Dan Rather: 'Selling Watermelons' Comment on The Chris Matthews Show Not Racist

TV news icon Dan Rather used his column in The Huffington Post to discuss a comment he made during The Chris Matthews Show and the reaction to it on Twitter.

While discussing President Barack Obama and the nation's health care dilemma on Sunday's show, Rather used the analogy of "selling watermelons by the side of the road," and the news veteran, who currently hosts Dan Rather Reports on HDNet, started his column on HuffPost with, "I must confess that until recently, I had no idea what Twitter was." Highlights from HuffPost:

It started this past Sunday, when I appeared on Chris Matthews' syndicated talk show. I've known and respected Chris for many years, and I enjoy doing his show. I take the train down from my home in New York to Washington, D.C., and as I approach Union Station, my thoughts often turn to the years I spent covering the Johnson and Nixon White Houses. It was a turbulent time for the country and a formative period for me as a reporter and a young father.

New forms of journalism have emerged that were unimaginable when I lived in Washington. The online and cable world has allowed a freer exchange of ideas and more access to news. People can scour The New York Times (or the Times of India, for that matter) in real-time around the globe. If someone reads a fascinating article, he or she can share it easily with friends. When news breaks, eyewitnesses have a forum for relaying their observations and insights.
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