2004: Best. Year. Ever.

The Pajamahadeen are triumphant–Dan Rather is out.

This year just keeps getting better, and better, and better.

UPDATE: A number of readers, and much of the blogosphere, apparently considers Rather’s departure from the CBS Evening News, but not from CBS entirely, to be less than a triumph for Rather’s critics.

I scoff. I scoff.

This is a humiliating comedown for Rather. Yes, it’s a half-step. It’s CBS trying to finesse its way out from under a disgraceful fraud committed by the network’s most high-profile employee, but it is still a major, major defeat for CBS, and a crushing blow to Dan Rather. The CBS Evening News, even given plummeting ratings and a long slide in relevance, is still the crown jewel of CBS News. From its summit, Dan Rather has ruled the news division for a generation, effectively shaping a vast amount of the information that’s broadcast over the network.

He never–never–would have voluntarily given up that much power and prestige under pressure. No way in hell would Rather give his critics the satisfaction of seeing him removed from that chair if he had any prayer of holding on to it.

The “this is no big deal” spin is a lie. The king is dead, and the blogosphere killed him.