Rather Interesting

My memory is pathetic.  No kidding, my sister gave me Nora Ephron’s book I Remember Nothing (only partially as a joke) for Christmas.  Perhaps that’s one reason I started this blog -- so that when the little bit of recall that I do have is gone, I can read about my life. 


Oddly, one event I do remember vividly occurred on January 25, 1988 .


Then Vice President George Bush, a candidate for president, and Dan Rather, anchorman on the  The CBS Evening News,  had an 11 minute run-in (okay, a verbal altercation) regarding Bush’s role in the Iran-Contra affair on the news that night. 


I was living in Washington, D.C. at the time and one of my two roommates worked for CBS News.  I don’t know what her job was exactly, but we were in our early twenties so I’m certain she wasn’t the executive producer or anything.  But the day before she told me that I should be sure to catch the news the next night, that it was going to be really interesting. 


Never a big Dan Rather fan (I had read his autobiography, The Camera Never Blinks - I’m weird, I know-- several years earlier), in my opinion, and that of many Americans at the time, Rather completely disrepected the office of the Vice President with his behavior.  Some even believe the incident was critical to Bush winning the nomination that year. 


Below is the YouTube video.  While the entire thing is interesting and a fascinating part of history, I can understand if you don’t want to watch the whole eleven minute interview.  To me, the really memorable part begins at about the 6 minute  and 20 second mark.