Anatomy of a Forgery

The American Spectator ^ | 9-10-4 | Washington Prowler

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Anatomy of a Forgery

By The Prowler

Published 9/10/2004 12:09:06 AM

More than six weeks ago, an opposition research staffer for the Democratic National Committee received documents purportedly written by President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard squadron commander, the late Col. Jerry Killian. The oppo researcher claimed the source was "a retired military officer." According to a DNC staffer, the documents were seen by both senior staff members at the DNC, as well as the Kerry campaign. "More than a couple people heard about the papers," says the DNC staffer. "I've heard that they ended up with the Kerry campaign, for them to decide to how to proceed, and presumably they were handed over to 60 Minutes, which used them the other night. But I know this much. When there was discussion here, there were doubts raised about their authenticity." The concerns arose from the sourcing. "It wasn't clear that our source for the documents would have had access to them. Our person couldn't confirm from what file, from what original source they came from." The documents that CBS News used were not documents from any of Bush's personnel files from his time in the National Guard. Rather, CBS News stated that they were documents uncovered in the personnel files of Killian. That would explain why the White House or the Pentagon had never before released or even seen them. According to a Kerry campaign source, there was little gossip about the supposedly hot documents inside the office of the campaign on McPherson Square. "Those documents were not something anyone was talking about or trying to generate buzz on," says the staffer. "It wasn't like there were small groups of people talking about this as a bombshell. I think people here weren't sure what to make of it, because provenance of these documents was uncertain." A CBS producer, who initially tipped off The Prowler about the 60 Minutes story, says that despite seeking professional assurances that the documents were legitimate, there was uncertainty even among the group of producers and researchers working on the story. "The problem was we had one set of documents from Bush's file that had Killian calling Bush 'an exceptionally fine young officer and pilot.' And someone who Killian said 'performed in an outstanding manner.' Then you have these new documents and the tone and content are so different." The CBS producer said that some alarms bells went off last week when the signatures and initials of Killian on the documents in hand did not match up with other documents available on the public record, but producers chose to move ahead with the story. "This was too hot not to push. If there were doubts, those people didn't show it," says the producer, who works on a rival CBS News program. Now, the producer says, there is growing concern inside the building on 57th Street that they may have been suckered by the Kerry campaign. "There is a school of thought here that the Kerry people dumped this in our laps, figuring we'd do the heavy lifting on the story. That maybe they had doubts about these documents but hoped we'd get more information," says the producer. "If that's the case, then we're bigger fools than we already appear to be judging by all the chatter about how these documents could be forgeries." ABC News' political unit held a conference call at 7:00 p.m. Thursday evening to discuss the memo and its potential ramifications should the documents turn out to be a forgery. That meeting took place around the time that the deceased Killian's son made public statements questioning the documents' authenticity. According to one ABC News employee, some reporters believe that the Kerry campaign as well as the DNC were parties in duping CBS, but a smaller segment believe that both the DNC and the Kerry campaign were duped by Karl Rove, who would have engineered the flap to embarrass the opposition.

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[Redcoat LI]

Karl Rove, I knew this was him.

This tinfoil hat is comfy.

[Jim Robinson]

What did Kerry know and when did he know it?

[Jim Robinson]

It's all Bush's fault.

[mnehring]

I didn't realize there were enough hours in the day for Rove to do all of the things he is being accused of.

[John Jorsett]

The real tipoff that the memos were fakes was the fact that Killian emailed them ...

[John Jorsett]

The real tipoff that the memos were fakes was the fact that Killian emailed them ...

[hope]

Break out the popcorn... this is going to be a hoot wathcing the DNC and SeeBS blaming one another.

[mlbford2]

Story is breaking on my local news. And to think FreeRepublic broke this news.

[hole_n_one]

but a smaller segment believe that both the DNC and the Kerry campaign were duped by Karl Rove, who would have engineered the flap to embarrass the opposition.

That would be the DUmmies.

[Dr Snide]

So the Kerry campaign is being fingered for this, oh the humanity. You just know its Jennings clinging to the hope it was Rove, pathetic.

[mikegi]

... but a smaller segment believe that both the DNC and the Kerry campaign were duped by Karl Rove, who would have engineered the flap to embarrass the opposition.

I see that the DNC fax machine is in heavy action tonight. Got to get those marching orders out to their accomplices in the media.

[gobucks]

I've noticed that too ... "he's everywhere!!" (think Halo).

[1L]

I truly don't believe CBS cared about the authenticity of the documents. Any idiot can see that the signatures are erroneous, not to mention the different tones in the letters.

When I first saw the documents this morning, they didn't look like anything produced in the '70s or even the '80s to me. But I don't know if that was before or after I heard the forgery allegation. Either way, with 5-8 people looking at these documents, the minimum CBS should have had if they had intended to be objective, at least one or more persons would have realized these things were 3 dollar bills.

[Phsstpok]

but a smaller segment believe that both the DNC and the Kerry campaign were duped by Karl Rove, who would have engineered the flap to embarrass the opposition.

Oh, yes, please, follow this line. Make this the DNC talking point for the next news cycle. And every single person who spouts this will be wrapped up tightly in a nice coat with very long sleeves with buckles on the end. And new rooming will be provided, with very nice padding.

P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C

[Drango]

the DNC and the Kerry campaign were duped by Karl Rove, who would have engineered the flap to embarrass the opposition.

That's it! Bush knew and I'm gonna vote against him.

[Elkiejg]

Can we all spell Paul Begala - old bugeye forehead himself???

[Texasforever]

Karl Rove, I knew this was him.

Yep and he also saddled the DNC with Kerry. He is really devious.

[hauerf]

"both the DNC and the Kerry campaign were duped by Karl Rove"

In other words, this mess is GW Bush's fault, which is just as I suspected.

[mlbford2]

Local news in Houston NBC , has doc expert that says he is 1000% sure it is fake. Hold on, now another says it is fake. They are going off on these 'obviously' fake.