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Blogs v. 60 Minutes
Tech Central Station ^ | 09/10/04 | Jay Currie

Posted on 09/10/2004 8:18:20 AM PDT by TonyInOhio

This is an excerpt that captures the point:

One day. That was all it took for the ranks of citizen journalists to swarm and then thoroughly discredit a story which ran in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and on a network news magazine.

From the Kerry perspective a scandal involving forged documents is a disaster. Kerry had yesterday to get in front of the story and he missed that boat. Instead of being able to stay on message and trying to beat down the post convention pulse which has sent Bush several points ahead in various opinion polls, Kerry is likely to face questions about who was responsible for the forgeries. While it would be astonishing if anyone inside the Kerry organization had a hand in them, it is a question that will be asked. Moreover, the spectacle of Kerry announcing that his campaign organization and the Democratic Party had nothing to do with issuing those documents will occupy several critical news cycles and focus attention on character -- exactly where Kerry does not want to be.

From the perspective of the establishment media, this, too, is a disaster. CBS will have to explain: where did the documents come from? What were the bona fides of the source? Who was the source? Which expert looked at the documents? How closely?

Those are the starter questions.The more basic question is how could a rabble of bloggers, in one day, provide hard core proof of forgery when major news organizations took those documents at face value? Most fundamental of all, why did the New York Times, the Boston Globe and CBS allow themselves to be used for such a transparent attempt to slander President Bush? Out in the blogosphere there are a swarm of people rooting for the answers.


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cbslies; forgeries; freerepublicrules; killian
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To: TonyInOhio
". . .The newsman said he values the Internet as a research tool, but he finds some stories published on the Web -- scandals especially -- play too fast and loose with the facts.
"I am dumbfounded that there hasn't been a crackdown with the libel and slander laws on some of these would-be writers and reporters on the Internet. I expect that to develop in the fairly near future," he said.
        --Walter Cronkite - Aug. 16, 2004

I wonder how Walter feels about his boy wonder these days?

21 posted on 09/10/2004 8:37:32 AM PDT by haywoodwebb (American, Christian, Conservative, Negro . . . A return to the Party of Lincoln)
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To: TonyInOhio
Just a thought... since CBS has shown themselves to be without morals, there is a way they could get out of this still - and it may be the goal of the DNC source of these forgeries.

1. Admit the documents posted on the Internet were "sexed up" to look more authentic.

2. Produce the "actual" documents which are word-for-word the same, but this time in much better visible condition (and this time forged on an actual IBM Selectric).

3. Make sure this new set of forgeries can pass a document examination by a 8th grader.

I think that CBS delaying their retraction may have some thinking along this line. If this were the case, it would be the double-switch and elevate the charges against Bush to a more tuned in audience.

Just a thought. Carville and Begala are not stupid, although they may look it.
22 posted on 09/10/2004 8:38:07 AM PDT by safisoft (Give me Torah!)
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To: 1Old Pro; TonyInOhio

> CBS news should fire Dan Rather ...

Naw, they can keep his mug on the TV as a warning to
the handful of gullible viewers still watching.


23 posted on 09/10/2004 8:39:37 AM PDT by Boundless
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To: TonyInOhio
While it would be astonishing if anyone inside the Kerry organization had a hand in them, it is a question that will be asked.

"Astonishing"?

Anatomy of a Forgery

excerpt:

"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.

24 posted on 09/10/2004 8:40:30 AM PDT by cyncooper (We're mad as Zell and we're not going to take it anymore!)
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To: TonyInOhio

CBS kind of whacked the hornet's nest with this "story", didn't they? It may have taken weeks to let the truth filter out on the authenticity of the "documents" quoted, but the first known glaring error was the wrong type font - These were obviously a type font NEVER found on any typwriters from that era. In fact, these were Word document fonts, and the memos were composed on a word processor. Superscripts are a highly unlikely enhancement on typewriters, and certainly not reduced size font superscripts.


25 posted on 09/10/2004 8:40:43 AM PDT by alloysteel
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To: Maria S
I hate to rain on the parade, but I'm guessing MSM will avoid asking very many questions, and not ask Kerry or his group at all.

American Spectator ran a story last night about the DNC and Kerry Campaign complicity in all this. Evidently the docs were passed around between those two groups before being handed off to CBS.

This, IMO, will eventually come out because CBS will be pressured to reveal the source of the docs. Fox isn't the only MSM outlet chasing this--ABC smells blood as does the Washington Times/Post et.al.

26 posted on 09/10/2004 8:40:58 AM PDT by randog (What the....?!)
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Comment #27 Removed by Moderator

To: TonyInOhio

Why did bloggers (and FR in particular) jump on this with a vengeance? Because:

1) We did NOT spend the last few decades watching only the pablum that comes from CBS and other propagandists; and

2) We understand some dimensions of document forensics -- enough to know there is a mountain of evidence in what CBS passed off as aged docs.


28 posted on 09/10/2004 8:42:58 AM PDT by Tax Government (Before there is faith, there must be hope.)
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To: TonyInOhio
This whole election cycle is being influenced by forces outside of the MSM and the liberal elite establishments. They don't like it but they can't change it.

I'd look for a flurry of law suits against Freerepublic and other bloggers for using copyrighted materials, etc. The only way that the left can win is to silence the growing majority of people in this country who question their authority and their loyalty.

29 posted on 09/10/2004 8:43:44 AM PDT by VoteHarryBrowne2000 (We must fight the Black Veil of Islamic Fascism!)
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To: TonyInOhio
"The spacing is not just similar -- it is identical in every respect. Notice that the date lines up perfectly, all the line breaks are in the same places, all letters line up with the same letters above and below, and the kerning is exactly the same. And I did not change a single thing from Word's defaults; margins, type size, tab stops, etc. are all using the default settings. The one difference (the "th" in "187th" is slightly lower) is probably due to a slight difference between the Mac and PC versions of the Times New Roman font, or it could be an artifact of whatever process was used to artificially "age" the document. (Update: I printed the document and the "th" matches perfectly in the printed version. It's a difference between screen and printer fonts.)"
30 posted on 09/10/2004 8:44:41 AM PDT by js1138 (Speedy architect of perfect labyrinths.)
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To: haywoodwebb

If Walter likes "the cause" he approves of playing fast and loose with the facts, despite that quaint quote. He just doesn't like it when real investigations uncover dem/lib skullduggery.


31 posted on 09/10/2004 8:45:48 AM PDT by cyncooper (We're mad as Zell and we're not going to take it anymore!)
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To: safisoft

I think you are right.

The stonwalling is a delay to claim "a truth" somewhere as they spin a truth.

This will be a crisis when the advertisers start calling. So, who is up to freep a few advertisers about their support for 60 minutes fabrications.


32 posted on 09/10/2004 8:47:07 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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To: TonyInOhio

There is a GREAT point inside this article. Kerry and his campaign are sitting silent this morning.

WHY?

Any, and I mean, ANY competant campaigner would be positioning themselves for the fallout from memo-gate. Kerry and his people are completely silent. This is a FATAL delay.

As soon as the word "forgeries" was floated on the networks, Kerry's people should have been staking out their position that "as far as we know, these are genuine." They haven't caveated anything.

Right now, Kerry's camp is THE NUMBER ONE SUPSECT for a forgery. The silence is deafening.


33 posted on 09/10/2004 8:49:12 AM PDT by Bryan24
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To: Made in USA
Dan Rather Memogate
34 posted on 09/10/2004 8:53:25 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Charter member of the VRWC - and proud of it.)
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To: cyncooper

As Sean likes to say...CHECK MATE!


35 posted on 09/10/2004 8:54:25 AM PDT by halosfan2002 (End the Patriot Act...Kill all terrorists!!)
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To: cyncooper

I just heard McAwful going on about how the forgeries didn't matter and the real issue is that the President lied! We're going to have to get these boys up on criminal charges I guess.


36 posted on 09/10/2004 8:57:43 AM PDT by claudiustg (Go Sharon! Go Bush!)
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To: 1Old Pro
Let me respectfully disagree. Rather should be thoroughly humiliated and humbled. He should then be left as a monument to left-wing media arrogance; an object of scorn, and an object lesson to those who would violate the public trust.
37 posted on 09/10/2004 9:00:48 AM PDT by capitan_refugio
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To: TonyInOhio

The problem with the Ancient Media is that they are so used to people in America only listening to them.

While they have been lulled into their left leaning complacency, the Warriors of the Right have been gaining ground and tunnelling under their positions.

This recent fiasco at CBS has a parallel in history. The battle of the Crater at Petersburg.

Union troops from the mining states tunnelled under the Confederate positions and detonated a huge mine.

However, unlike the Confederate Soldiers, CBS has not been able to and will not be able to mount an effective defense for the follow on forces.


38 posted on 09/10/2004 9:02:53 AM PDT by Leatherneck_MT (Goodnight Chesty, wherever you may be.)
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To: Cicero
Why? Because they fake and lie like this practically on a daily basis, and they have gotten used to getting away with it.

Yep. Exactly. There are numerous examples of this "Pravda in America." AP reports that the audience booed and Bush did nothing to stop it. Lengthy pieces are done regarding Kerry's Vietnam record as contested by the Swiftees, but none of the articles manage to get to the nub of the argument.

None of this is an accident. It is deliberate deception on the American public.

39 posted on 09/10/2004 9:07:51 AM PDT by Cboldt
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To: haywoodwebb
". . .The newsman said he values the Internet as a research tool, but he finds some stories published on the Web -- scandals especially -- play too fast and loose with the facts. "I am dumbfounded that there hasn't been a crackdown with the libel and slander laws on some of these would-be writers and reporters on the Internet. I expect that to develop in the fairly near future," he said. --Walter Cronkite - Aug. 16, 2004

Translation: Establishment-types will push for limitations of free speech on the internet using lawsuits as the vehicle to frighten the little people into silence.

40 posted on 09/10/2004 9:12:38 AM PDT by JOAT
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