Local bloggers Roger L. Simon, Patterico, Hugh Hewitt and Little Green Footballs have been all over the CBS debacle and receiving varying levels of credit in the blogosphere. Simon, for one, has been claiming record high traffic during the run-up to Dan Rather and the network admitting they blew it. LGF was the first to re-create the suspect document in Microsoft Word and post it, showing how it could not have been typed during the Vietnam War. For some gleeful Danscam bloggers, their passion is obviously about helping Bush and hurting Kerry, or exorcising hoary partisan demons (Hewitt's remark last night that it's all much worse than a "third-rate burglary" makes me suspect he's one OC Republican who has been seething about Nixon's downfall for 30 years and now it's payback time). Patterico, however, ponders the knotty ethical question of whether a journalist who has promised anonymity to a source must stick to the deal if the source is a fraud. He argues yes, I say no; he posts some thoughtful discussion from journos.

NYT: Rather apologizes