Toss The Rafts

CBS is apparently ready to try to cut the memos loose:

[CBS executives] decided yesterday that they would most likely have to declare that they had been misled about the records' origin after Mr. Rather and a top network executive, Betsy West, met in Texas with a man who was said to have helped the news division obtain the memos, a former Guard officer named Bill Burkett.

Mr. Rather interviewed Mr. Burkett on camera this weekend, and several people close to the reporting process said his answers to Mr. Rather's questions led officials to conclude that their initial confidence that the memos had come from Mr. Killian's own files was not warranted. These people indicated that Mr. Burkett had previously led the producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, to have the utmost confidence in the material.

It was unclear last night if Mr. Burkett had told Mr. Rather that he had been misled about the documents' provenance or that he had been the one who did the misleading.

In an e-mail message yesterday, Mr. Burkett declined to answer any questions about the documents.

My fearless predictions:

• CBS will stall until after the election, and allow Dan Rather a show retirement - or a figurehead position to finish out his contract - as a face-saving gesture as much for them as for Rather himself
• By 9AM, Kos, Josh "ua Micah" Marshall and Atrios will be asking "when can we get to the important issues?"

The essential Joe Gandelman has more:

The shoe hasn't quite dropped to the floor -- but CBS has let the shoe go.

When the shoe finally drops, there could be a loud bang...and some careers could be over.

Read the rest.

Posted by Mitch at September 20, 2004 07:18 AM | TrackBack