Does anyone believe anything Dan Rather says? Now he says the Boeing 787 is unsafe. Doesn't he make stuff up

Question

Like about President Bush? How can he still be a journalist?

Lancelot,
Gee, I thought everyone knew about Rathergate. Ok, here's a link that explains it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathergate

Dan "rather biased" Rather did a lead story on 60 minutes on Sept 8, 2004, on "documents" about Bush's military service. The documents were fake, they were printed on a computer printer, which had not been invented when they were suppose to have been printed. For 2 weeks, Rather and CBS stood by the fake documents, but of course they had to cave in eventually.

Lancelot, I don' t think moveon.org believes those fake documents. Even Danny boy admitted they were fake. Maybe you only look for things that support your view?

Answer 1

Dan Rather rarely told the truth in his 30 years of reporting everything he said had a liberal slant to it, to make republicans sound like horrible people. He was supposed to have retired though I don't know why he is reporting on planes.

Answer 2

Kimmy,

I really can't believe anything ANY newscaster says.

It seems to me that somewhere along the way all of the newscasters that they are not neccasarily supposed to report the FACTS. Ratings aren't earned with facts are they?

If John Q and Ethel B Public had a choice between:

A) A story about a president who may have been involved in a deal that inadvertently gave China the technology to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. (Film at 11)

B) A story about a president who stuck his weenie in an intern. (Film at 11)

...which one do you think they'd pick? Pretty obvious isn't it?

The public is so easily led, so easily distracted. Newscasters have figured out what it takes to get ratings, and therby power and thereby big money contracts.

Scare the public and they will listen.
Enrage the public and they will listen and act... and if you can move the public to action with your words, you control them. As long as you don't overdo it, nobody will be the wiser.

As of this moment 3788 of our military personnel have been killed in the last 1642 days fighting for peace freedom and yes, American interests in Iraq.* The newscasters show us grieving families, incite antiwar demonstrations and of course subtly insert personal political opinions.

In the last 1642 days:

60,588 people have been killed in the US by drunk drivers.**
How much coverage has it gotten? Seen any MADD demonstrations or grieving families get national coverage lately?

197,912 people in the US deaths were caused by cigarettes.*** Anybody even know of a demostration against the tobacco industry? Anybody enraged? Any grieving families? Any big big public outcry demanding a political push to do anything about it? Of course not, the newscasters haven't told us to do anything about it.

But we can't compare smoking deaths with our war dead so many will say. After all smokers choose to smoke and it's thier life right? Being in th service is voluntary too. And as a smoker and a combat veteran I can tell you that I know people die from both choices and that the dead usually thought it would only happen to the other guy.

Anything they can get ratings with is fair game. Youre right Kimmy. You can't believe everything you see and hear. Not from Dan, not from Geraldo and not from Andy Rooney. Pick your truths based on facts.

Answer 3

He didn't say it. A fellow who was a senior engineer with Boeing said it. That engineer was let go last year. I don't know how much fact checking Rather's producers did on this one. I still remember him narrating and hosting an "award-winning documentary" in 1998 that was called "The Wall Within". It told the story of several veterans whose lives and health were messed up because of their service in Vietnam. None had ever been in 'Nam! Let's just see how this latest story plays out.

Answer 4

I don't believe anyone until I see evidence. In this case, the plane is made of a more brittle carbon based material, which tends to shatter in high impact scenarios. And in reference to him investigating the President's record, I have seen the declassified documents, before and after the current administration took a sharpie to them. I have yet to see anything unbelievable reported on by Dan Rather. Unpopular reporting, reporting on things most don't want to hear, that he has done.

Answer 5

You are ignoring over 30 years of great journalism just because of one mistake he made; a mistake for which you are probably biased. I could ask the same thing about just about every "journalist" on Fox news. Are they really journalists?

Rather than trashing on Dan Rather, why don't you do some more research on the planes and find out if they are safe or not. Sure hate to die in a plane crash just because of political bias, wouldn't you?

Answer 6

yes the planes are unsafe due to some kind of bolts under the wing I believe - I'll try to find you the link - There was a big story on our local news about this because one of them crashed because of it and in our area most people use Southwest Airline (almost all their planes are 787's) - so yeah I think that was a real story

Answer 7

The Dan Rather President Bush thing was a setup. He took a chance on the reliability of the info and was bushwhacked.
However, his what's the frequency Kenneth, incident was really strange. Possibly another setup.

Answer 8

I'm a fan of Dan. He's the man. See, I even have a little poem about him. He's a great journalist with unpopular ideas...especially from conservatives, that's all...

Answer 9

Make up your own mind... But, it should have nothing to do with him personally.

He is as good as anyone else on TV.

Answer 10

i my opinion-- No--he has lied himself--into--being a meatless--no body--lower then--tabloid-news papers--he still a journalist-because he Say's what the hate America crowned wants to hear