Dan Rather is the sphinx of our time, and his riddle is “Kenneth, what is the frequency?”

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2001/12/0075777

We spoke briefly in class about the links between one of my favorite authors, Donald Barthelme and Dan Rather, a newsman about whom I have constructed no particular opinion (except that he descends into temporary madness during election night coverage, erupting into baffling word salads that frighten all but he most hardened psychiatric professionals). The article about it in Harpers is linked above.