If Everyone Jumped Off A Bridge, Would You?

This weekend, on CBS Sunday Morning, contributor Nancy Giles asked, angrily, why the President and Congress aren't doing what the polls say. As she ranted, the only thing I could think of was my mother saying "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?"

The last thing we want is for politicians to decide by poll. Polls tell what's popular, not what the best course of action is. She quotes a poll stating that 81% of "us" are in favor of expanding the SCHIP program. But how many of those people actually read the bill, as opposed to just listening to what was said about the bill on the news.

Governing by poll is a recipe for disaster. Ask a sample of Americans which they would rather eat: chocolate or broccoli. I'm guessing chocolate would win by a landslide, but it's not the healthier choice. Should parents start serving chocolate with dinner instead of vegetables, if that's what the poll showed? Of course not. That would be ludicrous.

Do politicians work for us? Of course they do. But I put this question to Nancy Giles, how effective would you be in your job if you couldn't use your own judgement and could only say what Les Moonves (President of CBS) told you to say?

Where Have You Gone Dan Rather?

When Dan Rather took over the CBS Evening News from Walter Cronkite in 1981, he was considered a worthy successor to Cronkite. Despite his famed liberal bias, he was a hard charging reporter who searched for facts. We lost that Dan Rather by 2004, and the person who claims the name is not the reporter we knew.

Rather filed a lawsuit against CBS, Viacom, and others claiming to be a scapegoat for the disastrous story about George W. Bush's National Guard record based on unauthenticated documents. He is claiming to a victim, despite stating at the time he wasn't. Many assumed the story was the result of his bias, but now I'm not so sure. Based on his behavior of late, and a recent report he did on HDNet, I think the failing of the story was Rather's ego.

The lawsuit seems clearly aimed at recovering his faded prestige. However a recent report on HDNet about the Boeing Dreamliner calls into question Rather's ability to fact check. It's as though he's saying, "I'm Dan Rather, therefore I'm right."

The story he did questions the safety of the new Dreamliner jet because it is made from carbon fiber instead of aluminum. The core of the story are Rather's claims that the composite materials are brittle, more likely to shatter on impact, and prone to emit poisonous chemicals when ignited. The transcript of the story can be read here

Scientists and engineers have come out stating that this concept is flawed from the beginning. Composites can be every bit as strong as aluminum and are used in race cars, trains and other objects which have survived massive crashes. I don't think Rather has any bias against Boeing. I think he, once again, failed to check his facts.

So I now think it's possible that Rather's bias didn't create the Bush story, although I'm sure he relished the opportunity to report it. I think he has ceased to check his facts because his ego has gotten in the way. That ego lead to him being fired from CBS, and has now created his lawsuit as he tries to reclaim his previous stature.

Dan, if you want to regain your previous stature stop blaming others. Go forth on your new show and produce credible, bias-free news stories. Unless you do that, no lawsuit is going to help.