CBS News Finally Comes Clean

The New York Times is reporting that CBS News is going to issue an announcement this week admitting they were misled by their sources on the Memogate (or RatherGate or FontGate or whatever your local announcer calls the story) documents. Apparently, despite the original claims, the documents were sent to CBS News anonymously aaided by a former National Guard officer named Bill Burkett. There has been considerable speculation about Mr. Burkett's political affiliations and whether he may have been the one who created the false documents. But as of now, it is unclear his exact role in this whole mess.

And now comes the inevitable next question. What does this mean for the career of Dan Rather, uber-anchor, and Mary Mapes, the producer who brought this story to him? At the very least, this probably should cause Mr. Rather to take a small break from reporting. If I were Rather, I would announce a "voluntary sabattical" until about mid-October which would allow him to return in time to report on the last weeks of the election, but would satisfy most who would otherwise be calling for his head.