Like many reporters, Dan Rather is a strong proponent of affirmative action. Rather embraces the liberal view that preference regimes are necessary to stop discrimination against minorities and women and calls them "civil rights" laws.
"In Florida this is not exactly a Super Tuesday for the other Governor Bush,
George W.'s younger brother, Jeb. His decision to scrap affirmative action programs
in Florida sparked a massive protest today in the state capital. The Governor
calls his plan, quote, 'racial progress,' but as CBS's Byron Pitts reports,
others call it rolling back the clock."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, March 7, 2000.
The Supreme Court ruled that there cannot be Congressional districts drawn up according to race:
"One of the biggest, a ruling that will make it harder for African-Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities to win elective
office and a share of political power."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, June 29, 1995.
RATHER: "Law enforcement is among many fields nationwide where the Twentieth
Century brought women a better shot at equal opportunity. But that could
be changing back, here at the starting line of the 21st
Century. Case and point: a big city where CBS's Cynthia Bowers found, the ranks
of women are thinning fast, on the thin blue line."
BOWERS: "Pittsburgh's women in blue may be a dying breed. The affirmative
action program that helped put so many of them on the force was struck down
in 1991. Since then more than 90 percent of the police officers hired have been
male."
"First, about the big setback for affirmative action. The high court today upheld
California's ban on programs designed to fight discrimination against women and
minorities..."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, November 3, 1997.
"Also on Capitol Hill today, fresh evidence that affirmative action civil rights laws designed to fight discrimination are fast emerging as an early and key issue in Campaign '96."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, March 15, 1995.
"Earlier tonight, we reported the President's apology for medical experiments
that allowed black Americans to die of syphilis. The President noted how badly
this hurt public trust in government, especially among minorities. The same
criticism is being made today on another score. As CBS News correspondent
John Blackstone reports, it's the fallout from California's voter-approved ban
on state affirmative action programs."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, May 16, 1997.
Note: Rather is comparing banning racial preferences to human chemical experimentation.
"President Clinton reportedly plans to appoint Bill Lann Lee to the government's top civil rights enforcement post while
Congress is in recess. Lee's opponents cite his support for affirmative action, designed to fight discrimination against
women and minorities."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, December 12, 1997.
"Dole opened up a new, more aggressive line of attack against affirmative action programs designed to fight discrimination against women and minorities."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, October 28, 1996.
Most reporters had thought President Clinton would choose Bruce Babbitt or Stephen Breyer to be his first Supreme Court nominee:
"Just when it has been made to appear that President Clinton was
getting ready to nominate another white male, he chose a woman."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, June 14, 1993.
Dan Rather and Bryant Gumbel discussed Time and CBS News's book, People of the Century:
One Hundred Men and Women Who Shaped the Last One Hundred Years:
GUMBEL: "On the women's front, Eleanor Roosevelt is obviously a given. Do we
agree with the Margaret Thatcher pick?"
RATHER: "I don't, to be perfectly honest."
GUMBEL: "I don't either."
RATHER: "My guess, Margaret Thatcher is there, as much as any reason, because
she is a woman."
--Dan Rather and Bryant Gumbel on The Early Show, December 26, 1999.
President-elect George W. Bush began announcing his cabinet appointees, several of whom were minorities:
"George Bush's cabinet is already shaping up to be much more diverse than that of previous Republican administrations, but does the change only run skin deep?"
--Dan Rather in an online preview of the night's Evening News, December 20, 2000.
Democrats reintroduced a racial quota bill:
"News of Campaign 1992, President Bush threatened today to veto the latest version of the civil rights bill. Democrats say the measure is aimed at stopping job discrimination against women and minorities."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, May 30, 1991.
University of Texas law professor Lino Graglia
spoke out against racial quotas in college admissions:
The story is "a new reminder tonight of our racial problems."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, September 16, 1997
President Bush vetoed an affirmative action bill:
"President Bush's veto of a major civil rights bill will stand. The US Senate was one vote short today of the two-thirds majority needed to override Mr. Bush's veto."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, October 24, 1990.
"What [Ward Connerly] stands for is wiping out
affirmative action as a tool to ease racial discrimination."
--Dan Rather in his syndicated column, May 28, 1997.
President Bush announced that the Department of Education would cut off federal funds to schools that use race as a criterion in awarding scholarships:
”President Bush has a whole new policy to cut off federal funds to colleges and universities that designate scholarships to help minority students.”
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, December 12, 1990.
Senator Jesse Helms used TV ads denouncing racial quotas and preferences during
his reelection campaign:
"One of the closest and most closely-watched US Senate races of the 1990 campaign is ending on a new note of controversy. It's the North Carolina contest pitting veteran Republican Jesse Helms against Democrat Harvey Gantt. Correspondent Gary Reaves reports on playing with fire and the politics of race."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, November 2, 1990.
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