No Joe-Mentum?

I bet they never complained about Hillary Clinton.

The people of Bridgeport, Conn., just can't win. Their last mayor is now in jail on bribery and corruption charges; the current occupant just disclosed that he has been using cocaine and alcohol since taking office. He says he is "appalled by some of my recent statements." Right.

Many conservatives are saying good riddance, but Fox commentator Susan Estrich comes to Dan Rather's defense:

"Shame on CBS for treating Dan Rather so badly. In a business that depends on loyalty, they've shown none. And what goes around may come around, if viewers are indeed watching.

"CBS has every right to replace Dan Rather in the anchor chair. That's their business, and it is a business. If they think Katie Couric can rate better, so be it. If they think an entirely new team will repair their relationship with the White House, so be it.

"But when people serve you loyally, you don't trash them, step all over them, treat them like dirt, then kick them out the door -- and expect your customers, consumers, your audience to look the other way, and keep watching. At least I hope we won't, once we make the connection.

"What is happening to Dan, unfortunately, is not so different from what happens to lots of people his age-- the difference being that for Dan, it is happening on a much more visible scale."

Estrich does say Rather made a bad mistake with Memogate, but adds:

"I met Dan Rather in 1987, when I took over the Dukakis campaign. He had always been one of my heroes. I knew he was smart as a whip, and knew politics, but I didn't know what kind of man he was. There were stories that he was tough. I was the first woman in a job like mine, and one of the youngest. He could have treated me like what I was: a kid. But he was unfailingly gracious, helpful, kind, a man of his word, old fashioned in the best sense of the word."