Dan Rather's interesting lawsuit
Former CBS News anchorman and reporter Dan Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit against his former employer charging that he was made a scapegoat and wrongfully discharged to placate the Bush White House after CBS 60 Minutes ran an accurate story in the fall of 2004 on the President's avoidance of his military obligations during the Vietnam War. The conventional wisdom at the time was that the broadcast was based on forged documents, but that may not have been the case.
Rightwing Republicans have long hated Rather, whom they view as a liberal enemy dedicated to exposing their bad policies and failed leaders, beginning with President Nixon. Actually, Rather is just a good journalist, one who like many journalists is drawn to stories about little guys afflicted by big guys, who tend to be wealthy and powerful Republicans, and about leaders with feet of clay. It's not liberal or conservative, it's just hardwired into a reporter's operating system.
Rather says he won't take a financial settlement to go away and shut up. His dearest wish is that the lawsuit proceed to trial so his lawyers can take depositions from the CBS brass and possibly from George W. Bush himself. The back story to the lawsuit appears to be that CBS kow-towed to the White House for business reasons and failed to stand behind their reporter. Lawsuits can be dangerous and unpredictable--just ask former President Clinton how that Paula Jones lawsuit went--and both the network and the Bush Administration may be in for some serious trouble.