Talk about living under a rock. Mary Mapes and Dan Rather are still flogging the Bush National Guard story. Not only does this indicate that their Ahab-like, partisan obsession with attacking the President has totally stripped them of professionalism, but it shows how detached they are from reality (which, you'd think, would be important for a "journalist"). Check out these laughable stories.

First, Mapes continues to struggle with the fact that she, a top producer with the MSM, was caught red-handed by a network of amateurs.

All these Web sites had extensive write-ups on the documents: on typeface, font style, and peripheral spacing, material that seemed to spring up overnight. It was phenomenal. It had taken our analysts hours of careful work to make comparisons. It seemed that these analysts or commentators-or whatever they were-were coming up with long treatises in minutes. They were all linking to one another, creating an echo chamber of outraged agreement...

There was no analysis of what the documents actually said, no work done to look at the content, no comparison with the official record, no phone calls made to check the facts of the story, nothing beyond a cursory and politically motivated examination of the typeface. That was all they had to attack, but that was enough.

Oh my God, they were all linking to each other! If she was such a great reporter, then the existence of the Internet should not have blindsided her so much. And she complains that no analysis of what the documents said was undertaken? That's the dumbest statement I've ever heard, considering the documents were forgeries. This was a case where bloggers acted much more like professional journalists and Mapes & Co. were partisan, political hacks.

Now for Rather, who complains that CBS is following the Rule of Holes (when in one, stop digging) by not letting him pursue the National Guard story:

In a televised interview with former CBSer Marvin Kalb, retired CBS anchor Dan Rather stated that his network will not allow him to continue to pursue the story of President Bush's Air Guard service.

"Straight-up, no Chaser, no," the exiled anchor said when asked if he would consider filing a story about it on the "60 Minutes" news magazine since he continues to believe in it.

"CBS News doesn't want me to do that story. They wouldn't let me do that story," Rather said, declining to elaborate further.

So Rather still thinks this discredited story is worth pursuing. Why? Because, in his delusional state, he still believes it is true.

KALB: Dan, thank you. You said, I believe you just said that you think the story is accurate.

RATHER: The story is accurate.

Amazing. Nothing explains the fall of the MSM better than these dual instances of delusion, denial and obsession.

Via Little Green Footballs

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