Well it looks like another one of the icons of great reporting is getting out of the biz.I liked Dan Rather,I thought he did a really good job.I was just reading about him on MSNBC and boy,I never realized how many people disliked him.To bad too,I thought he had alot of guts,going to Viet Nam,and Iraq.Well at least he will still be on 60minutes.

 

Sorry KT. I disagree.

I'm glad he's gone. Good riddance. Ego as big as a buffalo.
Like Rather said, "He succeeded Walter Cronkite, but he NEVER replaced him."


Sad, sad day when Uncle Walter retired.

As for Dan. . . . I'd Rather NOT.

 

Well King I certainly ALSO think, like most of the media, he "skewed" the news to match HIS perspective...

He waited too long to "retire" - I think the fact that CBS was in 3rd place the whole time of his tenure says something about him...


And there I was going to help you get thru DFW traffic on your way to South Texas !!!!

 

I'll have to take the anti-Dan side too....sorry. I don't wish him any misfortune, but I can't exactly say that I am going to miss him.........

 

Dan Rather has got away with way to much. It is about time we say good bye to a man who has a one way opinon and then carries it to the television set for the masses to watch. I for one am glad to see him gone!

 

I too am glad he's gone. I wish he would take a lot more with him. Unfortunately, those that "report" the news any more are more interested in making and putting there own slant on the news. I state this for all sides.

 

Whats the frequency kenneth?


maybe when they lost this year he was singin " i am going back to mass" with the beegees. lmao!

 

I say Good Riddance!! Don't let the door hit ya on the way out Dan!

 

Wow!I am really starting to think I should have watched the news more often this past year or two!I wasnt refering to his opinion,I guess it was more to the fact that he has been on the air for what a gazillion years?I liked Walter Cronkite too,but then I also liked Johnny Carson and was amazed at how many people hated him also.

 

While Dan Rather and I rarely saw eye to eye on things, you have to look at his life, and put it into perspective. He was there to first hand see some of the greatest history changing moments of our time.

He was there when Kennedy was shot.

He was there, and suffered physical attacks from others, during the civil rights movement.

He asked to go to Vietnam so he could see what was happening first hand, and returned many times, not as a distant reporter, but on the front lines.

He asked tough question of all of the leaders he interviewed, whoever they were.

He was in the middle of the 1968 Democratic convention mess, both inside and outside the building.

He went into Afganastan in disguise while they were at war with Russia.

He went to Iraq during the first Gulf War to try to interview Saddam Hussein, and managed to do it.

He was there at the square in China when the students protested, and while they were taken out by the government army.

Even as anchor, he asked to be sent to the most dangerous parts of the world to get the real story, with no guarantee of safety.

He was, and is, a "reporters reporter". He will ask the hard questions, no matter who you are. It wasn't good enough for someone, even the government, to tell him what was going on, he wanted to see for himself, and then show the world through the camera lens.

He has made mistakes, as we all have. He will be the first to admit it. I have watched him, and could bite nails I was so mad at what I considered his bias.

I have seen him on talk shows, and he was hilarious, a real down to earth, funny guy.

You have to give him his credit. He knew he wanted to be a reporter all his life. He made it on his own. He has been more places, done more things, and saw first hand many history changing events. Only a very select few ever get the opportunity to do the things he has done.

As I said in the beginning, Dan and I rarely saw eye to eye on things, but, we need more people who aren't afraid to question what is being told. People who search for the truth, who put themselves in danger to get to the truth, and then broadcast it to the world.

It was past time for him to leave the anchor desk. He was at his best on 60 Minutes, and as an "on the scene" reporter. I hope he continues to do that.

I better stop for now. I've been going on longer than Great Aunt Nellie did after she accidentially drank moonshine for ginger ale.

 

I say again though the negative far outweighed the positives...
Many of the heroic acts you speak of may have come from his arrogant drive to get to the top... not to get to the story....
and who knows how many stories he fabricated along the way...
I know of one that he still has not admitted he was wrong...

but that's just my humble opinion

 

Walter Cronkite had integrity and I was sad to see him go. I liked Johnny Carson. I am glad Dan Rather is gone for the same reasons as expressed by those above. The man gave news "reporting" a bad smell.

-Just my 2¢

 

jdadamsjr, I don't disagree with you one bit. I am just saying that he has led one of the most interesting lives of anyone now alive. He had a drive for the story. As for his motives, I couldn't tell you. I believe he searched for the truth as "he" saw it.

I admire that he knew what he wanted to do, found a way to do it, and has spent his life doing what he loved.

I wish I had some of the drive and love of career that he managed to find.

I have had many different careers, and done a lot of things, but not with a passion that only comes from doing what you know you were born to do.

I am pushing 50, and now have health problems. I am not able to work a regular job, or any job at all right now. I miss not being able to work at what I enjoy. That is why I can admire him for his accomplishments, and satisfaction of a lifetime of doing what he loved, while still disagreeing with him strongly on many points.

 

He went out and reported a lot over the years, but it was always the world according to Dan's idea of how it was or should be. Glad he is gone. Reporting should be stating the bare honest facts, and let the viewers make their minds up. All the rest of the anchors who want to program the people to what they think should leave too.

 

I too am VERY happy to see him gone.....he knew nothing about reporting the facts...
IMO no class at all! Even those that went before him had trouble with his style.