An Interview with

Dan Rather

 by D. J. Herda

Dan Rather, the longtime anchor at the CBS Evening News who was forced to retire in disgrace following his use of a manufactured news source to denigrate then-president George W. Bush, found himself in hot water once again when, on the Chris Matthews Show on Sunday, March 7, he made a reference to President Obama and “watermelons.”

In an argument about the 2012 election, Rather was describing what he thinks Republicans will say and what “a lot of independents will buy.” Speaking from the viewpoint of an Obama critic, Rather said, “The Republicans will make a case and a lot of independents will buy this argument.

“Listen he just hasn’t been… look at the health care bill. It was his number-one priority. It took him forever to get it through and he had to compromise it to death. And a version of, ‘Listen he’s a nice person, he’s very articulate.’ This is what’s been used against him. But he couldn’t sell watermelons if…you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic.”

Naturally, Rather’s comment equating the nation’s first black president with selling watermelons stirred a lot of controversy. Some people insist it is a sign of Rather’s racial prejudice; others contend that it was simply taken out of context. Rather himself said that the phrase is an old Texas cliché that simply popped into his mind—no racial slur intended.

Obama said that he took no offense.

Even Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly announced on his cable show that he believed Rather simply made a poor choice of words but that he was not being intentionally racially offensive.

Still, knowing that Dan Rather has been at the heart of controversy in the past—before, during, and after his ascension to anchor at CBS news when he forced an aging Walter Cronkite to step down from the position—I decided to get at the heart of the matter by confronting the man personally to see if he really is racially biased.

D. J.: Dan, let’s talk for a moment about the watermelon remark…

Rather: Oh, Jeez. Can you believe that? I mean, as if I would actually say something racially prejudiced like that.

D. J.: Well, actually, you did say it. The questions is what you meant by it.

Rather: Look, B. G., anyone who knows me knows that I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body. Wop, Kike, Zipperhead, Wasp, Nigger, Doily Wearer, Spic—I treat them all the same. Every single person on the face of this earth is equal in my eyes, every single one is my friend. And that’s the way it should be. Everyone is the same. Except maybe for that Couric bitch, but that’s another story.

D. J.: I think you might have just done it again.

Rather: Oh, hell. I did use the wrong words again, didn’t I? But you know what I meant.

D. J.: I might know what you meant, but there are millions of Americans out there who aren’t so sure. How can you explain your watermelon comment to them so that they believe you weren’t disparaging the President of the United States?

Rather: Look, R. J., I don’t agree with everything that President Obama does. In fact, I don’t agree with anything he does. Let’s face it, he’s the first lame-duck president in American history who has a majority in the U.S. Senate, a majority in the House of Representatives, and is still only in his second year in office. You have to admit, the man is a little "dark."

D. J.: I beg your pardon?

Rather: Oh, oh, I see. No, I don’t mean “dark” as in the color of his skin. I just meant that Obama is a little “shaded” when it comes to his policies.

D. J.: Shaded?

Rather: You know, this interview stuff isn’t as easy as it appears on television. I think I’d rather be in the interviewer’s seat than being the one everybody’s taking pot shots at. (Grinning) Rather. Get it?

D. J.: Let’s get back to the watermelon comment, if we can.

Rather: Fine by me.

D. J.: Can you tell us why you chose that particular fruit to reference the president’s performance?

Rather: Well, LBJ, it’s not…I’ll tell you one reason I didn’t choose it, and that’s because everyone knows blacks eat a lot of watermelons, that’s just common knowledge.  But that’s not why I said it.  I said it because it’s an old Texas cliché, and for an old Texas boy, it’s just a comfortable thing to say, the first thing that pops into your head.  You know, like all the top bankers in the world are Jews because they’re tight with money or all the gangsters are Wops. It’s just a way of saying that, if you’re black and you can’t sell watermelons in the street, you’re in trouble, you’re in for a dark time.  And, if you just happen to be the nation’s first Afro-American president in history, you’re likely to get blackballed for your policy.

D. J.: Blackballed?

Rather: There. I think that clears it up.  Just an old Texas cliché, that’s all.  Nothing at all to do with blacks and their freakin' watermelons.

D. J.: Let me ask you another way: If the president of the United States were equally ineffective in his first 15 months in office but he was of Sicilian heritage instead of black, would you have said he couldn’t sell watermelons even if the state troopers flagged down the traffic?

Rather: Of course not, W. B.  Everybody knows that, if a Sicilian were president and were that ineffective in office, you’d use another old Texas cliché, one that people have used for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

D. J.: And what would that be?

Rather: He couldn’t sell meatballs even if the state troopers flagged down the traffic…

D. J.: Meatballs?

Rather: ...and then booked him for racketeering, money-laundering, and trafficking.

D. J.: Thanks, Dan. I’m certainly glad you cleared that up.

Rather: No problem, Y. L.
 

And I…am D. J. Herda. 

#     #     #

D. J. Herda is President of the American Society of Authors and Writers (http://amsaw.org), an organization made up of authors, writers, editors, publishers, agents, directors, producers, and other media professionals who rely upon the printed word in the creation of quality literature and entertainment.  He is a member of the Author's Guild, a former member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and a former member of the National Press Club.  He has published more than 80 books and several hundred thousand articles, short stories, columns, interviews, plays, and scripts.
 

- BACK -