The more optimistic elements of the right side of the blogosphere are saying "Rather's dead," "CBS is toast," and other similar predictions. After watching the latest CBS News non-apology, I have concluded this:
- Rather isn't going to get fired. No way, no how. He'll probably coast through until the end of the year, then retire.
- Heads will roll at CBS News, but it'll all be just peons. If I were a low-level staffer and I had anything to do with this story, even if it was just carrying the tape from the interview room to the control room, I'd be shitting pink Twinkies right now. The bloodletting may go as high as producer Mary Mapes, but I doubt it.
- 90% of the viewing audience will have forgotten about this incident by the end of the year.
- And this is the one that will really get the triumphalists' collective goat: CBS News will never, ever, EVER admit that either (A) the documents were not just 'unverifiable,' they were proven forgeries, and (B) the reason they rushed through to production is that they wanted them to be true.
Hi. I'm a troll. But I'm too scared about being one to leave real contact info, so the editor had to change what I said.
I don't know why I was worried, because all I had was the same old oft-refuted crap about how Bush Lied and People Died.