Picture of the handwriting examiner.
Posted on 09/14/2004 1:33:50 PM PDT by FlyLow
In what should be a devastating blow to CBS News and Dan Rather, the Washington Post's Michael Dobbs and Howard Kurtz reported on Tuesday that "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. 'There's no way that I, as a document expert, can authenticate them,' Marcel Matley said in a telephone interview from San Francisco. The main reason, he said, is that they are 'copies' that are 'far removed' from the originals."
On Friday's CBS Evening News, Dan Rather had declared: "Document and handwriting examiner Marcel Matley analyzed the documents for CBS News. He says he believes they are real."
Dobbs and Kurtz disclosed: "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."
An excerpt follows below of the Post story, but first, from the September 11 CyberAlert, how Dan Rather suggested on Friday that Matley's conclusion that the Jerry Killian signature was valid translated into a validation of the documents. Rather asserted: "Matley finds the signatures to be some of the most compelling evidence."
On the September 10 CBS Evening News, Rather contended: "Document and handwriting examiner Marcel Matley analyzed the documents for CBS News. He says he believes they are real, but is concerned about exactly what is being examined by some of the people now questioning the documents. Because deterioration occurs each time a document is reproduced, and the documents being analyzed outside of CBS have been photocopied, faxed, scanned and downloaded, and are far removed from the documents CBS started with, which were also photocopies." Over video of Rather and Matley in front of a cork board with huge blow-ups of Killian's signature from the memos, Rather explained: "Document and handwriting examiner Marcel Matley did this interview with us prior to the 60 Minutes broadcast. He looked at the documents and the signatures of Colonel Jerry Killian, comparing known documents with the Colonel's signature on the newly discovered ones." Matley: "We looked basically at what's called significant or insignificant features to determine whether it's the same person or not. I have no problem identifying them. I would say based on our available handwriting evidence, yes, this is the same person." Rather: "Matley finds the signatures to be some of the most compelling evidence. We talked to him again today by satellite." Rather to Matley, who appeared via satellite: "Are you surprised that questions come about these? We're not, but I was wondering if you were surprised?" Matley: "I knew going in that this was dynamite one way or the other, and I knew that potentially it was far more potential damage to me professionally than benefit to me, and I knew that. But we seek the truth, that's what we do. You know, you're supposed to put yourself out, to seek the truth and take what comes from it."
For the full rundown of Rather's September 10 presentation, in which Matley was his only expert: www.mediaresearch.org
Now, an excerpt from the September 14 Washington Post story, "Expert Cited by CBS Says He Didn't Authenticate Papers," by Michael Dobbs and Howard Kurtz which took up over half of page A8 in the hard copy edition and quoted MRC President Brent Bozell:
..."I am personally 100 percent sure that they are fake," said Joseph M. Newcomer, author of several books on Windows programming, who worked on electronic typesetting techniques in the early 1970s. Newcomer said he had produced virtually exact replicas of the CBS documents using Microsoft Word formatting and the Times New Roman font.
Newcomer drew an analogy with an art expert trying to determine whether a painting of unknown provenance was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. "If I was looking for a Da Vinci, I would look for characteristic brush strokes," he said. "If I found something that was painted with a modern synthetic brush, I would know that I have a forgery."...
A detailed examination of the CBS documents beside authenticated Killian memos and other documents generated by Bush's 147th Fighter Interceptor Group suggests at least three areas of difference that are difficult to reconcile:
-- Word-processing techniques. Of more than 100 records made available by the 147th Group and the Texas Air National Guard, none used the proportional spacing techniques characteristic of the CBS documents. Nor did they use a superscripted "th" in expressions such as "147th Group" and or "111th Fighter Intercept Squadron."
In a CBS News broadcast Friday night rebutting allegations that the documents had been forged, Rather displayed an authenticated Bush document from 1968 that included a small "th" next to the numbers "111" as proof that Guard typewriters were capable of producing superscripts. In fact, say Newcomer and other experts, the document aired by CBS News does not contain a superscript, because the top of the "th" character is at the same level as the rest of the type. Superscripts rise above the level of the type.
[The very observation I made in the September 11 CyberAlert. See the September 11 CyberAlert item #1 for a screen shot CBS showed of the two versions of the superscripted "th": www.mediaresearch.org ]
-- Factual problems. A CBS document purportedly from Killian ordering Bush to report for his annual physical, dated May 4, 1972, gives Bush's address as "5000 Longmont #8, Houston." This address was used for many years by Bush's father, George H.W. Bush. National Guard documents suggest that the younger Bush stopped using that address in 1970 when he moved into an apartment, and did not use it again until late 1973 or 1974, when he moved to Cambridge, Mass., to attend Harvard Business School.
One CBS memo cites pressure allegedly being put on Killian by "Staudt," a reference to Col. Walter B. "Buck" Staudt, one of Bush's early commanders. But the memo is dated Aug. 18, 1973, nearly a year and a half after Staudt retired from the Guard. Questioned about the discrepancy over the weekend, CBS officials said that Staudt was a "mythic figure" in the Guard who exercised influence from behind the scenes even after his retirement.
-- Stylistic differences. To outsiders, how an officer wrote his name and rank or referred to his military unit may seem arcane and unimportant. Within the military, however, such details are regulated by rules and tradition, and can be of great significance. The CBS memos contain several stylistic examples at odds with standard Guard procedures, as reflected in authenticated documents.
In memos previously released by the Pentagon or the White House, Killian signed his rank "Lt Col" or "Lt Colonel, TexANG," in a single line after his name without periods. In the CBS memos, the "Lt Colonel" is on the next line, sometimes with a period but without the customary reference to TexANG, for Texas Air National Guard.
An ex-Guard commander, retired Col. Bobby W. Hodges, whom CBS originally cited as a key source in authenticating its documents, pointed to discrepancies in military abbreviations as evidence that the CBS memos are forgeries. The Guard, he said, never used the abbreviation "grp" for "group" or "OETR" for an officer evaluation review, as in the CBS documents. The correct terminology, he said, is "gp" and "OER."...
CBS executives have pointed to Matley as their lead expert on whether the memos are genuine, and included him in a "CBS Evening News" defense of the story Friday. Matley said he spent five to eight hours examining the memos. "I knew I could not prove them authentic just from my expertise," he said. "I can't say either way from my expertise, the narrow, narrow little field of my expertise."
In looking at the photocopies, he said, "I really felt we could not definitively say which font this is." But, he said, "I didn't see anything that would definitively tell me these are not authentic."
Asked about Matley's comments, CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said: "In the end, the gist is that it's inconclusive. People are coming down on both sides, which is to be expected when you're dealing with copies of documents."
Questions about the CBS documents have grown to the point that they overshadow the allegations of favorable treatment toward Bush.
Prominent conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh are insisting the documents are forged. New York Times columnist William Safire said yesterday that CBS should agree to an independent investigation. Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, called on the network to apologize, saying: "The CBS story is a hoax and a fraud, and a cheap and sloppy one at that. It boggles the mind that Dan Rather and CBS continue to defend it."
Come on, Dan.....cough up the hair ball before you choke....
Un FREEPIN' Believable...I'm amazed SeeBS is still hanging on to their original story...it just can't be possible WE THE PEOPLE are takin' it to Dan Rather!!! Pinch Me...Am I dreaming that this is really happening?
In just a few more days, perhaps, we could have virtually GUARANTEED the re-election of GWBush by thwarting one of the MOST DASTARDLY TRICKS the 'Rats have ever tried...
In just a few more days, we might actually know WHO PROFFERED these docs to CBS, perhaps the FBI should be called into this INFESTATION of lies by CBS??
G
Picture of the handwriting examiner.
Kind of like a certain ex-President we all know and love...
He wouldn't have been pals with a certain Captain Jonathan S. Tuttle, would he?
I'm waiting for the FCC to investigate the claims being made by Dan Rather and CBS. Hasn't a complaint been filed with them yet?
They should have also mentioned the perfect word wrapping and the fact that the signiture block shouold have been to the far left also.
I hope that Dan never admits he was wrong. That way it stays in the news cycle much longer, and it will occasionally raise its ugly head at the wrong time.
LOL!
Come to think of it, maybe he was.
I have fond memories of Capt. Tuttle. He was a good man and a dandy surgeon.
As slow as the media moves on stories, I'd say about a week of hand-wringing over how CBS could have been fooled, before the media even gets to the question of where the forgeries came from. And the answer to that question will not be forthcoming, it will have to be fought for. I believe the answer will come out, and that teh DNC supplied the docs to CBS, and to USA Today.
You might say, there's a little Tuttle in all of us.
Too funny ! You might have to explain the Tuttle reference to younger Freepers.
Nah, let 'em Google for it.
You are wasting your time with the FCC. They only care if Dan shows his boobs or use's Kerrys favorite words. They don't care if he lies.
I think the handwriting expert is more like Mr. Magoo than Bugs Bunny.
If any further evidence is wanting, I've noted that the position of the date on the August 18th letter (and probably the others; I just haven't checked them) is an EXACT multiple of the default tab length in MS Word, i.e., 8 tabs over.
Sounds like Gunga Dan thinks he's entitled to his own facts.
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