Dan Rather
This piece is the best thing Chuck Lane has done since he fired Hayden Christensen for not wearing socks and making-crap-up at The New Republic. The Church of George H.W. Bush? And they didn't suspect anything? I digress.
I don't normally go in for bashing the usual hate-figures held up by conservatives, but Dan Rather is a fine exception to make. His mind-destroying style fake folksiness was grating. His suits, despite coming from the a respected Savile Row firm were not nearly as sharp as those of his competitors.
In countries more civilized than ours the job Dan Rather had is properly called "newsreader." Because guys like Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams (the sneaky Canadian) dress with some style, have a certain timbre in their voices, and the most boring personal lives (if their profiles are to be believed), the masses take them to be serious people. I'm here on this blog to remind you: they read a teleprompter.Someone who makes a small fraction of their salary lightly daubs foundation on their cheeks just moments before they go on air.
Edward R. Murrow, hero of serious minded teleprompter readers like Keith Olbermann, hawked tobacco, and taped his voice over recordings of gun battle for his World War II reporting. Chaps like Edward R. Murrow or Keith Olbermann are only considered serious people by intelligent people who don't read books - people who believe that mastery of history can be gained by watching the History Channel or Ken Burns documentaries.
Just as a side note: I've never met a serious person who didn't have serious virtues and/or serious vices - usually in frightful combinations. Newsreaders like Brian Williams are so chosen for their profession precisely because there is nothing frightful about them. Can you imagine Williams seducing a 25 year old staffer? Or fasting and praying for forty days in repentance for his sins?
Exactly.
Michael Brendan Dougherty
in Politics
|
4 Comments
Share this: del.icio.us | Digg | Google | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon | Technorati
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (4)
I also like your point on vices. Nothing like true soul-ripping conflict, which is kind of hard to happen among our present-day nation of hipster nihilists and smug multiculturalists.
Besides - his story about Dubya was basically true - Gee Dubs dodged and skipped Vietnam and got away with it and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are now paying the price.
Comment, Mary Mapes, Col. Burkett, et al. were trafficking in forged documents, engaging in trickery in telephone interviews with Gen. Staudt and various other parties, and making use of witnesses with an axe to grind for a reason: they lacked credible documentary and testimonial evidence.
<i>Gee Dubs dodged and skipped Vietnam and got away with it</i>
About 9% of those born during the years running from 1939 to 1954 were posted in combat or non-combat positions in Indo-China. Which is to say that nine-tenths of the eligible male population 'got away with it'.
<i>and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are now paying the price. </i>
huh?