trial discovery and depositions, (including of Moonves). “Dan’s interest is in getting the facts,” Rather’s lead attorney, Martin Gold, told me. “He’s a very determined person. He’s not easily dissuaded. And CBS or anybody else who thinks they’re going to scare him by testing his resolve—they don’t know him.”
 

[franksolich]

Well, if I were CBS, I would like to erase Dan Rather too.

CBS didn't need any more help looking stupid.

[bijou]

“Dan’s interest is in getting the facts,”

Surely it is a bit late for that.

[Splashdown]

Surely it is a bit late for that.

I was thinking that Rather "getting the facts" would be a first for him.

 

[JohnnyReb]

GOOD GOD MAN!....why don't you write your own facts....like you used to do.

[BadCat]

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

[Chris_]

 

[TheSarge]

Dan Rather = The moonbats Moonbat

[GOBUCKS]

My fave was Gunga Dan, when he embedded with the Taliban and mujahideen during their war with the Soviets.

Come to think, if he hadn't been fired, he would probably be embedded with those same ragheads today.

[Duke Nukum]

I congratulate both Dan Rather and CBS for their efforts in attempting to destroy each other and I wish both well in that endeavor.

[franksolich]

I congratulate both Dan Rather and CBS for their efforts in attempting to destroy each other and I wish both well in that endeavor.

Me, too.

It always irked me that the first night Dan Rather hosted the CBS Evening News, by watching his body language, I was already aware he was a liar, and contemptuous of his audience.  The problem was, I didn't know what he was lying about; only that he was lying, as betrayed by his body language.

That was in March 1981, and for the next 23 years, I oftentimes commented Dan Rather was a liar, but no one believed me.....until October 2004.

And those Kinko's copies probably weren't even among his biggest lies.

[Airwolf]

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

Kind of makes you wonder who the real nut job was in that little fracas.