Dan Rather admires Hillary Clinton. He shows his admiration by asking soft questions, promoting her, and defending her against criticism. He also seems to believe that Clinton was correct in describing a "vast, Right wing conspiracy." See also Whitewater and Kenneth Starr.

"She is a woman on a first name basis with the world. First Lady Hillary Clinton is a political superstar. She has a history of making history."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, May 26, 1999.

Rather was asked who should be Time Magazine's Person of the Year:
"I would not be astonished to see Hillary Clinton be the Democratic nominee in 2000. Listen, I agree that Al Gore is the odds-on favorite. He's probably going to be the nominee. But, you know, you and I know, having covered politics for a lifetime, overnight's a long time in politics, a week is forever. Here we are talking about a race almost two years away. Hillary Clinton, as far as I'm concerned, she's the Person of the Year ... Hillary Clinton is the Person of the Year in that, you talk about a comeback kid -- she makes her husband look like Ned in knee pants in terms of comeback from where she was early in the Clinton administration. You know, you add it all up, and you can make a case that Hillary Clinton might, might -- mark the word -- be the strongest candidate for the Democrats. But I'm not predicting it, I'm just raising it as a possibility."
--Dan Rather on CNN's Larry King Live, December 3, 1998.

New president Bill Clinton congratulated Dan Rather on his on-air partnership with Connie Chung: "Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. President. If we could be one-one-hundredth as great as you and Hillary Rodham Clinton have been together in the White House, we'd take it right now and walk away winners."
--Dan Rather at a meeting for CBS affiliates, May 27, 1993. Quoted in Columbia Journalism Review Sept./Oct. 1993.

Hillary Clinton "believes there is and has been for a long time a wide and deep political conspiracy to get the President and that Ken Starr is the point man for that."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, January 27, 1998.

"I got myself in trouble last time I was on this program talking about that when I mentioned that Hillary Clinton may want to run for something. She may someday want to run for president or vice president; it wouldn't surprise me."
--Dan Rather on Larry King Live, January 14, 1999.

"Good Evening. The President and Mrs. Clinton came under new and strategically aimed political fire today on two fronts. Republicans raised new questions about First Lady Hillary Clinton in selectively leaked tapes from the congressional leadership on Capitol Hill--recordings of personal prison phone calls made by Mrs. Clinton's former law partner Webster Hubbell."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, May 1, 1998.

"Could you describe for me what you believe to be the responsibilities of the husband of a United States Senator?"
--Dan Rather to Bill Clinton on 60 Minutes II, March 31, 1999,

"Once a political lightning rod, today she is political lightning."
--Dan Rather on 60 Minutes II, May 26, 1999.

"Of all the allegations, accusations, charges made, what do you consider to be the most unfair attack?"
--Dan Rather to Hillary Clinton on 60 Minutes II, May 26, 1999.

Hillary Clinton proposed her abortive nationalized health care attempt:
"When you walked in, it was pretty clear you were excited, but also a little nervous. Am I right about that?"
"Next week begins the hard, really hard chore of trying to sell this to Congress and you'll be the lead-off witness. Are you nervous about that?"
"You've been working hard already, to introduce this plan to people, sell the plan to people. Are you having any fun with this or it is all just hard work? It looks to be very hard work."
--Dan Rather on 48 Hours, September 22, 1993.

"Is it possible, and I'm asking for your candid opinion, that when this gets through, whether it passes or not, that we will have reached a point when a First Lady, any First Lady, can be judged on the quality of her work?"
--Dan Rather on 48 Hours, September 22, 1993.

"There is growing controversy tonight, about whether the newly named independent counsel in the Whitewater case is independent or a Republican partisan allied with a get-Clinton movement."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, August 8, 1994.

"This woman has gotten a very bad rap, Hillary Clinton. It is true that she's smart. She didn't go to school just to eat her lunch."
--Dan Rather during 1992 election coverage.

"Hillary learned from her experience as architect of the...national health care reform, that progress toward universal health care must be made in incremental steps."
--Dan Rather in "Rather's Notebook" at the CBS Web site, July 11, 1999.
Note: Rather's implication seems to be that Clinton's proposal, which congressional Democrats rejected as too radical, is something for which to strive.

"The First Lady's Health Care Proposal failed, handily defeated by Republican opposition in Congress. But her influence on her husband -- and on millions of other Americans who admire her -- remains great."
--Dan Rather in his syndicated column, March 5, 1993.

"Do you know there are people who say that she [Hillary Clinton], like Winnie Mandela, gets too far out front, that it's not healthy politically for a woman to be so far out front?"
--Dan Rather interviewing Winnie Mandela on the CBS Evening News, April 28, 1994.

"The more than year-long investigation ended almost the way it began: A Republican offensive targeted at First Lady Hillary Clinton."
--Dan Rather, reporting the findings of the Senate in the White House Travel Office scandal, on the CBS Evening News, June 18, 1996.

"...First Lady Hillary Clinton targeted by leaks in the Republican Whitewater offensive."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, June 17, 1996.

"You don't think that what one newspaper called the, quote, 'wealthy hate Hillary Campaign' will in the end sink her [in her Senate bid]?
--Dan Rather to President Bill Clinton on the CBS Evening News, April 6, 2000.

"The agenda she lays out seems downright old-fashioned. She sees her work as focusing on children and families..."
--Dan Rather speaking of First Lady Hillary Clinton on 60 Minutes II, May 26, 1999.

"I respect you, Dan..."
--Hillary Clinton to Dan Rather on 60 Minutes II, May 26, 1999.

"God bless you. Thank you very much and tell Mrs. Clinton we respect her and we're pulling for her."
--Dan Rather with Connie Chung to President Clinton via satellite during CBS's annual affiliate meeting. May 27, 1993. print_file('footer'); ?>