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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (70025)	9/14/2004 3:02:11 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793887

The Circular Dan Rather Patterico So, did you watch Dan Rather tonight? I did -- and I never watch him. I wonder if his ratings are inversely proportional to his credibility. I wouldn't be surprised. There's something strangely fascinating about watching his implosion. It's the same reason traffic slows near a terrible accident on the road. One of Rather's major defenses tonight was that the documents must be authentic, because they line up with what we know about Bush's National Guard record. [N.B. I am not kidding. I swear it.] This had me laughing out loud -- with bitter disdain, of course. The documents must be from the early 1970s, because their content is consistent with what we now know about Bush's National Guard record. Of course, this is meaningless if you consider the possibility that they were forged recently -- since any recent forger could easily fill the memos with content corresponding to what we already know about National Guard record. So: this evidence that the memos are authentic depends upon the assumption that . . . the memos are authentic. Otherwise, it's pretty damn worthless, isn't it?? If the circularity of this sounds familiar, that's because it is. Part of how we "know" the memos are authentic is because they were "validated" by Maj. Gen. Bobby W. Hodges. Of course, that "validation" consisted essentially of CBS News telling Maj. Gen. Hodges: "the memos are authentic" and Maj. Gen. Hodges responding: "Uh . . . okay. If you say so." See, Dan? It's called circular reasoning. And it's the whole basis of your defense, dude. It's interesting now. But once they scoop the bodies off the road, the scene of the accident becomes nothing more than a bad memory that you'd rather forget. I have a feeling that's the way people will remember Dan Rather when this is all over. UPDATE: Alert reader Hank K. notes the flaw in my analogy between the ghoulish fascination of watching Dan Rather digging himself deeper into a credibility hole, and the strange appeal (for many) of seeing a tragic auto accident. The difference is that you feel sorry for the victims of the auto accident.