This section is much smaller than its Republican counterpart. Besides including Rather's praises for the party (including a young Dan's proclamation of loyalty to the party), it displays his concern that the Democrats may be going too far to the Right.

For full coverage of Rather's keynote speech at a Democratic fund-raiser, see 2001 News.

"Rita, how worried are the Democrats about protests from some here that the party is running too far to the Right, particularly on welfare reform?"
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News to Rita Braver, August 25, 1996

Democrats, like Rather are loathe to admit that they are liberals. Conservatives believe this is because liberalism has a record of failure of which liberals are rightly ashamed. Liberals, on the other hand, blame marketing, believing that conservatives have succeeded in demonizing a noble word. Despite his manifest conflict of interest as a liberal who won't admit he is one, Rather decided to take a look at the issue:
DAN RATHER: What does it mean to be a liberal, and why did Democrats let self-described conservative Republicans define it for them? Stay here with us.[...]

Watch Rather and reporter Jim Axelrod as they promote liberal talk radio and blame conservatives for demonizing liberals. Choose Real or Windows Media formats.

Bill Clinton had finished giving his farewell speech at the Democratic National Convention:
"Good evening. President Clinton set the stage here last night then helped turn the spotlight today on Al Gore. They appeared together in the key battleground state of Michigan. This is part of this day's overall script and theme for the Democratic Convention television show: passing the torch of party leadership from Clinton to Gore and invoking the Kennedy legacy and the party's record of helping lower- and middle-income Americans. CBS's John Roberts covered the Clinton-Gore mantle transfer in Michigan."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, August 15, 2000.

"You said this morning that the party's message will focus on the needs and cares of the people. Now, how do you reconcile that with a President who has just signed a quote 'welfare reform bill' which by general agreement is going to put a lot of poor children on the street?"
--Dan Rather to Democrat Chris Dodd on the CBS Evening News, August, 1996.
Note: "General agreement" cannot possibly mean "the American people" because polls at the time (and currently as well) showed significant public support for the measure passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton.

DAN RATHER: On capitol hill, both parties have now picked their respective leaders for the incoming congress. CBS's Bob Schieffer reports their choices for House leaders indicate where there might be common ground and also where the political and ideological battle lines are being drawn.

Even though the big story in Washington was about the liberalism of the Democrats' House leader, Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer focused on the conservatism of the Republicans' second-in-command. Choose dialup or broadband (Windows Media).

BOB SCHIEFFER [voiceover]: It's official. Nancy Pelosi will head the House Democrats, the first time a woman has headed either party at the Capitol.
NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.): I didn't run as a woman. I ran, again, as a seasoned politician and experienced legislator. It just so happens that I am a woman.
SCHIEFFER: Maybe it's a sign of progress that gender wasn't an issue. For some Democrats, though, the issue was whether a San Francisco liberal like Pelosi would pull their party too far left.
PELOSI: I think it's such a stale characterization.
[On-camera, Schieffer nods]
It's not about confrontation. It's about finding common ground. But if we can't, we have--we come here for an honest debate of the issues. I hope we can do it in a very civil way.
SCHIEFFER [voiceover]: Republicans also have a new set of leaders. Speaker Dennis Hastert remains but the new majority leader is the bare-knuckle Texas conservative who led the fight to impeach Bill Clinton.
TOM DELAY (R-Tex., 1998 clip): He does not have the privilege to break the law.
SCHIEFFER: As some Democrats worry about drifting Left, some Republicans wonder if DeLay will push his party Right. At least one moderate Republican says, not to worry, DeLay has changed.
SHERWOOD BOEHLERT (R-N.Y.): It does mean that he has changed his modus operandi. He, too, is one who listens. He, too, is one who tries to build consensus.
SCHIEFFER: Tactics aside, DeLay has not backed off what he's for. The big tax cuts, welfare reform and hot-button social issues like a ban on human cloning and late-term abortions [sic] that Senate Democrats blocked this year.
[Graphic on-screen, video of Tom Delay on the left. On the right, a list with a Republican elephant in bottom-left corner : TOM DELAY MAJORITY LEADER
Supports:
-Tax Cuts
-Welfare Reform
-Ban on Human Cloning
-Ban on Late-Term Abortion]
DELAY: Most of the agenda is sitting on the desk of Tom Daschle. We are going to pick up and pass and put it on the President's desk.
SCHIEFFER: So, there will be plenty to argue about. But the indication at this point is that the differences will be over domestic issues, not national security.
PELOSI: We stand shoulder to shoulder, Democrats do, with the President in fighting terrorism wherever it exists.
SCHIEFFER (on-camera): And as we heard earlier from Senate leader Tom Daschle, with word that Osama is now alive. . . [looks at cue cards] the administration may get criticism from Democrats that they're not doing enough instead of--too much. Dan?
RATHER: Bob Schieffer reporting live tonight from the Capitol.
--Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer on the CBS Evening News, November 14, 2002.

While reporting on the contentious Georgia Senate race between Republican Saxby Chambliss and incumbent Democrat Max Cleland, CBS aired a slanted story tilted in favor of the Democratic incumbent. With 11 arguments aired in favor of the Democrat and five arguments in favor of the Republican, this television report constituted a "soft-money" issue ad, the kind that will be banned after this election.

In his story, Bob Schieffer repeatedly brought up the fact that Cleland served in Vietnam, reciting it four times throughout the piece as well as airing the Senator saying the same. Arguments in favor of the Democrat are purple and arguments in favor of the Republican are in green:

DAN RATHER: And then there’s that high-profile Senate race in Georgia. CBS’s Bob Schieffer went there and found the campaign is finishing down, dirty, and close.
BOB SCHIEFFER: From the tiny town of Plains to the streets of Atlanta, Georgia’s war hero Democratic senator, Max Cleland, is in the fight of his political life.
SENATOR MAX CLELAND (D-Ga., to crowd) Thank you. God bless you.
SCHIEFFER: Because President Bush is still the most popular politician in Georgia, and with control of the Senate at stake, he and the vice president have flown in repeatedly to campaign for Cleland’s Republican challenger, Congressman Saxby Chambliss.
Rep. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R-Ga., to voter): Saxby, old family name. Named after my granddaddy.
SCHIEFFER: Cleland has some headliners of his own, including the newest Nobel laureate.
FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER (to crowd): I love Max Cleland.
SCHIEFFER: But in a year when no real themes emerge, love has been rare in this one. Chandler’s forces put Osama bin Laden’s picture into one ad against Cleland, because Cleland didn’t support the president’s version of Homeland Security legislation.
COMMERCIAL: Max Cleland is just misleading.
SCHIEFFER: Chambliss has tried to make this a race about patriotism, who can best help the president fight the war on terrorism. But that’s not always an easy case to make against a man who lost three limbs in Vietnam.
CHAMBLISS (to Schieffer): You can’t run against Max Cleland, you run against Max Cleland’s record. I mean, Max is a nice guy, I’ve never said anything but that. But his voting record is so out of touch with the way a majority of Georgians think.
SCHIEFFER: Cleland, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, supports a different version of Homeland Security legislation and calls the attacks on him--- repulsive.
CLELAND (to Schieffer): I volunteered to defend my country 35 years ago, and served in the war in my generation. The individual that’s made those attacks on me never served in the American military at all.
SCHIEFFER: Cleland’s ads have been no gentler than Chambliss’s.
COMMERCIAL: The more you learn about Saxby Chambliss, the sicker you get.
SCHIEFFER: But it always comes back to who loves the country more, a veteran who lost his legs and an arm in Vietnam, and a non-Veteran who votes with the president.
CLELAND (to crowd): And I don’t have to prove my patriotism to anybody.
CHAMBLISS (to crowd): Nobody loves America more than Saxby Chambliss.
SCHIEFFER: Whoever’s love is greater, Cleland is believed to be slightly ahead. But it is so close, the outcome will probably depend on turnout. So close the president will make yet another visit to Georgia this weekend. Bob Schieffer, CBS News, Plains, Georgia.
--Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer on the CBS Evening News, October 30, 2002.

"But on the partisan level, the difference is this: the Democrats have put themselves at the vanguard of the shift in mores that is opening society to openly gay men and women. Maybe not to the extent that certain gay political leaders would like or demand, but the Democrats have staked out the cutting edge of the political center, at least, on these issues. In contrast, the Republicans are being dragged along -- and for a national party that seeks to be the dominant one, that's not a comfortable position to be in."
--Dan Rather in "Rather's Notebook" at the CBS Web site, April 18, 2000.

LETTERMAN: Speaking of politics and partisan politics, what was the deal, you had entertained at some sort of Al Gore function?
RATHER: Well, uh, yeah, no, it wasn't an Al Gore function. That's the only thing that would've made it worse.
LETTERMAN: Well, what the hell was it?
RATHER: I don't know myself. I made mistake. You know, the worst kind of mistake is when you know you make a really dumb mistake.
LETTERMAN: Right. I do that every night, right here.
RATHER: I haven't seen one. No, but I went to an affair that turned out to be a Democratic fund-raiser.
LETTERMAN: It was a fund-raiser? Now, you didn't know it was going to be a fund-raiser?
RATHER: I didn't know it was gonna be a fund-raiser. But when I got there, uh, I knew, and I probably should not--not probably, should have--just turned around and left, and I didn't.
--Dan Rather on the Late Show with David Letterman, June 7, 2001.

"The U.S. Justice Department announced new indictments today in the investigation of dirty political campaign money. [A] Thai businesswoman and another woman, were...charged with funneling almost $700,000 in illegal donations...mostly to the Democratic Party."
--Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, July 13, 1998.
Note: The use of the word "mostly" is dishonest journalism. According to the Washington Post, the donations of the Thai businesswoman (Maria Hsia) "include $328,500 in contributions to the DNC, as well as $295,000 to 11 state Democratic Party organizations. The rest went to the 1996 Clinton-Gore reelection effort and Democratic candidates including Sens. John Glenn [D-Ohio] and Edward Kennedy [D-Mass.] and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt." Thus, while all of the money didn't go to the DNC, all of it went to Democrats. By not mentioning this, viewers may have mistakenly assumed that Republicans also received her contributions.

"Bill Clinton's been running pretty hard to the right, so far that some Democrats now call him a 'Republicrat. Do you go that far?'"
--Dan Rather to Jesse Jackson at the Democratic National Convention of 1996.

"Delegates approved the Clinton-Gore center-of-the-road Democratic Party platform, trying to move the party closer to voters around the malls in America's suburbs."
--Dan Rather at the Democratic National Convention, July 14, 1992. print_file('footer'); ?>