Say What Now of the Day

Dan Rather joined George Stephanopoulos today on Good Morning America, where he doubled down on the 60 Minutes story in which he asserted that George W. Bush had deserted the Texas Air National Guard, and which got him fired from the network.

"We reported a true story. I am not at CBS now because I and my team reported a true story. It was a tough story, a story a lot of people didn't want to believe and it was subjected to a terrific propaganda barrage to discredit it."

Stephanopoulos asked Rather whether it was possible to know the entire truth without all of the documents.

"No, what story does anyone know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?. But we reported the truth and that is that President Bush -- later President Bush -- when he was in National Guard service, he was at least AWOL and we had a top general in the Army saying on the record he was a deserter. Now everybody makes mistakes. I made some, President Bush obviously made some. But because we reported that story, they put heavy pressure on the corporate entity and the corporate entity voted."

The disgraced journalist and former CBS Evening News anchor's new book, Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News, goes on sale Tuesday. [mediaite]