More MSM Journalists Pile On

Kathleen Parker in the Charlotte Observer has an insightful column on Ra^thergate, noting what Rather and the rest of the CBS crew seem to be trying to gloss-over: that they willfully ignored what their own document "experts" were telling them about the memos:

CBS may have been misled, but no one at the network was blindly misled. Rather and the network's producers had ample advance warning from their own document analysts that the memos' authenticity could not be confirmed with 100 percent confidence.
Of four experts consulted, two raised questions about various aspects of the documents, and at least one warned that they weren't quite ready for prime time. CBS ran the story anyway.
It's disingenuous for the network to say it was misled as though everything had been airtight. Where there is reasonable doubt about damning documents, especially proffered in an election season against a commander in chief during war, there is no story. No one at CBS doesn't know this.

She wraps up her column with what would surely cut Mr. Rather to the quick: an unfavorable comparison to Donald Rumsfeld:

His apology is what one might expect from a teenager when he gets caught smoking in the garage: "I used bad judgment, and for that I'm sorry." How about this instead: "I knowingly used questionable documents to damage a president during an election, and I have no excuse."
Or this, which is what Americans have a right to expect from adults whose powerful position can sway the course of human history: "These events occurred on my watch. I am accountable for them, and I take full responsibility." Doubtless it was painful for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to speak those words before the Senate Armed Services Committee last May following the story about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, which Rather also broke on "60 Minutes II."
You'd think Rather might have taken notes.

Ouch.