Rather shoddy.(CBS, Dan Rather apologize for news report on President George W. Bush based on false information )

TWELVE days after airing a story that questioned George W. Bush's National Guard service--a story built on forged documents--CBS apologized. So did Dan Rather, personally. Now they should apologize for their apologies. They are still misleading the public, this time about their own conduct rather than that of the president.

The official line from CBS has it that the network had every reason to believe that the story was legitimate, and that it learned only after the broadcast that there were reasons to doubt the authenticity of the documents. The network was "misled." Rather, hilariously, still insists that the documents are real, although he concedes that he cannot prove it. But the truth is that CBS had spoken to experts who doubted the documents'authenticity before the broadcast. And a little due diligence would have made it clear that the documents were probably fake, and that Rather's "unimpeachable source" was a disturbed individual with anti-Bush politics. Moreover, when outsiders, especially bloggers, began to raise questions after the broadcast, Rather's reaction was to smear them as "partisan political operatives." (These critics deserve an apology, too.) "If I knew then what I know now, I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired," said Rather. We are ...