I guess I'll just go right to your main question Kevin:

 Is this what you call objective journalism?  Is it okay that we have a person in his position misleading the public because of his personal agenda?

No, to a great extent I would not call it objective journalism. Do I think it's ok that Rather has his position? Well, I don't really like the man or respect him for doing a story like this...so I guess my honest answer would be I'd rather (funny huh?) see somebody else doing his job. Remember though all Rather really is, is a front man. There is a whole other crew doing the research and the whole story had to be run through all the channels at CBS including the legal department before it aired...so although Rather is the face that reported it, it would be a failure by CBS News at every level to have approved and run it. Is he misleading the public? Well, if these documents really prove to be fake (and despite what Dale is saying, I have yet to see anything definitive that says they are) and Rather doesn't immediately get his ass on the tube an apologize for such a gigantic flub...then yeah he's misleading the public.

I do not believe that all of CBS would get behind a story that is a fake just to slander the president though. That would require everybody at CBS News including their lawyers to look the other way and not do their job. That is hard to swallow and having hired a law firm to look after my business interests I'd be more than a little curious about them if they gave me advice I could clearly see was so stupid. I could much easier believe that if Rather say wrote a book or an article for a newspaper...where he was the only one with any input and the information he was putting out there came with only his name on it...that he could or would distort things with his personal feelings.

I don't believe Rather has anywhere near the influence or power you assign him. I think his greatest power at CBS may be to pick and choose the stories he gets to be the face for. Clearly he chose this story and if I were him and wanted to be taken seriously I would have passed on it. It is, at face value, a stupid story. It also has little relevance to our situation today. It reflects the complete breakdown of media outlets in this country to be trusted with the choice of reporting what's most important to us or what is sensational and may attract attention to them. I'd call it disgusting.

I'm not saying the story is not newsworthy, but it's more stuff for page 18 than it is front page news. I think if they've got the goods on Dubya then sure they can report it but it's about stuff that happened three decades ago that does not matter a hoot to us now.

Yes Kevin (and I think this is what you want to hear me say), I do think this story is getting reported because we've been in the midst of a rather slimey political season and both the Democrats and Republicans have jacked up this angle. The problem here is the media should not at all be a mouthpiece for this crap. Rather and CBS News played right into it and quite frankly that stinks. In a better world CBS News says "Hey, we'll take a pass on this one because there are more important things to report."

That's not the world we're living in though is it? No, we're living with this kind of slime and even a decent fellow like yourself has been willing to participate in trotting along with the SBV crap...which has been one of the most insane of these slime campaigns because they have zero evidence that supports their claims but overwhelming evidence supports Kerry. Not to mention the fact that the guys running the SBV campaign have been caught in lies again and again. They are about anything but the truth but we're stuck with them. The side effect ends up being our media has trotted off down that path as well and there seems to be no turning back.

I don't know...there is an element of comedy to the whole thing but it's pretty black.

To answer Dale's question about Rather being a liar...I'd say yes if the story turns out to be false and he'll have to apologize to the American people for it. It would also show he and others at CBS did not do their jobs very well and should be replaced. Funny thing is, if I think I understand where you were leading with that, that is a rather small deception when compared to decieving a country into a war with bad information. Funny too, Rather would be expected to give a public apology right away and so many would call for his head...and I wouldn't have an issue with that.