Dan Rather is sad. When he met up with Jacques Steinberg at an Upper East Side diner, his swagger had been replaced by “an obvious sadness that his tenure at the network was ticking down to an inglorious end.”

“Among the places he had sought solace, he said on a recent afternoon, was in ‘Good Night, and Good Luck,’ George Clooney’s homage to Edward R. Murrow and the CBS News of old, a film that Mr. Rather said he had seen five times in theaters, most recently alone.”

Remember Les Moonves‘ dream of blowing up the “voice of God” format? “My problem with the ‘voice of God’ thing was that it was meant disrespectfully,” Rather said.

“They talk about wanting a break with the past,” he added. “Look at the Murrow film. I don’t want to break with that past.”