Down goes Rather! Down goes Rather!
(photo from www.jellotown.com)
Posted on 09/13/2004 7:39:52 PM PDT by jhouston
Edited on 09/13/2004 8:04:19 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
The lead expert retained by CBS News to examine disputed memos from President Bush's former squadron commander in the National Guard said yesterday that he examined only the late officer's signature and made no attempt to authenticate the documents themselves.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Wow. This is THE definitive MSM article so far. They've taken the docs apart and found lots of the inconsistencies that Freepers found!
And Laura Bush is now commenting!!
"Meanwhile, Laura Bush became the first person from the White House to say the documents are likely forgeries. "You know they are probably altered," she told Radio Iowa in Des Moines yesterday. "And they probably are forgeries, and I think that's terrible, really." "
The Fat Lady isn't singing yet,
but the snowballs are getting soft.
More:
"A detailed comparison by The Washington Post of memos obtained by CBS News with authenticated documents on Bush's National Guard service reveals dozens of inconsistencies, ranging from conflicting military terminology to different word-processing techniques.
The analysis shows that half a dozen Killian memos released earlier by the military were written with a standard typewriter using different formatting techniques from those characteristic of computer-generated documents. CBS's Killian memos bear numerous signs that are more consistent with modern-day word-processing programs, particularly Microsoft Word. "
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is really interesting, at least to me, to see the "bubble time" involved in this story. I define "bubble time" as the time it takes to get from Free Republic up to the MSM. Right now, it appears to be about 4 days.
"I am personally 100 percent sure that they are fake," said Joseph M. Newcomer, author of several books on Windows programming.
This is in the frigging WASHINGTON POST.
Rather is finished.
Exactly. I sent Dan this e-mail:
"You stupid as*. Anyone could tell those documents were a fake. This is probably a Carl Rove plot. Whatever you do, do not admit your mistake until after the election. You probably just cost us this election. Hang in there for a few more weeks."
Dear God, when will Dan Rather just admit his monumental mistake and get it over with! By dragging this out, he's just becoming the poster boy for dumb journalism. It's like watching a friggin train wreck in slow motion.
They even have a rebuttal of Glennon, the typewriter repairman.
"In its broadcast last night, CBS News produced a new expert, Bill Glennon, an information technology consultant. He said that IBM electric typewriters in use in 1972 could produce superscripts and proportional spacing similar to those used in the disputed documents.
Any argument to the contrary is "an out-and-out lie," Glennon said in a telephone interview. But Glennon said he is not a document expert, could not vouch for the memos' authenticity and only examined them online because CBS did not give him copies when asked to visit the network's offices.
Thomas Phinney, program manager for fonts for the Adobe company in Seattle, which helped to develop the modern Times New Roman font, disputed Glennon's statement to CBS. He said "fairly extensive testing" had convinced him that the fonts and formatting used in the CBS documents could not have been produced by the most sophisticated IBM typewriters in use in 1972, including the Selectric and the Executive. He said the two systems used fonts of different widths. "
I wonder if ol' Dan will follow suit and play the race card excuse?
Wow! Matley does have integrity! Dan Rather, who has no integrity in his own right, will have to a much better job of screening his 'experts' in future hit pieces on the President.
I have been wondering about that since Friday when he came out so strongly. I have said it before and I'll say it again. I believe it to be very possible that his daughter is somehow involved and he is protecting her.
They've gone from "we're sure" to "we had experts looking at them" to the above. Not exactly sticking to their guns, but they can always find a few more "experts".
It is interesting that he and WP are just hitting the highlights of material presented at FR for some time now. But, the important point is that they are hitting those points strongly now.
I don't see how CBS will be able to continue with the Stonewall when the rest of MSM is turning against them on this report.
In the interview on Friday .. didn't he say something about putting his reputation on the line??
Dan "Otter" Rather : "The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with the facts; we did. (winks) But you can't hold a whole Network responsible for the behavior of a few sick, perverted individuals."
"For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole Broadcast Network system? And if the whole Broadcast Network system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our Big Media institutions in general?"
(the other MSM members cheer; Dan addresses the New Media directly)
"I put it to you, Pajama-wearing New Media slime. Isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? (the CBS 'bitches' cheer again)"
"Well, you can do what you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you bad-mouth the United States of America! "
"Gentlemen!" (Dan and Old Media march from the room)
They have nothing to gain by conjecturing they are faux docs, since there are most certainly no originals.
I will conjecture DNCBS will stonewall for @ least 8 more weeks....
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