Dan Rather Sues CBS News Over Memogate

The controversy over CBS News's report on Bush's National Guard Service always bothered me. Not because Dan Rather got a raw deal, but because the truth did not come out. Just because the documents were brought into question does not resolve the question, "Did Bush serve or not?"

Well, there may be another day for this issue.

From The New York Times:

Dan Rather, whose career at CBS News ground to an inglorious end 15 months ago over his role in an unsubstantiated report questioning President Bush’s Vietnam-era National Guard service, filed a $70 million lawsuit this afternoon against the network, its corporate parent and three of his former superiors.

Mr. Rather, 75, asserts that the network violated his contract by giving him insufficient airtime on “60 Minutes” after forcing him to step down as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in March 2005. He also contends that the network committed fraud by commissioning a “biased” and incomplete investigation of the flawed Guard broadcast and, in the process, “seriously damaged his reputation.” As plaintiffs, the suit names CBS and its chief executive, Leslie Moonves; Viacom and its chief executive, Sumner Redstone; and Andrew Heyward, the former president of CBS News.

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Of course, there's no election looming this time around, but let's set the record straight here once and for all. I'm betting my fortified ice station that Bush was AWOL.

VIDEO: Dan Rather spoke to Charlie Rose on June 5, 2001. This is an interesting look at the state of journalism before 9/11.