TRUE CONFESSIONS:MAPES & RATHER--We Were Just Two Young KidsBurned By The Rightwing Blogs'The New and Bruising Power'

by Mondoreb
[graphics: RidesAPaleHorse]

Take two crazy kids: one a CBS News producer; the other, a cock-eyed optimist, gamely taking on the world every evening--each living for the other. Then disaster strikes, their whole wacky world comes crashing down and, well--things are just never the same.

Mary Mapes has a strange tale to tell at Huffington Post. She doesn't yet quite understand those strange and awful forces that conspired against her and Gunga Dan.

It has been three years since we aired our much-maligned story on President Bush's National Guard service and reaped a whirlwind of right-wing outrage and talk radio retaliation. That part of the assault on our story was not unexpected. In September 2004, anyone who had the audacity to even ask impertinent questions about the president was certain to be figuratively kicked in the head by the usual suspects.

As per the usual Leftard cant, any MSM minions caught with their fingers in the cookie jar are the victims. Try to swing an election at the last minute with doctored documents?
We didn't mean any harm!
People protest when you smear them on what passes for a national newscast?
We were just foolin'!
Don't have any proof for the junk you're pushing?
We believe in the story!

What was different in our case was the brand new and bruising power of the conservative blogosphere, particularly the extremists among them. They formed a tightly knit community of keyboard assault artists who saw themselves as avenging angels of the right, determined to root out and decimate anything they believed to be disruptive to their worldview.

Anyway, you get the idea. The rest of her article does what burned Leftists do when confronted with tough arguments: call those who disagree names, dance the smear tango, sling scorn. Weep, repeat and rinse. It's enough to discourage even the most avenging of angels.

How can it be that one week the stories are all about "Where, Oh Where is the Right-Wing Answer to KOS?" And the VERY NEXT week, this story alerts the world to "The brand new and bruising power" of the well-oiled, Zionist-financed, Rightwing Lunatic, SuperDuper-Meglo-Blogosphere? It's like Dorothy, in the Wizard of Oz: We had the power in our assault keyboards all the time, we just didn't know it.

Mary Mapes wasn't ripped by some sinister force: she was called out on her attempts to force lies down the throats of people who could challenge her. Her and Rather were no longer gatekeepers. Lies no longer took days, weeks, months to refute; in only minutes and hours the public could be alerted to slanders and falsehoods.

It's been three years and Mary Mapes is no closer to admiting that she had a problem. Neither is Dan Rather. In their eyes, they were just two crazy kids with a news program, a twinkle in their eyes and wild dream of swinging an election in their hearts. Everytime a $70 million lawsuit is filed, everytimes a Mapespiece is written, you have to smile.

You keep settin' 'em up. We'll keep knockin' 'em down.
[Rightwing bloggers take heart! THE NEW AND BRUISING POWER: Michelle Malkin(26), Drudge Reports(31), Hot Air(43), PowerLine(61), Instapundit(62), Townhall.com(72), Little Green Footballs(74), Newbusters(77), and The Corner on NRO(89) {Hope no one was missed on the Technorati Top 100 Linked-to Blogs}]
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SUE CBS: DAN WOULD RATHER-One of His Better Decisions

by Mondoreb & Little Baby Ginn

"This race between Dick Swett and Bob Smith is hot and tight as a too-small bathing suit on a too-long car ride back from the beach."
--Dan Rather, Election Night 1996

Dan Rather was CBS Evening News anchor for a long time. So long, in fact, that he accumulated a lot of baggage: a lot of bizarre quotes, actions, sayings, and finally, a story which was patently false. It was this last item which finally got him fired from CBS.

Dan Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit Wednesday against CBS, alleging the network made him a "scapegoat" for a discredited story about President Bush's National Guard service.
CNN story.

Rather insists he is the "scapegoat" even though he publicly apologized for the story, which presented documents right before the 2004 election, which later proved to be false. "Scapegoat Dan" was a victim, even though others expressed doubts about the documents' authenticity.

Rather is a victim--even though he insisted, long after the documents proved to be false, "that he believes this story to be true". Rather is a victim, even though he has no evidence to support his beliefs. Rather is a victim--even though he continued to stonewall, long after the documents were proven to be flimsy forgeries.

Dan Rather is a victim. He's a victim of his arrogance, hubris, and condescending attitude towards those with whom he disagreed. He's a victim of a world which shifted underneath his feet while he remained unaware. He's a victim of exploding information, of which he is no longer a gatekeeper.

"Folks, let me point out something to you, because for a lot of people in Washington, they could not be more surprised if Fidel Castro came loping through on the back of a hippopotamus."
--Dan Rather on Election Night, 1998.

Read the rest of story
PLUS! Dan Rather's Strange Quotes!
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