Very cool--and very poetic and philosophical--commentary from Fox News Channel's top-rated "Your World" host Neil Cavuto today, who devoted his "Common Sense" segment to the news that the infamous/legendary (depending on your point of view) former "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather will depart the network before his contract ends. Check out the transcript below, and the video:
There was a time when he was all that. So big, so quoted, so "it," that it seems hard to believe he has now become a "so what."
The Dan Rather era is over. Reports are he's leaving CBS and confirmed it himself minutes ago....not with the bang he came in, but with barely so much as a kind whisper on the way out.
CBS executives were apparently not interested in extending his contract...not for reporting...not for commenting...not for anything.
It's the Katie Couric era now. The Dan wagon has come and gone. And the man who staked his fame covering the assassination of President Kennedy has now been put out to his own grassy knoll.
It is a reminder, as if any of us needs it, that fame, like ratings, passes.
Dan had a good run. Nearly a quarter century in the Uncle Walter seat...covering everyone, being everywhere.
Politicians feared him. Lat night comics quoted him. Countless media blogs hated him. There was a time when Dan scored the biggest TV news contract ever. And now, no contract at all.
I'm not here to judge why things went the way they did for Dan, just that they did....just like they do for so many superstars who super-nova out...bright one minute, dark the next.
In a profession and a world that reminds us...the news comes and goes....even for the folks who tell it.
