WATCH OUT, BROTHER, FOR THAT LONG BLACK TRAIN:

Rather went on faith, not facts (Tim Rutten, 9/18/04, LA Times)

Watching Dan Rather unravel over the past week has been something like watching a train wreck unfold: You know it's all going to end badly, but you just can't look away until you've seen how many cars ultimately go off the rails. Well, now we know, and there's not much left to do but wave at the caboose as it careens over the side.

A little more than a week ago, the CBS anchor presented a "60 Minutes" segment produced by Mary Mapes, alleging not only that President Bush used his family's influence to get special treatment from the Air National Guard but also that he defied an order to take a physical examination required of pilots and lost his flight status.

Over the years, there have been lots of stories about Bush's apparently fitful service with the Guard. What made this one different was its reliance on what Rather said were previously undisclosed memoranda substantiating the allegations and purportedly written at the time by Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, Bush's squadron commander, now dead. Where the alleged documents may have been all these years and who provided them to CBS remain a mystery. In less than 24 hours, questions were raised — first on the Internet and, quickly, in the mainstream media — about the documents' authenticity.

Since then, the "60 Minutes" segment has gone from sensational revelation to controversial report to utter debacle.

The weight of expert technical opinion is that the documents are forgeries...