Some insight into the Rather scandalous documents on “60 Minutes”:

++”In Dan Rather’s defense, it must be confessed, he is simply a newsreader. Now that Walter Cronkite is retired, Rather is TV’s real-life Ted Baxter without Baxter’s quiet dignity. No one would ever suggest that he has any role in the content of his broadcast.” –Ann Coulter

++ “CBS’s Andy Rooney once called Dan Rather ‘transparently liberal’ and advised him to ‘be more careful.’ It appears Rather should have listened.” –Larry Elder

++ “The CBS story is a hoax and a fraud, and a cheap and sloppy one at that. It boggles the mind that Dan Rather and CBS continue to defend it. … The ultimate excuse came from Rather himself, insisting his critics have to prove him wrong: ‘Until someone shows me definitive proof that they are not, I don’t see any reason to carry on a conversation with the professional rumor mill.’ Mr. Rather, you have it completely backward. The responsibility is yours to get it right in the first place.” –Brent Bozell

++ “End-of-life issues are always difficult for any family, and the once-great news division of a once-great network is critically ill and possibly beyond resuscitation.” –Cal Thomas

++ “Dan Rather, Professional Journalist, and CBS News, Professional News Network, want us to keep believing that they are the ordained purveyors of truth. … They are the information gatekeepers with unparalleled judgment, dedicated to the high principles of The Craft of Journalism, unwavering in their crusade for the public interest. As the saying goes in the blogosphere: Bwah-hah-hah.” –Michelle Malkin

++ “How long before they start including a laugh track in the ‘CBS Evening News’? Each night anchor Dan Rather appears to offer an increasingly hilarious defense of his reliance on fraudulent documents for last week’s abortive hit piece against President Bush.” –James Taranto

++ “A CBS spokeswoman told the [Washington] Post: ‘In the end, the gist is that it’s inconclusive. People are coming down on both sides, which is to be expected when you’re dealing with copies of documents.’ Translation: We can’t prove the source is true, but you can’t prove it’s not. Well, since this is the new standard, I would like to announce my next column topic right now: Dan Rather has eaten fifteen German Shepherds in the last year alone and he considers himself the Warrior King of the planet Blarnack. I have just printed out documents that back up my story. It is for CBS to prove me wrong.” –Jonah Goldberg

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.