Newcomer on the Hailey Connection (Rathergate Alert)

Little Green Footballs ^ | 10/7/04 | Charles Johnson

[freespirited]

Wired News comes out clearly in favor of Utah state professor David Hailey in an article portraying him as a victim of a “mob:” Wired News: Prof Pursued by Mob of Bloggers. Hailey is the professor of creative writing who created an “analysis” of the fraudulent CBS Killian memos, arguing against all evidence that a typewriter could have produced them even though Hailey’s own examples are not typewritten.

Now Dr. Joseph M. Newcomer, a typography expert who holds several patents on desktop publishing technology, has drafted an absolutely crushing review of David Hailey’s work: The Hailey Connection.

Dr. Newcomer emailed me to tell me about his peer review of Hailey’s paper, and gave permission to publish his remarks about it:

<<<... Essentially the paper is poor science, as exhibited by poor methodology, a tendency to leap from unwarranted assumptions to foregone conclusions, and assertions stated without substantiation, many of which are contradicted by actual examination of the documents, or of Word. And I state it is a “peer review”, which it is. I gather that people at USU seem to think the blogosphere is inhabited by people unqualified to comment on the lofty work of a university professor. As a PhD, former university professor, and still current teacher, I feel eminently qualified to be a peer reviewer of this work. Had I been an editor of a journal, I would have rejected it very, very quickly because of its poor methodology. But given that I have been told by some people that CBS is now pointing to his work as a vindication of their position, I felt that I should well and truly thoroughly examine every assertion, every conclusion, and the entire methodology for validity. I see a very, very, very, very poor study, which quite likely would never have made it past the editor of a refereed journal.>>>

Newcomer’s refutation of Hailey’s study may come in handy, because judging from this article in the Dallas Observer, CBS News is probably going to try to use Hailey’s sloppy work in their defense.

CBS News didn’t return calls for comment, and producer Mary Mapes declined to discuss Hodges’ charges.

<<< “I can’t, I just can’t,” she says. But she did forward a study by Utah State University Associate Professor David Hailey disputing the contention that the memos were created on a word processor using digital type rather than a ‘70s-era typewriter—the key challenge to their authenticity. “I really believe they are not digitally produced,” Hailey says. “I’m not saying that they’re authentic. I’m saying they were probably typewritten. That doesn’t make them authentic. But it does take CBS off the hook a little bit.”>>>

[Unam Sanctam]

I’m saying they were probably typewritten.

The memos were written on Microsoft Word -- any contemporary elementary school student could tell you that. A professor of "creative writing" indeed.

[freespirited]

I’m saying they were probably typewritten.

And I'm saying that you have to be an intellectual to believe such nonsense. No ordinary man could be such a fool. --George Orwell

[Continental Soldier]

CBS declined to comment and Mary Mapes declined to discuss. LOL Doesn't that tell us all something? !

[backhoe]

60 Minutes to Infamy- those forged memos and The Shot Heard Round the World
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1211904/posts