22 years ago today: The George Bush/Dan Rather showdown

[alp227]

Run time: 10:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy45grGpB6o   Posted on YouTube: January 17, 2010 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: January 25, 2010 By DU Member: alp227 Views on DU: 1092

 
On January 25, 1988, CBS Evening News anchor repeatedly pressed Vice President George H.W. Bush in a live interview about the Iran-Contra affair. This is one of Rather's most notorious moments in his career, gathering the anger of conservatives. If you search dan rather bush intervew on Google, the top results are right-wing sites RatherBiased.com, Media Research Center, and Accuracy in Media:
- http://ratherbiased.com/bush_attack.htm
- , NewsBusters (Media Research Center's blog)
- Dan Rather Video Bias Contrasts, MRC
- An O'Reilly Ambush Interview for Dan Rather?, AIM

MRC first criticized Rather in its February 1988 MediaWatch newsletter.

Rather preceded his interview with a report summarizing the Vice President's role in Iran/Contra briefings. I found it on Youtube a year ago but can't find it because the user might've deleted it or tagged it inaccurately. I'll add a link later if I find one.

On this video, "Videotape courtesy CBS News" occasionally flashes in old-school TV typeface. I guess it's because CNN replayed the interview and then showed results of a poll. At the way end of the video is a clip of Rather elaborating on this interview the next day.

For a liberal view on this interview, here's a column by David Corn that he wrote shortly after Rather retired from the evening news. Corn is the author of The Lies of George W. Bush.