Hermits II, Update

John Leo's latest column contains a telling story about one of his past encounters with Dan Rather:

"Years ago I was part of an odd panel discussion sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. It was a flat-footed version of those role-playing dramas that Fred Friendly constructed so brilliantly for PBS, the ones where he would walk around the room posing hypothetical questions that often tied famous journalists up in ethical knots. I was assigned the role of a newspaper editor who had the option of running a political expose that would have had many wondrous effects on his town but that simply did not check out as true. I said I wouldn't run the story until my reporters nailed it down. This apparently unexpected position brought the whole poorly thought-out hypothetical to a screeching halt. No complex ethical dilemmas could be built on it. The Fred Friendly stand-in that day, assigned the role of badgering me to run the big story that didn't check out, was Dan Rather [emphasis added]."

It can't be said too often: Given Rather's raw partisanship and low ethical standards, how many other Rathergates have their been over the past 20 years? There's a great article to be written by a student of journalism with access to a good news archive.

Meanwhile, John Podhoretz's column in this morning's New York Post brings the latest Rather story to a wide audience (see yesterday's final post below). While there's nothing new in it, per se, it's good to see him on it, especially on the day of the first debates.

As Podhoretz asks:

"Is he [Rather] a moron, incapable of learning anything from the forged-memo fiasco?

"Or just a Democratic shill?

"On reflection, what difference does it make?"

Hermits, unite!