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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[GrandmaPatriot]

I think it was Wesley Clark at the behest of Hillary.

[Cboldt]

Bottom line ... this helps hillary for 2008, once again.

Well, I'm not so sure it helps the DEM party at all, and also not sure that it helps Hillary!. Depends on where the public affixes blame.

It hurts Kerry in any event, because this story takes over and he can't get his message out.

If the mud sticks to the DEM party as a whole, it won't matter who is on the ticket come November, that candidate will not get a majority of the electoral college.

Kinda funny, but I bet "name to be chosen" on the DEM ticket would pull more votes than Kerry would. And I still think Kerry will NOT be on the ticket. I am not sure if Hillary! will step in, but there really is no downside if she does. She won't be tainted with a loss, because she didn't get a chance to run.

[nopardons]

bttt

[southernnorthcarolina]

An unknown Kerry operative composes the forgery on his computer:

[swheats]

From Bush's perspective...money can't buy this kind of screwup.

He must have an angel watching over him. He did say something about an angel in the whirlwind directing this storm...who knew!

[okie01]

I hope they don't try to pin this on Bobby Hodges!

A CBS spokesman has named Hodges as one of their "authorities" who "authenticated" the documents. Evidently, by confirming that they were representative of Killian's thoughts concerning the matter...

[Torie]

Of course he's beyond a reasonable doubt dead. That means 95%+ odds.

[Howlin]

So I read; they read them to him over the phone.

[ScottFromSpokane]

It's good to be a Republican.

[gobucks]

"And I still think Kerry will NOT be on the ticket."

One can only hope for that outcome. I really doubt it, but if it came true, oh how keystone cops it would make the democratic party look.

No, Kerry is simply a lamb, bleating loudly on the way to a very large electoral college defeat. Hillary is nodding w/ approval, and will hold her first fundraiser on Nov 3, 2004.

[Deb]

It had to be someone from Texas.

[goldstategop]

Karl Rove is Dan Rather's friend - he made sure Dan set this up to discredit Kerry. This is the new DU spin.

[Casloy]

I hear CBS is filing an FOIA and demanding all the e-mails Bush sent to his commanding officer in 1972. CBS says the revelations will be shocking.

[jbstrick]

Is it me?????

This may be VERY significant, The Kerry campaign was DIRECTLY involved in this.

[Barnstormer]

"The oppo researcher claimed the source was "a retired military officer."

Wesley Clark, perhaps....."

Was this former military officer a tall, horse-faced goof who couldn't quit telling him how heroically he served in 'Nam?

[NormsRevenge]

[Hattie]

It's a difficult task but I'd have to say Heinz Kerry. After her weeks of silence she comes back insulting folk who doesn't agree with her husband.

You mean you don't appreciate being referred to as the "common people"?

[misterrob]

Hah, winners figure out how to win. The Pats stuffed James on the goal line last year, they picked off Manning a bunch of times in the AFC Championship game and they forced turnovers tonight.

And besides, Laura Bush knows a winner when she sees one.

[tubebender]

I wonder how cBS RADIO News will play this in the morning. I wanted to drown the radio this morning over their staged glee of the "Memos".

How do you think the 60 minutes sponsors are taking all of this or are they even aware?

[Travis McGee]

They will be. This is a story that Joe Sixpack can grasp, no matter how the Old Media spins it out.