So why didn't CBS's star anchor, Dan Rather, get to interview the president? During Bush 41's presidency, CBS News had the policy that "only Dan Rather interviews the president." But following an earlier confrontation Rather had with Bush "Sr.", that White House didn't want Rather either, and according to its press secretary, Marlin Fitzwater, "[W]e offered many interviews to CBS correspondents Bob Schieffer, Charles Kuralt, Randall Pinkston, Harry Smith, and others. All we wanted was someone who would be civil." Repeatedly CBS told them that only Dan Rather would interview Bush, but he never got to; and throughout the entire Bush presidency, Rather, the star anchor of a Big Three network, was embarrassed as being the only major reporter who was never able to sit down with the president of the United States.

This time around, George W. Bush was advised by his media relations team to have someone else do the interview, not Dan Rather, just as before. Scott Pelley says he spoke to "probably nine senior White House officials and spoke to the president twice before this decision was made." The officials were willing to hear what he had to say, especially because Pelley does not have a long history of strife with Republicans, including the current administration.

While the war in Afghanistan was going strong, Rather complained about Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. Central Command, saying that he "has been the least accessible of any U.S. commander with this many troops and this much responsibility in the history of the country. Saying that will probably eliminate me from ever getting an interview with him." Not only did he never get an interview with Franks, but while in Afghanistan, Rather complained about not being able to accomplish anything -- and even came home early -- because the military wouldn't cooperate with him. On Imus in the Morning, from a transcript provided by NewsMax.com, Rather told of his experience to radio host Don Imus:

"We did have some access problems, in fact, considerable access problems," he said of trying to learn new information while there. "I was really badly wanting to go with the Marines to their base down below Kandahar and for reasons that are still unclear to me, I wasn't able to do it." He suspected ulterior motives, lamenting that "we wasted two days trying to get there and it became clear that we were caught in some kind of, either massive foul-up -- which is always possible in the military -- or some political deal." He was told he could visit the base, "but when we got there, that turned out not to be the case." Then he claimed that "somebody somewhere put the kibosh on our going." After his comments about Gen. Franks, it's not a surprise. Eventually, Rather gave up and flew back to New York.

Another incident that pitted Rather against an official in the current Bush administration occurred when he accused, also on Imus in the Morning, Attorney General John Ashcroft of purposefully riding on private jets before September 11 because he knew - and didn't tell - that there was going to be a terrorist attack:

"If the attorney general is given information that convinces him, 'Hey, I don't want to be on any commercial airliners just now. I'm gonna take government planes everywhere.' If the attorney general was told that...then it raises a question: Why wasn't the public alerted?"

Obviously the administration was offended by these baseless remarks, and Ashcroft responded by saying he flew private jets because he had received personal death threats. Dan later claimed they also responded by attacking him personally: "The attorney general's people have been, you know, he's had some of his publicity agents call around newspapers and try to plant some negative stories. And, you know, that goes with the territory, I guess. But I'd thought he was bigger than that." Rather claimed Ashcroft was "trying to touch up some reporter he thinks has said the wrong thing, in this case, me."

Dan Rather's experiences with this administration are no different from any other Republican administration he's dealt with in his career, particularly Bush 41's. (Barbara Bush said years earlier, "George [husband] forgives to a fault, but he can never trust Dan Rather again.").

President Bush tried to send a message to reporters when he waved to them while brandishing a book by former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg, Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. His advisers told him to display it so that the gathered reporters and their colleagues and superiors back in the office could see that Bush and his administration are concerned and aware of the kind of reporting some journalists put out.

How did Dan Rather respond when asked about the book in the president’s hand?

"All I'm going to say about this is, you know, I'm just not going to react to any of that,"; he said, rejecting any of the moral questions brought up by Goldberg--as well as the president. "Life's too short to waste time denying that sort of stuff."

So why did the White House choose Scott Pelley over Rather? Because George W. Bush is as fond of Rather as his father was.

—Greg Sheffield