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There Was A Time In South Africa That People Would Put Flaming Tires Around Peoples' Necks If They Dis-sented. And In Some Ways The Fear Is That You Will Be Necklaced Here, You Will Have A Flaming Tire Of Lack Of Patriotism Put Around Your Neck. Now It Is That Fear That Keeps Journalists From Asking The Toughest Of The Tough Questions... And Again, I Am Humbled To Say, I Do Not Except Myself From This Criticism.

-Dan Rather

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There Was A Time

Dan Rather

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There Was A Time In South Africa That People Would Put Flaming Tires Around Peoples' Necks If They Dis-sented. And In Some Ways The Fear Is That You Will Be Necklaced Here, You Will Have A Flaming Tire Of Lack Of Patriotism Put Around Your Neck. Now It Is That Fear That Keeps Journalists From Asking The Toughest Of The Tough Questions... And Again, I Am Humbled To Say, I Do Not Except Myself From This Criticism.

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Tough Questions

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I Think You Can Be An Honest Person And Lie About Any Number Of Things.

I've Never Believed In Measuring One's Worth By The Size Of His Or Her Bank Account. I Prefer To Look At Distance Traveled.

Once The Herd Starts Moving In One Direction, It's Very Hard To Turn It, Even Slightly.

In Dealing With The Press, Do Yourself A Favor, Stick With One Of Three Responses: (a) I Know And I Can Tell You; (b) I Know And I Can't Tell You; (c) I Don't Know.

I'm A Believer In What Your Record Is. I Am What My Record Is - Some Of It Good, Some Of It Bad, Some Of It Hard To Tell.

I'm All News, All The Time. Full Power, Tall Tower. I Want To Break In When News Breaks Out. That's My Agenda. Now, Respectfully, When You Start Talking About A Liberal Agenda And All The, Quote, 'liberal Bias' In The Media, I Quite Frankly, And I Say This Respectfully But Candidly To You, I Don't Know What You're Talking About.

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If I Didn't Have A Front-row Seat On History, It Was At Least A Seat On The Aisle.

Americans Are Once Again Looking Outward

Covering The Civil-rights Movement Was A Mind- And Eye-opener For Me. Houston Was A Segregated Society, As Was Texas As A Whole - Some Of It By Law, A Lot Of It By Fear And Tradition. But There Was No Violence Where I Lived, And If There Was Hate, It Was Either Concealed From Me Or I Just Didn't Recognize It.

(obama's) A Nice Person, He's Very Articulate This Is What's Been Used Against Him, But He Couldn't Sell Watermelons If It, You Gave Him The State Troopers To Flag Down The Traffic.

What Separated Ed Murrow From The Rest Of The Pack Was Courage.

Never Eat Spinach Just Before Going On The Air.

The Republican Convention Opens In New York To Re-nominate George W. Bush And Showcase The Party's, Quote, 'moderate Side.' Will Voters Buy It?

Writing Is The Rock On Which Everything Is Built.

Be Careful. Journalism Is More Addictive Than Crack Cocaine. Your Life Can Get Out Of Balance.

It's The American Way: If You Don't Vote, You Don't Get To Whine.

They May Have Turned This Up, Whether You Had The Paula Jones Case Or Not. But Again Maybe Not, But Again That's Like If A Frog Had Side Pockets He'd Probably Wear A Handgun.

He [mikhail Gorbachev] Has, As Many Great Leaders Have, Impressive Eyes....there's A Kind Of Laser-beam Stare, A Forced Quality, You Get From Gorbachev That Does Not Come Across As Something Peaceful Within Himself. It's The Look Of A Kind Of Human Volcano, Or He'd Probably Like To Describe It As A Human Nuclear Energy Plant.

College Is Like A Woman: You Work So Hard To Get In, And Nine Months Later You Wish You'd Never Come. We Used To Say If A Frog Had Side Pockets, He'd Carry A Handgun.

One Of The Most Important Roles Of Our Journalists Is To Be Watchdogs.

A Lot Of Tight Senate Races Out There. Let's Hit Those Chips With Another Dash Of Salsa, Ed Bradley.

Now, I Know You Expected Me To Say That, Well, I Just Kick Back In The Rocking Chair, Fished A Little Bit, Listened To Willie Nelson Tapes And Watched Old Baseball Games On The Classic Sports Network. And, Tell You The Truth, I Have Done That For Maybe About Five Total Minutes.

There Are More Muslims In North America Then Jews Now.

I Was Really Lucky To Work At Cbs News. I Was Blessed To Be Able To Live My Dream In Many Ways At Cbs News.

Anyone Who Says Network News Cannot Be Profitable Doesn't Know What He Is Talking About. But Anyone Who Says It Must "always," Make Money Is Misguided And Irresponsible.

If Frogs Had Side Pockets, They'd Carry Hand Guns.

Are The Democrats Going To Dance The Mandate Macarena?

Journalism Is Not A Precise Science, It's A Crude Art

The Dream Begins With A Teacher Who Believes In You, Who Tugs And Pushes And Leads You To The Next Plateau, Sometimes Poking You With A Sharp Stick Called 'truth'.

Journalists Should Denounce Government By Public Opinion Polls.

If All Difficulties Were Known At The Outset Of A Long Journey, Most Of Us Would Never Start Out At All.

I Know That This Story Is True.

It's The Old Shell Game.

Americans Will Put Up With Anything Provided It Doesn't Block Traffic.

They Say California's The Big Burrito; Texas Is A Big Taco Right Now. We Want To Follow That Through. Florida Is A Big Tamale.

Journalism Is Less Addictive Than Communism.

Catholic Dioceses Typically Spent Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars Recklessly, Then Filed For Bankruptcy. The Goal Was To Avoid The Money Going To The Hands Of Victims Of Predator Priests.

One Finds Oneself Saying: 'i Know The Right Question, But ... This Is Not Exactly The Right Time To Ask It.'

If You're In Journalism And You're Looking For Friends, You Should Get A Dog.

Fear Rules Almost Every Newsroom In The Country.

As Long As I Have My Health, I Want To Be Reporting Somewhere.

The Reelection Of Bill Clinton Is As Secure As A Double-knot Tied In Wet Rawhide.

There Was A Time In South Africa That People Would Put Flaming Tires Around Peoples' Necks If They Dis-sented. And In Some Ways The Fear Is That You Will Be Necklaced Here, You Will Have A Flaming Tire Of Lack Of Patriotism Put Around Your Neck. Now It Is That Fear That Keeps Journalists From Asking The Toughest Of The Tough Questions... And Again, I Am Humbled To Say, I Do Not Except Myself From This Criticism.

Tough Questions

Always Marry A Woman From Texas. No Matter How Tough Things Get, She's Seen Tougher.

There Is No Doubt That The Way Journalism Worked When I Was Growing Up And Getting Started Has Changed Forever.

My Cousin Just Died. He Was Only 19. He Got Stung By A Bee - The Natural Enemy Of A Tightrope Walker.

Performing Doesn't Turn Me On. It's An Egomaniac Business, Filled With Prima Donnas - Including This One.

To The Pilot Of A Deep Sea Submersible, Upon Finding Out What Would Happen If The Craft Sprung A Leak While Submerged. I'll Trust You To Make Sure That Doesn't Happen.

You'd Better Do What You Feel Good About Doing. If We [try] To Figure Out What It Is The Audience Wants And Then Try To Deliver It To Them, We're Lost Souls On The Ghost Ship Forever.

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Turn The Lights Down, The Party Just Got Wilder.

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Trapeze Artists

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Negative People

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Don't Taunt The Alligator Until After You've Crossed The Creek.

I Don't Pretend To Be A Digital Savant Or Even A Digital Apprentice.

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I'd Much Rather Wear Out Than Rust Out.

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I Got Addicted. News, Particularly Daily News, Is More Addictive Than Crack Cocaine, More Addictive Than Heroin, More Addictive Than Cigarettes.

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