Dan Rather

In the past two days, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz has been getting a lot of attention for his “scoop” about Dan Rather.

But the anecdote, published today in his book Reality Show, is old news.

In Mr. Kurtz’s book, he writes that former CBS anchor threatened to release a document to The New York Times if his now-widely-discredited National Guard story did not run on 60 Minutes.  read more »

So, did Mike Bloomberg rule out at 2008 presidential bid on Dan Rather’s new HDNet show last night? You might just as well ask the age-old “If a tree falls in the woods…” question, since nobody I know seems to have HDNet-TV – or even knows what it is.

Rather sure thinks he got a scoop, though, boasting during a taping of Chris Matthews’ syndicated show that “Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, told me that he was not going to run for president. In a direct answer to a direct question, would he run under any circumstances, he danced around a bit and finally said ‘No.’” He then added that Bloomberg had also ruled out running for Vice-President and serving in a future Cabinet. (This may have been the longest a guest has ever spoken on Chris Matthews’ show without being interrupted by the host.)

Most news reports about the HDNet interview have emphasized Bloomberg’s statement – hyped by HDNet ahead of time – that “nobody’s going to elect me President of the United States.” That’s hardly a denial, though. If anything, it’s reminiscent of Lou Holtz’s days at Notre Dame, when even in the middle of an undefeated season, he’d swear up and down to the press that his team had no chance against, say, Temple. In other words, it shows that Bloomberg understands the value of appearing modest.

So what, exactly, did the mayor say last night? Buried on the clumsily designed site for Rather’s show is the most difficult-to-read transcript ever created. I’ve tried to clean it up, though, and here is the fruit of my agony – what appears to be the money exchange between host and guest:

Rather: Let’s get it out of the way. Are you running for President?

Bloomberg: No.

Rather: Are you going to run for President?

Bloomberg: No.

Rather: Any circumstances in which you would?

Bloomberg: Oh I don’t know. Any the answer – if I don’t say no categorically you’ll then read something into it. The answer is no. Look, I have my own beliefs. They’re not tailored to what’s politically popular. It’s what my parents taught me and what I’ve learned raising my two daughters that are the love of my life. I believe that certain things and if somebody asks me where I stand, I tell them. And that’s not a way to get elected generally. Nobody’s going to elect me President of the United States. What I’d like to do is to be able to influence the dialogue. I’m a citizen. I’m going to leave this country which I love which has given me enormous opportunities for my kids. I’m going to try to do what mayors across this country along with many governors are trying to do, address the issues that Congress seems unwilling to address.

OK, so he did say “no” to a point-blank question. But the hesitation before he finally uttered it seems just as telling. My hunch is Bloomberg won’t ultimately run – but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the trial balloons, either.

Did anybody actually catch the interview? What did you think? And what is HDNet like, anyway?

UPDATE: Woops...Azi put the transcript up yesterday. Could have saved myself some work there. 

That hyper-publicized Michael Bloomberg interview with Dan Rather on DNET is airing tonight at 8 p.m., and according to several news outlets, the major development is that Bloomberg says that he’s not running for president and that he isn't electable anyway.

Does this reiteration of his official position change anything?

Certainly, the Bloomberg's small-but-passionate group of presidential boosters seem to think not.

Even as the interview airs, members of the Draft Bloomberg effort will be gathering for their weekly meeting at the Old Town.

Another Bloomberg supporter, Independence Party activist Frank Morano, put it this way:

“It’s more or less the same thing he’s said before. I don’t think the fact that he said he’s not running, again, is news.

“I believe and it’s my hope that when the major party notions are picked next years that the mayor will have a sense of duty and feel there is no other option other than to jump into the race.”

Below is an excerpt of the interview Rather's network sent over.  read more »

In the fall of 2002, during the run up to the war in Iraq, Oprah Winfrey devoted a portion of one of her shows to answering a pressing international question. Do the Iraqi people want America to liberate them from Saddam Hussein?

Ms. Winfrey posed the question to Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesperson for the Iraqi National Congress—an erstwhile group of Iraqi exiles led by Ahmed Chalabi that, at the time, was busy lobbying the American government to overthrow Saddam Hussein. “Absolutely,” responded Mr. Qanbar.

Later, Ms. Winfrey called on an audience member. “I hope this doesn’t offend you,” said the young woman. “I just don’t know what to believe with the media and…” Ms. Winfrey cut her off. “We’re not trying to show you propaganda,” Ms. Winfrey explained. “We’re just showing you what is.”

Four-and-a-half years later, with American troops embroiled in a seemingly intractable civil war in Iraq, and the reputation of Iraqi National Congress in tatters, the question of what exactly Ms. Winfrey and the rest of her colleagues in the media were showing to millions of American viewers on the eve of invasion begs a second look.

Tonight at 9:00 p.m., PBS will be airing a special episode of Bill Moyers Journal, entitled, “Buying the War,” which takes a long, hard look at the American media’s performance in the months leading up to the start of the war. The result is a detailed portrait of media groupthink gone horribly awry.

Throughout the 90 minute program, a large number of print and broadcast journalists--from Oprah, to Judith Miller, to George Will, to the Sunday morning talk show pundits, to Roger Ailes’ legions at Fox, to William Kristol, to the reporters on the evening network news, to Vanity Fair’s David Rose—are shown passing along hyperbolic stories about Iraq’s biological and nuclear weapons capacity.

As it turns out, many of those overblown stories relied almost exclusively on the false claims of hawkish administration officials and dodgy Iraqi defectors. Claims that often went unchecked by some of the best minds in the business.

There were exceptions, and throughout “Buying the War,” Mr. Moyers gives plenty of airtime to the reporters who got the story right, particularly to John Walcott, Jonathan Landay, and Warren Strobel of the erstwhile Knight Ridder news service.

The show also features captivating interviews with 60 Minutes’ Bob Simon, the Washington Post’s Walter Pincus, and an apologetic Dan Rather.

“Especially right after 9/11, especially when the war in Afghanistan is going on, there was a real sense that you don’t get that critical of a government that’s leading us in war time,” Walter Isaacson, the former chairman and CEO of CNN tells Mr. Moyers. “Big people in corporations were calling up and saying, ‘You’re being anti-American here.’”

Reached by phone on Monday, Kathleen Hughes, the producer of “Buying the War,” said that the documentary has been a year in the making. “Bill has called this a historical documentary except the history is only four years ago,” said Ms. Hughes.

“By and large most of us in the media accepted the administration’s point of view,” said Ms. Hughes. “I think that had to do with what some of our reporters say in the show--that there seemed to be an almost bipartisan belief that Saddam Hussein was keeping a big arsenal and that we had to be worried about him. But when you look at the Knight Ridder reporting you begin to understand that there was plenty of detailed, accurate information available in real time. That was the biggest surprise.”

Did the largely unflattering portrayal of the press leave Ms. Hughes feeling depressed about her profession?

“No,” said Ms. Hughes. “I still have a tremendous amount of respect for journalists. We all have our good work and our not so good work. I still think it’s a noble profession. Just look at the Knight Ridder guys. In this case, they’re my heroes.”