Instead, he and Moonves have been consorting on a revamped "Evening News" that could move the broadcast in the direction of "The Today Show" and other morning magazines -- something lighter and more fun and tailored to attract the 18-to-34-year-olds who rarely watch now. The great days of network news, days Rather lived through first as a devout radio listener and then as one of the troops -- may be long over. "Look for it only in books," as is said of the South in the prologue to "Gone with the Wind."
Asked if the old-style news president is an extinct species, Rather declines to answer, the only question he wouldn't even entertain. But on the matter of network news being in terminal decline, he says he sees the dangers but doesn't think the situation is irreversible.
"Now I'm guilty of a lot of things, and I've made a lot of mistakes -- but I haven't made that mistake -- of running, backing away," Dan Rather says.
(By John Paul Filo - CBS)
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_____Multimedia_____
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Video: Washington Post media critic Paul Farhi discusses NBC anchor Dan Rather's final broadcast.
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Audio: Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz reflects on Dan Rather's final anchor broadcast.
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_____SAYINGS OF DAN RATHER_____
SAYINGS OF DAN RATHER
Some call them "Ratherisms." Others prefer "Danisms." Either way, it was election time that inspired Dan Rather to come up with his most memorable sayings. A sampling:
NOVEMBER 1984
• "Walter Mondale has seen the light at the end of the tunnel -- and it's out."
NOVEMBER 1986
• "You can pour water on the fire, call in the dogs, the hunt is over, Terry Sanford has won the North Carolina Senate race."
NOVEMBER 1988
• "George Bush is sweeping through the South like a tornado through a trailer park."
• Bush went through Dukakis's hopes in Georgia "like a jackknife through peaches."
• In Florida, "where the flamingos fly, George Bush has taken off."
• Daniel Patrick Moynihan's Senate opponent was thought by some observers to have "about as much business in this race as a moose in a phone booth."
• In the Southwest, "fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and Republicans have to win in Arizona."
NOVEMBER 1992
• The election is so exciting it could "make the wax pop out of your ears if you love politics."
• Clinton took one state like "a big wheel through a Georgia cotton field."
• Texas is "the big enchilada or, if not an enchilada, then a huge taco."
NOVEMBER 1994
• On the Democrats' challenge, "It was always a big rock up a high hill. The rock just got bigger and the hill just got higher."
• Election results were "scary enough to make the Democrats' fingernails sweat."
NOVEMBER 1996
• Election night was "the long kiss goodnight for Bob Dole."
• In reference to a poll showing Colin Powell would have beaten Clinton: "Woulda, coulda, shoulda. If a frog didn't have long hind legs, he wouldn't have squat to jump with."
NOVEMBER 2000
• "This race is tight like a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach."
• "Sip it, savor it, cup it, photostat it, underline it in red, press it in a book, put it in an album, hang it on the wall, George Bush is the next president of the United States."
• "We've lived by the crystal ball and learned to eat so much broken glass tonight that we're in critical condition."
NOVEMBER 2004
• "This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex."
• "This race is humming along like Ray Charles."
• "This situation in Ohio would give an aspirin a headache."
• "We don't know what to do. We don't know whether to wind a watch or bark at the moon."
-- Compiled by John Maynard
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"Some people conclude the sun is rapidly setting on what was once considered solid broadcast journalism," he says. "And what makes some people concerned about it is bloggers, paid political operatives posing as White House journalists, paid hucksters hustling political programs all lumped together in a soup that's served up as professional punditry.
"The concern is that we'll reach the day, if we aren't careful, that the premium is no longer put on journalists getting to the truth behind official policy statements but rather making sure that reporters, and the press in general, trample on no toes that would result in the denial of access to those wearing the shoes."
Without mentioning the current Bush administration and the attitudes toward the press it encourages, Rather says, "I confess that I am concerned that we may be reaching the point where too many members of the press fear being labeled unpatriotic or partisan if they challenge the actions or decisions of political leaders of any persuasion.
"What the country doesn't need, particularly just now, is a press that's docile -- never mind obsequious or intimidated. I don't agree with those who say, 'Dan, it's already happened,' but I do recognize there's some danger."
Rather, 73, still has plenty of fight left in him, more than a lot of us ever have at what we imagine are our best moments. Surely it has occurred even to him that it would be nice to just get up from the anchor desk and walk away -- leave all the aggravation and warfare behind. Rather confesses that he and his brilliant and strong-willed wife Jean -- whom he usually refers to as "Jean Rather" -- did consider this option.
"We did discuss it. Jean Rather presented that case in an eloquent way. I don't want to mislead you; she did not say, 'This is what I think you should do.' She did say, 'In making a list of things to consider, you should consider this, and I know you better than any other living person and if I don't mention it, you might not think of it.' She fixed some of her famous Jean Rather Prison Chili and we had about two spoonfuls' worth of time discussing it. And that was pretty much it."
Dan Rather is not going gentle into that good night. He's not the type to go gentle, for one thing, and as far as he's concerned, night hasn't fallen by a long shot. And that's part of our world, Wednesday, March 9, 2005.
Arise, Dan Rather, to gain thy dreams . . . .
