Dan Rather's burden of proof

Byron York:

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Rather, the former anchor of the CBS Evening News, is still really, really mad about losing his job in the wake of the George W. Bush/Air National Guard/phony documents story. And now he is telling his version of events in the form of a $70 million lawsuit against his former employers.

You remember the story. Aired at the height of the 2004 presidential campaign, Rather reported that Bush received preferential treatment to get into the Guard during the Vietnam era.

Rather based his conclusions on newly discovered documents purporting to prove that preferential treatment.

Of course, it turned out the documents were phony, or at least impossible to verify. CBS retracted the story, and Rather apologized.

Now Rather is making some rather astonishing allegations.

First, he claims that, after the report stirred controversy, top CBS management conducted a sham investigation of the story for the purpose of making sure that damaging information about George W. Bush be kept secret.

“CBS announced that it was conducting a thorough independent investigation into the underlying story of the broadcast and its production,” the lawsuit says, “when in fact its intention was to conduct a biased investigation with controlled timing and predetermined conclusions in order to prevent further information concerning Bush’s Texas Air National Guard service from being uncovered.”

This fake investigation, Rather charges, was done so that CBS could “pacify the White House” by making Rather the “scapegoat” of what would become known as Rathergate.

Rather also reveals that while all this was going on, he strongly believed in the Bush story — he apparently still does — and threatened to hire his own private investigator to keep looking into it.

CBS, according to Rather, then hired its own private eye, whom Rather says came to the conclusion that “the [documents] were most likely authentic, and that the underlying story was certainly accurate.” But Rather alleges that CBS — not wanting to do anything to hurt the Bush White House — kept the investigator’s findings under wraps.

Perhaps you were unaware of CBS News’s unwavering support of George W. Bush. I certainly was. I would bet that the White House was, too.

In any event, Rather alleges, CBS bigwigs forced him to apologize, even though he believed no apology was necessary.

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Dan Rather has always stood logic and the burden of proof in this case on its head by saying that the documents were never proven false. Most people believe that they were proven false, but in bringing this case the burden will be on Dan Rather to prove they were true. If that were really possible it is hard to believe that he would have waited until now to do so.

The most he has been able to do in defending the bogus documents is alleged that it is possible they are authentic. Even that is questioned by experts who have examined the documents. He has apparently convinced himself of something but he will be hard pressed to carry the burden of proof in a trial. York says that CBS will have to argue that the documents were not authentic, but the burden of proving authenticity is on Rather and he certainly has not carried that burden to date.

If he survives a motion for summary judgment, he will find himself challenged as never before.

The LA Times in its editorial today suggest that Rather is really saying that he was out of the loop on the story and was just relying on the staff that CBS has provided him. Who knew he was just a puppet reading what was put in front of him? This appears to make his case even more contradictory since he still maintains the story and the documents are true. It is hard to see how he can claim that at the same time he takes no responsibility for the stories content. It looks like he wants some more public embarrassment.

Howard Kurtz has an interesting interview with Rather about his suit and events surrounding it. He notes that Rather is contradicting things he said at the time. It sounds like he has convinced himself of several things that are not so. He is evidently paying for the suit himself. It is not surprising that lawyers were not lining up to file the suit on a contingent fee basis.