Yesterday's top news stories, according
to the Big Three evening newscasts, were:
• Oil prices are heading for a record high.
Dan Rather acknowledges applause after his signoff, a tribute CBS cut away from to show an ad.
(John P. Filo -- CBS via Reuters)
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• Filing for bankruptcy may soon be a lot harder.
• A new link has been found between secondhand smoke and breast cancer.
But, of course, that was all hooey because the biggest story was Dan Rather's last broadcast as anchor of "The CBS Evening News."
Somewhat subdued, in a dark pinstripe suit, blue shirt and red-striped tie, Rather ran through the night's stories, periodically interrupted by plugs for Red Lobster restaurant, antifungal toenail treatment and denture adhesive.
That was to be expected -- the subdued part, not the antifungal toenail treatment ads -- given that Rather had taken most of the public drubbing over the discredited CBS News story on President Bush's National Guard service. According to some, Rather was bowing out a year early, rather than hanging on to the anchor chair for a nice round quarter of a century, because of that botched report.
With less than three minutes to go last night, he finally gave conservatives what they'd been praying for for more than two decades, a so-long speech, presented here in its entirety:
"We've shared a lot in the 24 years we've been meeting here each evening and before I say good night this night I need to say thank you. Thank you to the thousands of wonderful professionals at CBS News, past and present, with whom it's been my honor to work over these years. And a deeply felt thank-you to all of you who have let us into your homes night after night. It has been a privilege and one never taken lightly.
"Not long after I first came to the anchor chair I briefly signed off using the word 'courage.' I want to return to it now in a different way, to a nation still nursing a broken heart for what happened here in 2001 and especially to those who found themselves close to the events of September 11.
"To our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in dangerous places. To those who have endured the tsunami and to all who have suffered natural disasters and who must now find the will to rebuild.
"To the oppressed and to those whose lot it is to struggle in financial hardship or in failing health. To my fellow journalists in places where reporting the truth means risking all.
"And to each of you. Courage."
