The American Spectator

p> IT’S PERSONAL NOW br> It is now open warfare within the halls of CBS News in New York, as the network’s uberanchor, Dan Rather , attempts to salvage some modicum of respect in the wake of a growing forged documents scandal. /p>

According to a CBS News producer operating out of the network’s 57th Street facilities, Rather and his supporters now believe the controversy surrounding the four discredited Texas National Guard memos has been engineered by the Bush campaign.

“All you have to see to understand this is the report that John Roberts did on Bush’s appearance at the National Guard convention Tuesday,” says a CBS News producer. “Rather’s guys are now going after the president of the United States in a way probably no news organization has ever done before. This is now deeply personal to them.”

On Tuesday night, Roberts, who some CBS insiders believe is in line to replace Rather in the anchor chair upon his retirement, reiterated the network’s defense, saying that CBS continues to stand by its reporting on Bush’s National Guard records.

Roberts, using a tone of voice that appeared to mock Bush’s appearance before the National Guard Association, reported that Bush “barely mentioned his service” today, and that the president was attempting to turn the controversy about his Guard service away from the questions 60 Minutes had raised to “those asking them.”

Roberts filed his report before ABC News blew the investigation wide open by reporting that at least two of the experts CBS used to verify the authenticity of the memos either could not or would not do so.

“In the end, it probably doesn’t matter,” says the CBS News producer. “We’re sunk. Our reputations have been impugned, and if we didn’t look like we were shilling for Kerry a week ago, we look like we’re trying to at least protect a source who gave us these documents who might be supportive of Kerry or at least the Democratic Party.”

p> WILL HE OR WON’T HE? br> Sen.