Damage control

Eric Dezenhall, a media damage control consultant appearing on Brit Hume's program says that Dan Rather's problem is that this story "says to all the conspiracy theorists, Dan Rather really is Dr. Evil, you know, sitting in his basement thinking of ways to hurt Republicans. I think that is a bit far fetched."

His explanation is that CBS isn't as competent as people think and they're still not sure, so what appears to be stonewalling is really just their not being sure. He calls for a blue-ribbon commission lead by someone like . . . wait for it! . . . Walter Cronkite, that paragon of evenhanded and fair commentary on Bush's policies. Yeah, that'll work!

If I were Dezenhall, I'd be worrying about my own business after that appearance. He's telling CBS to tell its audience that it is just not bright enough to get this right.

The complaint is that Rather used obviously forged documents as proof of a negative story on President Bush, not that he is some mad evil genius. Bloggers who have been driving this story are not "conspiracy theorists." The problem is that Rather has lost all pretense of objectivity, not to mention any idea of what is relevant to this election. Hint: It has something to do with what Bush has done during the past 4 years, not what he did over thiry years ago. And it isn't incompetence, it's dishonesty and partisanship.

Maybe Juan Williams could be on that blue-ribbon panel with Walter.