Dan Rather, best known for his 44 years as reporter and eventually anchorman for CBS News, was today's keynote speaker at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. He had a few things to say about the blogging, the internet, and the state of journalism in this country.

It's my third day at SXSWi and there's now a clear winner in the Best Panel category (congratulations to the other winners, as well). He receiving standing ovations on both his entry and exit—neither of which superfluous.

Considering that I was literally surrounded by bloggers transcribing his every word, I'm not sure I need to play reporter here (sidenote: he finds the phrase "Investigative Reporter" redundant). Instead, let me try to explain my, admittedly unexpected, awe. I don't get celebrity jitters normally, but halfway through his speech I couldn't help but feel like I was sharing the room with a real hero.

For several of the questions he was asked, he asked questions of his own. "Do we still believe that it's important that our news be independent? That we ask the follow-up question? Do we believe that our government belongs to us? Do we believe that democracy is about informing people and letting them decide?" One could have confused it for a presentation on crowd sourcing, but it was actually a challenge to the audience: take journalism seriously or lose it forever.

The man has credentials to talk. When he was the age of many of the bloggers in the room (early 30s) he was in Vietnam covering the war, headed to the middle of hurricanes to cover relief efforts, and part of the White House Press Corps by 33. He had the pair to go toe-to-toe with Nixon; most of us back off when someone leaves a rude comment.

We are, indeed, well on the path to losing journalism forever. The Couric Era of CBS Evening News, the program Rather just vacated, has for its current top stories: "Famous Alaskan Bears", "The Death of Captain America", "Blind Auto Mechanics", and "Sniffing Your Way to a Better Memory". Hardly Watergate.

It's the death of Captain America that might sum it up the best. Cap's creator, 93-year old Joe Simon, lamented the decision saying, "We really need him now". Joe Quesada, President of Marvel Comics disagrees. "That to me is why this story is worth telling... How do we get along without Captain America? Do we stand up? Do we step down?"

Ditto for Dan Rather.

Courage.