Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales writes a very syrupy Rather tribute piece today, comically headlined “Dan Rather, Leaving by the High Road.” That’s funny, I thought he was leaving because he made a slimy, dirty-tricks, phony-documents “news” report trying to destroy President Bush’s re-election. Shales begins by touting Rather’s framed embroideries received from a nun – poetic, again, since Rather certainly embroidered on the Bush record – and goes downhill from there, including the notion that he’s “one of the few men over 60 who can successfully still wear jeans.” He concludes as if he’s granting Dan a knighthood: “Arise, Dan Rather, to gain thy dreams…” Shales should never again be allowed to claim someone has squandered their chance to ask a newsmaker the tough questions, because he clearly asked Rather nothing more than how sad he feels that his anchoring career was tragically cut short by the haters.

Of course, if you need a strong antidote after all that syrup, there’s always the less forgiving farewell of Brent Bozell.