In case you have any remaining doubts about whether Rathergate was innocent incompetence or deliberate sabotage, consider this list of names that CBS considered for their two-person post-scandal inquiry panel (ultimately chaired by Bush I AG Dick Thornburgh):

William Buckley

Robert Novak

Kate O’Beirne

Nicholas Von Hoffman

Tucker Carlson

Pat Buchanan

George Will

Lou Dobbs

Matt Drudge

Robert Barkley

Robert Kagan

Fred Barnes

William Kristol

John Podhoretz

David Brooks

William Safire

Bernard Goldberg

Ann Coulter

Andrew Sullivan

Christopher Hitchens

PJ O’Rourke

Christopher Caldwell

Elliot Abrams

Charles Krauthammer

William Bennett

Rush Limbaugh At the very bottom of the list, someone wrote in one more name. "Roger Ailes."

CBS’s explanation? That they needed to protect themselves from charges of liberal bias. Good one.

As I have said before: The news media are not simply trying to boost ratings – they are deliberately defending and advancing the interests of the GOP, because that’s where their financial interests lie. The Rather case fascinates me because it’s such a great case study of just how far a media corporation will go to help out Republicans. I can’t wait to hear more.