CBS News has finally come to their senses and admitted what sane and rational people have known for over a week: they shouldn't have aired Dan Rather's 60 Minutes II report on President Bush's Texas Air National Guard service over thirty years ago.
Again, I have to congratulate my buddy Bill (the hardest working blogger in the greater DC area, in my humble opinion — and yes, Bill, that's certainly worth acknowledging in a post of your own, linking back to this post. Just in case you were wondering.), The Three Stooges John, Scott and Paul (just kidding, guys — it leapt into my mind and I just had to use it) at Power Line, Little Green Charles, Allah and others for the insightful and diligent work they've put into covering this story.
While CBS has admitted many shortcomings in creating and prolonging this controversy, there's something else I wish they'd admit: they, primarily Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes, began with a conclusion and built their story to support their preconceived notion. Rather (no pun intended) than deciding on a story, then pursuing the leads, gathering the information and doing all that other Journalist Stuff ™ and letting the research guide the conclusion, they decided they wanted to slam President Bush, and focused on information that supported their predetermined conclusion and ignored anything that refuted it.
Okay, that's never going to happen. But I hope that they at least do a little introspection, and admit, if only to themselves, that maybe they're letting their own opinions and biases seep into their journalism.
Update 2: Scott Nolte just wants Rather to apologize to the President, but feels like that's peanuts compared to my "dream." Honestly, I think my scenario is several orders of magnitude more likely than Scott's.
