CBS News legend Dan Rather, pictured left, is 73 and depsite a very public de-throning last year over the so-called Memogate scandal, he's still got plenty to share. In addition to waxing eloquent about the thighs of an unnamed very sexy lady, this month's Esquire has some choice thoughts from Rather in the "What I've Learned" column, which we thought we'd share:
"I saw a quote recently that I believe in: "News is what somebody somewhere doesn't want you to know. All the rest is advertising."
"President Kennedy had eight or ten days to think through the Cuban missile crisis. Today, if the president is called at two-thirty in the morning because something dire has occurred, he probably can't even wait until seven in the morning to have somebody hold a news conference. He's got to react instantly. The time for measured consideration has collapsed."
"Ratings don't last. Good journalism does."
"Most of the people who call it [Memogate] do so for their own partisan and/or ideological purposes. No crime was committed here. The central facts in the story were correct, and they have not been deied. A pillar of support for the story has been called into quetion and remains in question. We don't know everything yet. More will come out. Whatever mistakes - real or imagined, - that were made were not born of political bias nor of prejudice. Did we do it perfectly? No. Are there things I wish we'd done that we didn't do? Yes."
"The press is a watchdog. Not an attack dog. Not a lapdog. A watchdog. Now, a watchdog can't be right all the time. He doesn't bark only when he sees or smells something that's dangerous. A good watchdog barks at things that are suspicious."
"The difference between love and sex is the difference between lighting and a lightning bug."
Aw. Dan, you old softy. This month's Esquire also details "What It Feels Like" to drown, do crystal meth, compute numbers like a savant, shoot a sex scene and "a dozen other things you've never done." A bit presumputous there, aren't you, Esquire? We're in Math Club. We compute numbers like a champ.
CBS News legend Dan Rather, pictured left, is 73 and depsite a very public de-throning last year over the so-called Memogate scandal, he's still got plenty to share. In addition to waxing eloquent about the thighs of an unnamed very sexy lady, this month's Esquire has some choice thoughts from Rather in the "What I've Learned" column, which we thought we'd share:
Amanda Ernst
