Posted on 09/11/2004 2:29:46 AM PDT by somerville
Someone should hire Don Foster, the literary forensics expert at Vassar College who was able to determine among other things that Joe Klein was the author of "Primary Colors" and that Ted Kaczynski wrote the Unabomber Manifesto. Have Foster compare the memo to other things that Killian has written. He could determine if this is the type of language and verbal style that Killian used. Foster is also an expert on phraseology and could tell us if words like"feedback" were commonly used back then
The meltdown is coming expert or not.
The "experts" will all want the original before they're willing to make a definitive conclusion.
Since this is a fraud, there will be no original. There can't be one or the fraud is further exposed for what it is. Copies provide no hard physical evidence. The original would.
If the old media establishment doesn't come down on Rather really hard, and with honor, intellectual honesty and truth, their credibility will be even further down the toilet than it is.
"The "experts" will all want the original before they're willing to make a definitive conclusion".
Actually, every expert that I have watched in the last two days has stated that you only need the original to prove AUTHENTICITY, but a copy is 100% reliable to prove a document a FORGERY! :-)
LLS
Except if you can prove CYA or Feedback was not used before a certain date you don't need originals.
Great suggestion, but I doubt anyone of consequence will pursue it.
The media has chosen the same line they did on the Swift boat stories. They will cover this from several angles...but NOT the one angle that would make a difference.
In the Swift boat story they could have kept up a drumbeat for Effin to release ALL his military records until he had no choice but to relent. They wrote about everything BUT that.
In the CBS case, they will call it a draw when their experts disagree with Dan's "expert". The big papers and networks should have been enraged by Dan's assertion that HE could rely on "expert" examination of HIS COPIES, but others' efforts were unreliable...because they're working from...COPIES. There should have been an immediate explosion of demands for CBS to make their best evidence available for outside review. But we didn't hear it.
Just like their avoidance of demanding Kerry sign Form 180, the MSM will not pursue the only tactic that would pin CBS down.
In his line of work, Foster doesn't need the original document to determine authenticity. His methodology is to study the language and writing style. Someone should contact him - he is very very good.
See above reply by me. I just joined today so I haven't quite figured out the system here yet.
Anyway, Foster doesn't need the original documents to verify authenticity. He certainly didn't need it to nail Joe Klein on "Primary Colors." He does it all by studying the language and writing style and vernacular, etc.
The Old Media is dead. Love live the New Media.
Long live. But I love it, too.
This is why CBS insists they don't have the originals. God forbid some literary forensic expert get their hands on them. But never fear, somewhere in a dark basement, a RAT operative is tearing open a ream of thirty year-old paper and wrestling with an old Royal bought at a yard sale.
They can dig up all the old Royals, Underwoods and Composers they can find. But they'll never replicate the memos CBS released. We know that's impossible.
No, no, no. A literary forensics expert doesn't need the originals. Such an expert is interested in the words and phrasing; the vocabulary, writing style, the "voice." You could give them a brand new trascription you typed out in, say, Microsoft Word. They don't try to determine the mechanics of the writing process, just the author.
As I said, literary forensics expert Don Foster doesn't need to see the original memo. He comes to his conclusions by studying the language and writing style. He cracked the Joe Klein case that way. Someone has got to hire this guy, because it would be a piece of cake for him to figure out. Much easier than that Shakespeare case he cracked.
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