FNC's Brian Wilson: "Dan was the man"

I was really impressed by this, because Fox News "Weekend Live" anchor Brian Wilson is a stealth poet in the way he sums up the themes of respect, ambition, and appreciation in one's chosen field in a few well-chosen Texas words. You have to read his "Wilson Watch" appreciation of Dan Rather, so recently and ignomiously drop-kicked by CBS:

When I began my television career in Texas, I didn't have much formal education. I learned by studying the television broadcasters I admired. As best I could, I tried to absorb Brinkley's acerbic wit, Cronkite's authority, Kuralt's gift for writing. The list of those from whom I have stolen goes on and on, but the guy I watched most closely was this pistol of a reporter on CBS named Rather. There was something about the way he addressed the camera — a focus and an intensity that grabbed your attention. When he was on the screen you could not look away. Like you, I watched his daring reports from Vietnam — his bold coverage of the Nixon White House — and who could forget those take-no-prisoner "60 Minutes" pieces he turned over the years.

I devoured his book, "The Camera Never Blinks." My heart raced each time I read his account of what it was like to be a reporter on the scene in Dallas on the day that President Kennedy was assassinated. In my mind, Dan was the man. I vowed that, like Dan Rather, I would one day become a Washington correspondent for a major news organization...

Read on...

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