Probably most people think of George H.W. Bush as the anti-Trump — genteel, reserved, and polite to a fault. And sometimes he was, but he also wasn’t afraid to knife a journalist here or there when he felt it was deserved, or even just because it might distract from a potentially harmful story.
Below is the video from when Bush famously stuck it to Dan Rather on the CBS news broadcast in the middle of a live interview in 1988. Bush was angry because Rather had led into this interview with a six-minute news piece that insinuated Bush was much more involved in Iran-Contra than House and Senate investigations (controlled by Democrats, for what that’s worth) had already concluded after extensive testimony and investigation.
Bush came into the interview with an overtly combative mien, accusing Rather of misleading his audience. Rather reciprocated, repeatedly interrupting Bush’s answers. Then, at about the six-and-a-half minute mark in the video below, the Bush dropped the bomb:
“It’s not fair to judge my whole career by a re-hash on Iran,” Bush said at one point. “How would you like it if I judge your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York? Would you like that?”
Rather, who up to that point had done most of the talking, was flustered by this. Bush was referring to a 1987 incident in which Rather had caused CBS to broadcast several minutes of blank airtime. Angry that his news program was being truncated because of a women’s tennis tournament, Rather got on the phone to argue with the network management and was absent from his post for several minutes when it was time to go live.
The following night, Rather offered an editor’s note on the interview, denying that he or CBS News had deceived Bush about what would be asked.
Rather continued in journalism for another 17 years until he was finally drummed out. His final undoing was a too-good-to-check hit piece that his news team put together on Bush’s son during the 2004 election. In both cases, Rather’s involvement helped a Bush.
