Brent Bozell has an essay in which he notes the remarkable timing of two national news anchors retiring almost simultaneously: Tom Brokaw yesterday, and Dan Rather in March.

Meanwhile, Peggy Noonan, who once wrote copy for Rather, has a remarkably sympathetic take about her former employer:

If you were a young Dan Rather you knew which side was the side to be on. You knew which side your bosses were on. You knew which side would lead to your rise. And you knew which side would win.

It wasn't exactly complicated. Every conservative in America in the last century, especially in the media and in the colleges, knew they would be dinged and damaged if they held to their beliefs. Every liberal in the media and the academy knew they could rise if they espoused liberal views. Dan wanted to rise.

Probably the worst moment in his career, because it was arguably the one most obvious in showing bias and a political agenda, was the time Dan tried to beat up George H.W. Bush live, on the "CBS Evening News," over Iran-contra. Mr. Bush decked him instead, and with a question that reverberates: How would you like your whole career to be judged by one mistake? I do not doubt that CBS News that night thought it was going to take down a vice president, and wanted to. And was embittered by its failure. Which may have contributed to the years long, Ahab-like quest of producer Mary Mapes to bring down George W. Bush with documents it took bloggers less than 24 hours to reveal as fabrications.

And yet. Dan Rather was one of the great breaking-news reporters of our time. Hurricanes, earthquakes, big sudden stuff--he loved it, and he knew how to cover it. A friend reminded me of the beauty with which Dan asked for silence as CBS's cameras lingered on the sun going down on quake-ravaged San Francisco in 1989. And I think of his delicate coverage of stories like Princess Diana's funeral.

I don't think Dan Rather ever saw himself as being destructive in his views and biases when the story of the night was political. He always seemed to me to love America, was moved, always, by those who fight for it. He respected the armed forces and their sacrifices. He surprised me one day by reciting from heart and with tears in his eyes the last letter of Travis at the Alamo. And there was the time, after 9/11, when he went on David Letterman's show and, in speaking of the heroism of what he'd seen at Ground Zero and the tragedy of it, burst into sobs. He felt it. Anyone who felt 9/11 down to his bones--well, who's to gainsay that?

Once I was able to connect to the 'Net via broadband (around March of 1999, I think), I pretty much abandoned most TV news, except when there's a huge, breaking story. Four years before Ra^therGate became a household word, the last time I watched Dan live, was when he interrupted a late NFL game on Sunday, November 26, 2000 to announce that then Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris had certified the vote, and announced that George W. Bush had won Florida--and by doing so of course, the presidential election.

My jaw dropped listening to the way Rather editorialized the news instead of reporting it. He did it in such a way as to interject maximum bias and opinion into what should have been a straightforward news story:

Rather began: "Nineteen days after the presidential election, Florida's Republican Secretary of State is about to announce the winner – as she sees it and she decrees it – of the state's potentially decisive 25 electoral votes. Katherine Harris will officially certify the state's election returns...The believed certification – as the Republican Secretary of State sees it – is coming just hours after a court ordered deadline for counties to submit their hand count and recount totals."

"The reason we're on the air right across the board nationally right now is because Florida's Secretary of State – a Republican, as we've mentioned before – campaigned actively for George Bush, well-connected to Governor Bush's Governor brother Jeb Bush in Florida, but a woman who has consistently said ‘I'm trying to do my job, right down to the letter of the law, as best I can'...She will certify – as she sees it – who gets Florida's 25 electoral votes. Those 25 electoral votes potentially will be decisive."

Rather explained the signing: "What's happening here is the certification – as the Florida Secretary of State sees it and decrees it – is being signed...After this, it will be, at least in the opinion of the Secretary of State, that the results will be final...The Secretary of State, as she has restated here, in effect believes that the election certification she gives should stand."

"This is the Secretary of State and others, certifying the statewide outcome as they view it. This action is being challenged already. David Boies, the lead lawyer for Democratic Vice President Al Gore's campaign, said that this certification would be challenged tomorrow on at least three grounds, and probably more."

Summing up, Rather reported "The Florida Secretary of State has just said that in her opinion, and she thinks she has the legal right to do it and the legal duty and obligation to do it, she has certified George Bush as the winner of Florida's electoral college votes.... If you're asking ‘does this end it?' The answer is not necessarily, and not immediately, since the Gore forces say they will contest this."

He added: "George Bush was declared the winner tonight of Florida's potentially decisive 25 electoral votes. He was declared that by the Republican Secretary of State. But there were many legal challenges to come, and this battle for the White House, it may turn out, is a long way from being over yet...The official certification was made a short time ago by the Florida Secretary of State, Republican Katherine Harris."

Rather also introduced Bush's remarks with the it-ain't-over undercurrent: "The Governor is now convinced, more than ever, that he is the next President of the United States. He will be speaking about developments in Florida tonight, and what they mean, in his view, for the battle for the White House. Just a couple of hours ago, Florida's Republican Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, officially what she said, ‘certified' Bush as the winner of Florida's presidential vote, of its 25 electoral votes, and therefore the presidency. Harris, with what she called the final victory margin at 537 votes for Bush over Gore. To say final may be premature. The Gore team of course has a completely different view of this, and has made it plain that they will contest what was said tonight."

Fox News had already been using their "We report, you decide" slogan for at least a couple of years before this moment, but if they hadn't, Dan's "reporting" would have almost cried out for its invention.

I can understand how badly Noonan feels for her former employer and in a way, I sympathize--because the problem wasn't just with Dan, but with a style of journalism that tried to slant the news as much as possible--all the while claiming crystalline objectivity.

A style which will not be missed.