There were the pressures
of available
airtime, a source who doesn't want to be named, and an old - boy network in Texas that brags, but doesn't want to go on the record to contend with, but when the story aired on 60 MINUTES II, reported by veteran newsman Dan Rather,
during the 2004 presidential election, the reaction wasn't to the substance
of the story, but instead on the minutiae
of ancillary issues, and the credibility
of Mapes and Rather themselves, which led to personal attacks that had nothing to do with their professional competence.