As Dan Rather pursues his case against CBS, the network appears to have been influenced by the Bush administration when running a supposedly independent panel investigation.

What bothers me most about the whole uproar in this is that the documents which supposedly discredit Rather were really nothing more than a graphic TV prop supporting the recollections of participant/witnesses who were interviewed on the broadcast, including as I recall the woman who worked most closely with the actual author of the letter represented. The papers weren't the "smoking gun" but just the muzzle flash. It was the words of those who surrounded Bush which really submarined his honor in his supposed service.