Posted on 09/10/2004 4:47:25 PM PDT by gopwinsin04
Dan Rather came out swinging tonight, but so far it looks like he is just shadow boxing with himself.
We did learned the name of his forensics guy, Marcel Manley.
My mini google tells me that they guy is not that impressive. He has a few self published books that I found.
Mostly he is a 'handwriting expert' and he has no apparent skills at looking at the rest of the document.
I also found that he is apparently behind that story that Kurt Cobain's suicide note was bogus and that he was actually murdered.
Prediction: CBS is going to get nailed on this guy.
UPDATE: This is interesting..seems Matley also vouched for the credibility of the Vince Foster suicide note!
The documents this fellow examined were not originals.
If they were CBS would not have said: . . . . . AND ARE FAR REMOVED FROM THE DOCUMENTS CBS STARTED WITH.
CBS would have simply stated we worked with the originals perhaps like so: AND ARE FAR REMOVED FROM THE ORIGINALS OF THE DOCUMENTS CBS STARTED WITH. They didn't. So we are now faced with only 1 question, were the documents copies or copies of copies?
CBS could easily have addressed this issue. They didn't and I therefore contend they have to be copies of copies.
The source of the documents obviously wishes to remain anonymous but there was a way for the source to provide CBS with absolute certainty the documents were copies of originals. All that had to be done was to take the originals and copies to a Notary Public and have the photocopies certified as copies of the originals. The Notary Public would have used his or her seal on the copies. CBS could have then copied the the Notarized copies blocking out the Notary Public's stamp, signature, etc
If this had been done CBS would be able to state and prove CBS's expert was looking at either a first or second generation photocopy (Father = Notarized 1st photocopy, son = Notarized information blocked out on 2nd photocopy). CBS's Dan Rather did not attempt in anyway to clarify whether we were looking at a copy or a copy of a copy. They did show copies during the broadcast. No Notary Public information was on any of the documents. My conclusion is the documents are copies of copies, 2nd generation copies at best.
Also, and this is extremely important, this fellow (Marcel) is a handwriting expert. He did not examined the typing on the documents, he examined only the signatures on the documents therefore Marcel's opinion on authenticity is limited to the signatures. The signature is not what is being challenged it is the typing. Marcel offers no opinion on the typing.
Let's see where it goes.
Expert Cited by CBS Says He Didn't Authenticate Papers
By Michael Dobbs and Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 14, 2004; Page A08
The lead expert retained by CBS News to examine disputed memos from President Bush's former squadron commander in the National Guard said yesterday that he examined only the late officer's signature and made no attempt to authenticate the documents themselves.
"There's no way that I, as a document expert, can authenticate them," Marcel Matley said in a telephone interview from San Francisco. The main reason, he said, is that they are "copies" that are "far removed" from the originals.
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