Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Memos on Bush Are Fake but Accurate, Typist Says
NYTIMES ^ | 09/15/04 | Maureen Balleza

Posted on 09/14/2004 7:57:30 PM PDT by Pikamax

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-144 next last
To: Pikamax
One more thing. Keep in mind that this lady's account goes against all the authentic memos we do have from Killian where he praises Bush. It also goes against the wife and son and other witnesses who say Killian thought highly of Bush.

The secretary is a forgery. Somebody check her font.

41 posted on 09/14/2004 8:22:55 PM PDT by Pete
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

TEXAS GUARD SECRETARY SURFACES: SAYS CBS DOCS 'FORGERIES', BUT

Former secretary says she didn't type memos

10:14 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 14, 2004

By PETE SLOVER / The Dallas Morning News

HOUSTON – The former secretary for the Texas Air National Guard colonel who supposedly authored memos critical of President Bush’s Guard service said Tuesday that the documents are fake, but that they reflect real documents that once existed.

Marian Carr Knox, who worked from 1956 to 1979 at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, said she prided herself on meticulous typing, and the memos first disclosed by CBS News last week were not her work.

“These are not real,” she told The Dallas Morning News after examining copies of the disputed memos for the first time. “They’re not what I typed, and I would have typed them for him.”

Mrs. Knox, 86, who spoke with precise recollection about dates, people and events, said she is not a supporter of Mr. Bush, who she deemed “unfit for office” and “selected, not elected.”

“I remember very vividly when Bush was there and all the yak-yak that was going on about it,” she said.

But, she said, telltale signs of forgery abounded in the four memos, which contained the supposed writings of her ex-boss, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, who died in 1984.

She said the typeface on the documents did not match either of the two typewriters that she used during her time at the Guard. She identified those machines as a mechanical Olympia, which was replaced by an IBM Selectric in the early 1970s.

She spoke fondly of the Olympia machine, which she said had a key with the “th” superscript character that was the focus of much debate in the CBS memos. Experts have said that the Selectric, and mechanical typewriters such as the Olympia, could not produce proportional spacing, found in the disputed documents.

CBS officials have defended their report. They have declined to say who provided 60 Minutes with the documents, other than that it was an “unimpeachable source” – or exactly where they came from, other than Lt. Col. Killian’s “personal file.”

The memos, if real, would show that as a pilot, Mr. Bush defied a direct order to obtain a flight physical, enjoyed the benefit of pressure from high officials to “sugar coat” his record, and was grounded for failing to meet military performance standards.

Mrs. Knox said she did all of Lt. Col. Killian’s typing, including memos for a personal “cover his back” file he kept in a locked drawer of his desk.

She said she did not recall typing the memos reported by CBS News, though she said they accurately reflect the viewpoints of Lt. Col. Killian and documents that would have been in the personal file. Also, she could not say whether the CBS documents corresponded memo for memo with that file.

“The information in here was correct, but it was picked up from the real ones,” she said.

She said that the culture of the time was that men didn’t type office-related documents, and she expressed doubt that Lt. Col. Killian would have typed the memos. She said she would typically type his memos from his handwritten notes, which she would then destroy.

Mrs. Knox, who left the Guard before Lt. Col. Killian died, said she was not sure of the disposition of his personal files when he died while still serving at Ellington. But, she said, it would have been logical that a master sergeant who worked in the squadron headquarters would have destroyed any such nonofficial documents after Lt. Col. Killian’s death.

That man, reached Tuesday, declined to comment. “I don’t know anything about the matter,” he said.

She also said the memos may have been constructed from memory by someone who had seen Lt. Col. Killian’s private file but were not transcriptions because the language and terminology did not match what he would have used.

For instance, she said, the use of the words “billets” and a reference to the “administrative officer” of Mr. Bush’s squadron reflect Army terminology rather than the Air National Guard. Some news reports attribute the CBS reports to a former Army National Guard officer who has a longstanding dispute with the Guard and has previously maintained that the president’s record was sanitized.

Mrs. Knox also cited stylistic differences in the form of the notes, such as the signature on the right side of the document, rather than the left, where she would have put it.

E-mail pslover@dallasnews.com


42 posted on 09/14/2004 8:24:33 PM PDT by deport (Democrats play hardball at the peewee-league level and then lose)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
Memos on Bush Are Fake but Accurate

Bing bing bing.

DNC talking points alert.

43 posted on 09/14/2004 8:24:42 PM PDT by Mannaggia l'America
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax

Believable Lies.

I still say she was SUPPOSED to be able to come forward and say she typed them.

Then came THE INVASION OF THE PAJAMA PEOPLE!!!!!

Then the DNC was reduced using her to try and repush the content of the story.

She is a fraud. If she had a valid statement she would have said it in any number of previous elections.

The times is just trying to provide cover and get the DNC talking points back on track.

sorry MSM no sale.


44 posted on 09/14/2004 8:25:18 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! NOV 2, 2004 is VETERANS DAY! VOTE!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: litany_of_lies

Something is troubling me. CBS says they've been working on this story for 5 years. They must have talked to Burkett back in 2000. I remember distinctly his story about the document cleansing done at Karen Hughe's direction. And yet they don't question him as to why he didn't offer the memos in 2000? Something doesn't add up here.


45 posted on 09/14/2004 8:25:29 PM PDT by jhouston
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
Memos on Bush Are Fake but Accurate, Typist Says

I wonder if that "fake but accurate" argument will hold up when the State Troopers run down Rodney, my second cousin twice removed, driving on that "fake but accurate" license he cooked up on Photoshop in the back room with his trusty Dell?

46 posted on 09/14/2004 8:25:45 PM PDT by John Valentine ("The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
Asked about her politics, she said she had never voted for Mr. Bush.

Why don't those *%&$ers at the NYT tell the whole story on this. She called Bush "unfit for command" and "selected, not elected." She has the MoveOn.org talking points down.
I think the readers might want to have that information when they consider whether or not this "sweet old lady" is telling the truth on Killian's personal feelings.
47 posted on 09/14/2004 8:26:31 PM PDT by counterpunch (The CouNTeRPuNcH Collection - www.counterpunch.us)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
Mr. Burkett declined to return telephone calls to his home near Abilene, Tex. His lawyer, David Van Os, on Tuesday repeatedly refused to say in a telephone interview whether the officer had played a part in supplying the disputed documents to CBS. Mr. Van Os said "the real story is and should be, where was George Bush?" and that Mr. Burkett "is not the proper object of attention."

Mr. Van Os called Mr. Burkett "a man of impeccable honesty who would not permit himself to be a party to anything fake, fraudulent or phony."

He sued three officials personally in the TX Army Guard, saying that when he came home sick from Panama, they refused to tell the Military Hospital facility that he was a member of the Guard on Active Duty, and thus couldn't get treatment until it was too late and he was severly damaged. Both the trial court and the appelate court ruled that this issue related to official duties and regulations - was a military justice matter, not to be heard in the Texas court system. He's also had two nervous breakdowns. He may believe what he thinks he remembers, but it could "Rather" be that he thinks what he wishes he could remember, for the revenge motive.

48 posted on 09/14/2004 8:26:54 PM PDT by DmBarch
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Soul Seeker

Lawyers, policemen, and reporters are good for putting words in your mouth.




49 posted on 09/14/2004 8:28:15 PM PDT by MagnumRancid (I need a new screen name - its left over from my Doom/Quake playing days.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax

How interestin that the NY Times doesn't mention what was in the original Dallas News article, namely that the woman is a Bush-hater.

"Mrs. Knox, 86, who spoke with precise recollection about dates, people and events, said she is not a supporter of Mr. Bush, who she deemed “unfit for office” and “selected, not elected.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1215941/posts

So why didn't Rather do a story, that Killian's secretary, who hates Bush claims Killian wrote memos containing derogatory info, but she has no proof? This would have been the correct assertion.

And now, this woman who hates Bush states that the memos are fraudulent, but since she hates Bush, she is trying to help out the Bush bashers, but even with all that, she has to admit the memos are fake.


50 posted on 09/14/2004 8:28:22 PM PDT by FairOpinion (FIGHT TERRORISM! VOTE BUSH/CHENEY 2004.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pete

BINGO. Does she even exist? We better check her out - and did she contact the paper, or did they contact her? It's important to verify that she IS who she SAYS she is - and she may never have even been the secretary...

This may be conjecture, but how hard would it be to have someone call in and play secretary so they can at least salvage the newscycle?


51 posted on 09/14/2004 8:29:18 PM PDT by dandelion (http://johnkerryquestionfairy.blogspot.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: JRPerry
Fake but Accurate
Would that be what you call an oxymoron?



Actually, that's "all the news that's fit to print" according to the New York Times.
52 posted on 09/14/2004 8:30:02 PM PDT by VOA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: JRPerry
Fake but Accurate
Would that be what you call an oxymoron?



Actually, that's "all the news that's fit to print" according to the New York Times.
53 posted on 09/14/2004 8:30:02 PM PDT by VOA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: FairOpinion

Ah, Ah - whose got images of the REAL Killian memo - the one which praised Bush? The initials of the Secretary should be on the typed memo, under the initials of the person dictating the memo...


54 posted on 09/14/2004 8:31:31 PM PDT by dandelion (http://johnkerryquestionfairy.blogspot.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Deb

Zellenn, Deb;

Zellenn's been here a whole 10 days.

Tick-tock.....


55 posted on 09/14/2004 8:32:24 PM PDT by mplsconservative (Part of the proud pajamahadeen since April 2003!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Pete
Has it been established that CBS didn't talk with her in the course of their investigation? Killian's son said that CBS spoke to him before they ran their program, I'm wondering if they used her recollection as part of their authenticating process.
56 posted on 09/14/2004 8:32:41 PM PDT by Dolphy (Support swiftvets.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Soul Seeker

Yeah--my admonition was not really motivated by a deep concern for the lady (although I was taught to respect my elders and thank goodness she's just barely old enough for me to see her as such!!)but rather by a concern that focusing too much wrath on her could distract from what should be the real focus: CBiaS' knowingly using fake documents purported to be real.


57 posted on 09/14/2004 8:33:17 PM PDT by Zellenn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
"We did discuss Bush's conduct and it was a problem Killian was concerned about," Mrs. Knox said.

Has anyone here ever worked for a company where his/her supervisor routinely discussed his/her job performance with the secretaries? If so, are you still working for that company?

58 posted on 09/14/2004 8:33:46 PM PDT by CFC__VRWC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax

"Come along Mrs. Knox- get back in bed you bad girl. The nurse will be in in a minute with your medicine."


59 posted on 09/14/2004 8:34:07 PM PDT by fat city (Julius Rosenberg's soviet code name was "Liberal")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Soul Seeker

If she had a valid claim the dems would have used it when he ran in 2000, for governor, or for congess.

The MSM is trying to distract from the fraud of the story and reboot the NG story, .....again.


she is lying about gossip, it is the most logical conclusion.


60 posted on 09/14/2004 8:34:40 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! NOV 2, 2004 is VETERANS DAY! VOTE!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-144 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson