@Blickers,
Blickers wrote:
I saw the Nixon press conference on TV when it happened. Rather's comment, far from inane, was a jab back at the fading president, it was clear to see at the time. Coming at a time when tradition and respect was considered normal at the time, it was quite remarkable.
I did too and as much as I really couldn't stand Nixon, it was inane. If you have to understand intent and sub-text with a jab, it's not a very good one.
Rather was grandstanding with Nixon. He saw the opportunity to make a name for himself and he rode it for all it was worth. It was quite remarkable, but not in a good way, and it almost cost him his job. However Rather, the Combatitive Reporter was a pioneer. He opened the way for other obnoxious media hacks who care more about their ratings and popularity than journalism. Accosta is a worthy successor to the Rather legacy and you would be mistaken if you thought most of the colleagues of either Rather or Accosta considered them then and now to be heroes. They can tell when a reporter is trying to make himself the story and so can we. The difference is that grandstanders like Rather and Accosta are entertaining to some segments of the audience who get a vicarious thrill from hearing a smartass hack mouth off to an elected leader they don't like, while their colleagues only see some guy trying to make a name for himself and taking up their time and air.
An equally inane Ratherism was the sign-off he chose for when he succeeded Walter Cronkite as the anchor of the CBS evening news:
"Courage!" It was so widely ridiculed by his peers that he was forced to give it up and return to something more Cronkite-like. Although he brought it back for his final broadcast when he got booted by CBS.
All you need to know about Rather is that he was so petulantly miffed at CBS for shortening his facetime that he committed the ultimate sin of live broadcasting. He created six minutes of dead air by walking off the set in yet another obnoxious, grandstanding stunt. What a professional!
What goes around comes around though and the far more intelligent President George HW Bush schooled Rather on how to throw a jab when he hit him with his "six minutes" debacle while engaged in a rude and combative Rather interview. That time Rather didn't even attempt a comeback.
Of course, the most entertaining thing Rather ever did was to get mugged in the street outside of his apartment by some guy he claims kept uttering the now widely famous
"What's the frequency, Kenneth?" Some folks thought Rather had to have made the story up, but I doubt that. It's so bizarre that it's far beyond Rather's meager creativity.
The title of Rather's 2012 autobiography is
Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News I suppose some may think it cleverly creative, but it's unlikely Rather even came up with it. Anyone who writes an autobiography has to think pretty highly of themselves (and no one thinks more highly of Dan Rather than Dan Rather) but you would think that a guy who considers himself such a profoundly talented journalist would be able to write the plodding thing himself. In this case, you would be wrong, it was ghostwritten by another journalist, Mickey Herskowitz.
A first tier chooch all the way.