Chris Shugart - It’s the Dead Parrot, Stupid!:
One of my favorite Monty Python episodes is the one where Michael Palin plays the blissfully-in-denial pet shop owner trying to convince dissatisfied customer John Cleese that a recently purchased parrot isn’t really dead. The sketch deteriorates hilariously as Palin tries to provide ridiculous evidence that the obviously dead parrot is absolutely alive.Captain Dan is "pining for the fjords" too.
I thought about that comedy bit in the wake of the Rather/CBS scandal. The similarity was delightfully amusing. Watching Rather and CBS defend a story so full of holes is like watching Palin explain that the dead parrot is only "resting." So I’m here to declare that the news coverage of the 2004 presidential election has hereby officially achieved the status of “amusing.” Hey, sometimes you just gotta laugh.
You gotta laugh watching Dan Rather stubbornly sticking to a story that everyone knows is as bogus as the nose on Michael Jackson’s face. Dan Rather has become the straight man in a reality TV comedy. Once the Killian memos were found to be forgeries, Rather soberly announced, "If any definitive evidence in the contrary of our story is found, we will report it.” Meanwhile the “definitive evidence” that Dan can’t seem to find is flying about like New Year’s Eve confetti.
You gotta laugh when USA Today Editor Ken Paulson provides this feeble defense of the National Guard documents: "The jury is very much out on the authenticity of the documents.” The jury is still out? I’ve got news for this clueless editor: The jury already has the rope tied to a tree.
