Rather’s Dangerous Game

With its firm stance supported only by weak defenses, CBS is walking a high-wire with Dan Rather’s assertions that the Bush-Killian documents are valid. These defenses are repeatedly rapidly overwhelmed by the research of the conservative side of the blogosphere, and this has led me to re-evaluate the situation.

Short of serious substantiation, CBS has two choices: first, crawdad on its assertions and confess its egregious errors in both methodology and mission; second, lay low and continue to deny, hoping it blows over or the rest of the mainstream media rides in to the rescue.

This brings to mind the French at Dien Bien Phu.

From Summons of the Trumpet by Dave Richard Palmer:

The French and the Viet Minh fought the climactic battle at an unimportant and unimposing village high in jungle-covered hills near the Laotian border — Dien Bien Phu. (Memories of that battle would return fourteen years later to haunt and distract American leaders at a crucial moment.) In January 1954, Viet Minh General Vo Nguyen Giap surrounded a large French force at Dien Bien Phu, isolating it from all support except that dropped by parachute. Through February and into March the French held on doggedly. But they were doomed without help — and by March they knew it. Desparately, Paris asked Washington to intervene.

Is CBS setting up MSM’s own Dien Bien Phu, with the bloggers in the role of the surrounding forces? It would certainly seem that the rehashing of the old AWOL stories would be the equivalent of “an unimportant and unimposing village” in this election year. The stakes on the confrontation? Nothing short of the credibility of the entirety of the old media. If the bloggers retreat into the jungle and let Rather escape, then the current situation continues. If critical mass of the story is reached with the public, MSM goes into a crisis. Will the other branches of the old media play it neutral and see how things play out, or will they do their actual job and seriously look at Rather’s claims? Their credibility may hinge on it, as the Swiftboat Vets story has shown that MSM no longer has exclusive claim to the public’s attention.

CBS and Rather are potentially setting up their own Dien Bien Phu. Will the rest of the old media support them or do what’s right and what’s their role in society — investigate and cover the story?