by Brent Baker
Dan Rather has done plenty over his career to earn the suspicions of conservatives, but Monday night [9/17], on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman, Rather displayed emotion and patriotic fervor which all Americans should respect. Rather twice broke down into tears, and had to stop speaking, in what certainly appeared to be genuine outpourings of emotion as he recalled the heroic work of the firefighters and later recited lines from “America the Beautiful.”
Rather wondered: “Who can sing now, with the same meaning we had before, one stanza of that that goes 'so beautiful for patriot's dream, that sees beyond the years, thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears.' We can never say that song again, that way…”
Rather's appearance on the somber Late Show, the first produced since the terrorist attacks, came after Letterman opened the program with a very emotional chain of thoughts.
Rather generated applause for praising President Bush as “Giuliani-esque” for looking “the camera straight in the eye, unblinking” and saying: “Osama: Dead or alive.” Rather later sounded ready to sign-up for the war effort as he declared: “George Bush is the President. He makes the decisions, and, you know, it's just one American, wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where. And he'll make the call.”
Another highlight of Rather's remarks to David Letteman:
And he also underscored, David, which I think is very important to understand, two things, and the President made this extremely clear. One, this is for the long haul. Wars are won by — in no particular order — firepower, willpower, and staying power. And what President Bush was talking about today, I don't think he could have made it any clearer, that we have the firepower, we've mustered the willpower, and unlike the Gulf War, we will have the staying power. That's the message you got out of that.
A couple of minutes later Rather promised: “But I couldn't feel stronger, David, that this is a time for us, and I'm not preaching about it, George Bush is the President. He makes the decisions, and, you know, it's just one American, wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where. And he'll make the call.”
As for why the U.S. has not yet struck back, Rather wisely counseled: “There's a saying in the Far East. Revenge is best served cold. Which is to say, wait your time, take your time. It's also, Rudyard Kipling wrote, that the law of the jungle is, you never lose your temper. Well, we're past that. We've lost our temper. And I'm sorry I've shown [emotion] so clearly here tonight, but there's a rage within in all of us that has to be sort of tempered while we take care of business.”
To see a RealPlayer clip of Dan Rather's appearance on the Late Show, click here.
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
