Posted on 09/09/2004 5:58:04 PM PDT by 11th_VA
Washington, DC, Sep. 9 (UPI) -- The Cybercast News Service reported Thursday documents casting doubt on the U.S. president's national guard service might be fakes.
CNS, an Internet-based news organization affiliated with a conservative media watchdog group, said the 32-year-old documents used by CBS to cast "a negative light on President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard, may have been forged using a current word processing program."
The news organization said three independent typography tests indicated "they were suspicious of the documents" because they used a modern Microsoft Word font feature that was not available in 1972 or 1973.
The documents were featured Wednesday on "60 Minutes II" and allegedly came from the personal files of former Bush squadron Cmdr. Jerry B. Killian, now dead.
CBS will not say how it obtained them. John Collins, the chief technology officer of Bitstream, Inc., cited the use of a superscript "th" in one document as a reason to be suspicious. "That would not be possible on a typewriter or even a word processor at that time," Collins said. "It is a very surprising thing to see a letter with that date (May 4, 1972) on it.
There's no question that that is surprising. Does that force you to conclude that it's a fake? No. But it certainly raises the eyebrows."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Furthermore, looking at the memo, others have noted that the wordwrap of a manual typewriter is different than a word processor.
But to analyze this facet more specifically, MSWORD wraps the current word when the end of a word passes the right margin, whereas a person typing manually finishes the word he is typing when the right-margin bell rings, and then does a carriage return. The net effect of the manual typewritten style is that, if one draws a vertical line at the bell-margin, that line should go through (intersect) the last word of every line of text.
Clearly, from the 1 AUG 1972 memo, NO SUCH VERTICAL LINE CAN BE CONSTRUCTED THAT INTERSECTS THE LAST WORD OF EVERY WRAPPED LINE OF TEXT!
For example, in paragraph 3, on a typewriter, we have to assume the right-margin bell rang while typing the word "and" on the 1st line. Yet, if that was the case, then on paragraph 2, the margin bell would have rang while typing the word "orders", and the subsequent word "for" should have appeared on the next, not the same, line.
Remember the billing records that disappeared and then reappeared in Hillary's room at the White House a year or two later?
It took them that long to get expert forgeries to replace the originals.
But they can access much better forgers than did this sloppy work. So, if they were involved, it was deliberately done to expose itself as a forgery.
Personally, I think the authors may be the same guys that made up the news release about some organization of historians analyzing the IQ's of Presidents and listing all the Dems on top and all the Reps on the bottom with GWB having a 93 IQ.
They wanted to see how fast the biased media would snap it up and report it as fact without checking.
This could be a lark done by some guys who are repeating the same trick to expose media bias. The forgery is so bad that that is the most likely explanation.
Now the only way CBS can defend its honor is to say that these are computer typed copies of the original, that they have seen the originals and the originals have been vetted.
But then they'll have to release the originals or be laughed off the planet.
Either way, it is going to be a field day tomorrow.
Well, at least we know who Jerry Killian will be voting for this election...
Can you make a living knowing this stuff?
Elementary, my dear Lucky.
A-1 graphic!
Pure comedy. LOL!
Well said.
Well done.
A classic!
That sumb*tch is surely ready for the dog track and early bird specials. I just never want to hear him or see him ever again. Even Imus threw him overboard about a year ago.
< Now the only way CBS can defend its honor is to say that these are computer typed copies of the original, that they have seen the originals and the originals have been vetted. >
There is no good reason to make computer copies of any alleged originals in this instance; and if there were ANY asserted good reason, it was incumbent upon CBS to announce this at the outset - otherwise: there is an indicated intent to deceive.
I would love having a picture of Dan Rather's perp walk on my screen saver.
That is awesome!
You couldn't have asked for a better day than today.... I think the lemmings on DU are on suicide watch.
I'm not ex-military so maybe one of the military guys can answer this, but who ever heard of a fighter wing operating out of a PO Box?
CBS NEWS executives have launched an internal investigation into whether its premiere news program 60 MINUTES aired fabricated documents relating to Bush National Guard service, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
"The reputation and integrity of the entire news division is at stake, if we are in error, it will be corrected," a top CBS source explained late Thursday.
The source, who asked not to be named, described CBSNEWS anchor and 60 MINUTES correspondent Dan Rather as being "shell-shocked" by the increasingly likelihood that the documents in question were fraudulent.
Rather, who anchored the segment presenting new information on the president's military service, will personally correct the record on-air, if need be, the source explained from New York.
And to add insult to injury...it was pointed (no pun intended) out on another thread that the line spacing is 13 points....which is NOT available on a typewariter.
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