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In a new unauthorized biography of Dan Rathers written by Alan Weisman, the general consensus seems to be that Rathers was a dick to work with. In one story, Morley Safer claims that at one point Rather told a group of Vietnam troops that they should have shot Safer for running a story on troops burning a village.

In “Lone Star,” an unauthorized bio of Rather out this September, Alan Weisman writes that Safer “has not been a friend of Rather’s for years, since their days in Vietnam.” The final straw came when Rather took over for Safer not long after Safer’s jolting report about the burning of a Vietnam village by a platoon of U.S. Marines.

“When Rather replaced me . . . he went to a group of Marines and said, ‘If I were you guys, I would have shot him.’ Or words to that effect,” Safer tells Weisman. “And that my report should never have gone on the air.” Asked whether Rather had ripped his fellow newsman to cozy up with the troops, Safer bristles, “Who the hell knows why? Have I ever confronted him about it? No. Now we just have a polite relationship.”

In what also became his fall from grace, co-workers chided Rathers handling of the apparently forged Air National Guard records of George W Bush. Even after it was basically proven that the documents were fakes, Rather went back on the air and arrogantly defended his decision to run the story anyway.

Producer Richard Cohen said, “This is the story of Macbeth. It’s about someone who was so seized by his own ambition that he forgot everything else. All he wanted to do was anchor the ‘Evening News’ - in fact, he wanted to be the ‘Evening News.’ “

I heard one time he bitchsmacked Diane Sawyer just for looking him in the eyes. That story is completely unfounded though and more than likely made up…by me.

CBS’ SAFER DUMPS ON RATHER [Page Six]

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