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Just how stupid are these people on Dan Rather's crew? -- I think, as I read the details of what has gone on in the Rathergate story, that people at CBS have no #^&%#%# competence but are so blinded by bias and rage against Bush that they STILL don't even realize how badly they are screwing up. I know how biased they are, but I still can't believe how INCOMPETENT they are....

Comparison of just two brief documents, one disseminated from the Pentagon and known (or presumed) to be authentic, and the other received by CBS from their 'unimpeachable' source proves just how preposterous the stonewalling by CBS really is. You don't have to know anything about fonts, superscripts, or kerning to be suspicious. The briefest comparison by the untrained eye shows loads of suspicious differences that suggest the document on the right is not an authentic memo from the same office and commander that produced the document on the left (even the signatures don't match!):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/daily/graphics/guard_091404.html

That's not to say that on Sept. 7 it was inconceivable that further research somehow could have authenticated the document on the right somehow, but rather that even these idiot reporters and producers should have known instantly that there were gigantic red flags about the document on the right. Not to mention they should have been very suspicious of the source of the documents, except that everything fitted their political agenda so nicely. A very rigorous process of authentication had to be pursued before CBS could even think of using the new memos in any story.

Rather than pursue a truly rigorous process of authentication with the best document experts, CBS was careful NOT to subject the documents to any rigorous screening, showing only isolated and misleading examples to a couple of very dubious document 'experts' (who don't seem to be real forensic document experts, from what I've read) - the one expert who did raise red flags for them was ignored. It's as though they wanted to take no risks
that the documents could be blown out of their story while maintaining the pretence that "we consulted document experts."

This is a very high order of malfeasance and journalistic malpractice - not merely being duped by a forger trying to sway a presidential campaign, but actively helping that forger to try to get away with it.... and now stonewalling when they should be issuing abject apologies, exposing the forger, and launching a major public investigation run by outside experts (real experts).