What’s Real?

I had lunch with former CBS News anchorman Dan Rather. I told him that I don’t care for the news. I said real life means nothing to me. I like the make believe.

He told me then that I should love the news. He said most of it was made up. The Watergate break-in and hearings was a sketch that Dan Rather co-wrote with then President Nixon. Nixon was bored with the day to day goings on in the White House and wanted to spice things up.

Dan Rather said that the Vietnam war was completely made up. He and some of his journalist friends wanted to spend some time in Asia. The falling of the Berlin Wall was something Walter Cronkite came up with when he was having renovation work done on his home. The 2000 U.S. Presidential Election chad chaos was an idea NBC’s Brian Williams came up with when he was standing in line at the DMV.

I asked Dan Rather what was actually true on the news. He said the water-skiing squirrel. Dan Rather said no one could have written something that good.