Rather Forges Ahead, Leaving Career in the Dust.

RatherBiased.com ^ | September 14, 2004

[RatherBiased.com]

CBS News has gone into full "CYA" mode. After being attacked continuously for the past six days by everyone ranging from posters at FreeRepublic.com, to Web sites like RatherBiased.com, Powerline, and Instapundit.com, to large media organizations like The Washington Post, The New York Times, and its network television rivals, CBS mounted another defense of itself tonight.

Just as his Friday defense of failed to convince, Rather's Monday defense was almost completely ineffectual. Several points stand out:

1. Rather finally stated that not all of his critics are politically motivated, something he was unwilling to do last Friday.

2. Rather's report did not feature a single quotation from any of its critics, something that an objective news organization would do if it were covering the story of accusations made by political campaigns against each other. For CBS Evening News viewers who have not been following the scandal, this must have been a strange spectacle. To receive no background on the story and only one side of it.

3. Bill Glennon, the typewriter repair guy whom CBS featured tonight said that the documents "could have" been prepared on a 70s-era typewriter with "custom feature" attachments, hardly a ringing endorsement, especially since he failed to specifically name a typewriter which did have the capability. That a hypothetically very expensive typewriter using optional parts could even be found in a National Guard unit which normally operate with hand-me-down office equipment from the full-time services hardly seems likely.

4. Richard Katz, the "software designer" of unnamed employer clearly is not familiar with Microsoft Word. To disable its automatic superscripting, all one has to do is put a space after a word before typing the "th". What kind of software expert is not aware of that?

5. Referring to one of the memos which appears to use the letter "L" instead of the number one, Katz according to Rather, says that "would be difficult to reproduce on the computer today." That is complete nonsense. Is it really that hard for someone to type "L" instead of "1" within Microsoft Word?

6. Does the el versus one point made by CBS hold water? One of our readers responds:

   "As an 'old' teacher who was teaching 'typing' in the 1970's, let me submit one more item that could be added to the list of discrepancies: Even with the advent of the IBM Selectric typewriter, we continued to teach students to use the lower case of the letter L for several years because it was presented that way in the book!!

   "It took me years to personally convert to using the number 1 on the top row of the keyboard; and, I submit to you anyone who learned to type by the touch method in the 1960's and/or early 1970's continued to use the lower case of the letter L.--because it was learned intuitively."

   Peter Nelson has further thoughts on this.

7. Rather's defense failed to note any of the arguments made by Jerry Killian's family who said he never took notes, said he did not have others make them for him, and said that CBS refused to put them on the air. The anchor also failed to respond to remarks from many of CBS's sources who have either backed away from, or outright denounced the memo story as false.

8. Just days after a former CBS official denounced internet forum posters and bloggers as "a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas," it appears that CBS may have used one such pajama person as a new "expert" source. According to The New York Times, Bill Glennon, typewriter repairman, is said to have "posted his thoughts on the memos on a blog."

9. CBS's original expert, Marcel Matley, who has since backed away from supporting the network's case that the documents are genuine, has a very checkered past according to New York Post. In 1995 court testimony, Matley acknowledged that he had had no formal training in a document lab, or in "machines, typewriters, photocopies." The paper also discovered that Matley has published works on "spirituality in handwriting" and "female/male traits in handwriting," with such lines in them as: "For your male client, you will be able to recognize the facade of machismo--and also recognize the hurt boy-child who uses that as a defensive hiding place."

10. Rather also failed to respond to a barrage of charges raised by Washington Post, including confirmation of a scoop first reported by RatherBiased.com that Bush's Air National Guard office did not use expensive IBM typewriters capable of printing documents in a proportional font.

11. Other Post charges: More typographical concerns raised by a genuine expert in fonts, Joseph Newcomer, incorrect addresses, improper military signature lines and abbreviations, quotes from Thomas Phinney, a font developer at Adobe (the company which oversaw the late 1980s modification of Times New Roman into its current form), and more backtracking from Matley.

12. At the end of the piece, reporters Michael Dobbs and Howard Kurtz talk to Sandy Genelius, one of our favorite spokesfriends at CBS News. She apparently didn't get the memo from Dan to defend at all cost, backpedaling tremendously from Rather's knee-jerk: "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."

13. Rather's response also failed to respond to critics who raised finer points about the font issues, including one point about kerning raised by Stephan Braddy, a software engineer who appears to have launched a new blog with a first post on Memogate stating that all available evidence suggests that "it is a mathematical certainty that the CBS Bush National Guard documents are fraudulent."

    "The fact that the CBS Bush National Guard overlay matches perfectly and shows no signs of compounding deviation makes it a mathematical certainty that the two documents were both created by Microsoft Word, and therefore not in 1973. It is nearly impossible to create two documents with two different kerning systems that can survive the overlay test, especially if those two kerning systems are separated by 30 years in technology and design."

14. It's also worth noting that the two "experts" used to support its evidence Monday night were not involved with the original authentication and had merely looked at the online copies of the documents, something which Rather on Friday said he had a problem with, given that "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." Strangely, Dan did not repeat this assertion Monday night.

Other instant responses from Politicalities and Ed Morrisey. Send yours to blogs@ratherbiased.com.

While you're out on the web, see this parody interview with an IBM Selectric typewriter as well as this hilarious eBay listing for a Selectric auction. We also note the creativity of the individual who came up with this image juxtaposing the CBS Eye onto the famous Tower of Sauron from the

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Also see these related Memogate cartoons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,

Why all the funny links at the end? Because at this point, Dan Rather's credibility is so diminished it's quite comedic to watch him try to hold back a tsunami of evidence that he's been duped worse than the old lady who believes The Weekly World News.

If CBS is smart, and we have reason to believe that there are many people within the network who are, it will fire Rather before the bottom falls out any further. The CBS Evening News has consistently been the lowest-rated nightly news program on broadcast for nearly 15 years now. After Memogate, we have no doubt the ratings will fall even further with Rather at the helm.

Transcript here.

[I. M. Trenchant]

Thanks for the advice -- I think!

[rwfromkansas]

bump

[grey_whiskers]

"It may even be that Killian recruited an outsider for such sensitive texts on a 'piece work basis'."

Yep, a man who doesn't type, recruiting an outsider for
CYA files (which his wife and son say he did not keep);

conveniently using an advanced font which matches
Microsoft word in font, spacing, line breaks;

while violating current protocal in signature blocks;

referring to pressure from a superior officer who had
retired about 18 months before;

referring to the wrong date for the physical;

without an accompanying paper trail for other
procedures which would accompany these activities;

with a signature that doesn't match other samples of
his signature from known documents;

in a different font from other documents produced
over his signature during that time frame;

which mysteriously appears AFTER HE IS DEAD,
just in time to accidentally dovetail with identical
attacks from Kitty Kelly, Democratic Senator Tom Harkin,
and 'Operation Fortunate Son' advertisement of the DNC;

Yes. And Ted Kennedy is a virgin.

You sound like a troll.

[I. M. Trenchant]

Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. Cheers.

[Polybius]

...Just days after a former CBS official denounced internet forum posters and bloggers as "a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas......."

So, are we supposed to believe that Dan Rather wears an Armani suit when he is at his computer at home?

When I'm at work, I wear a lab coat and everyone calls me "Doctor". Right now, I'm barefoot and in my pajamas and, when someone in the household wants me, they call out, "Dad", "Dear", "Woof" or "Meow".

Does CBS think that my education and expertise depends on what clothes I'm wearing once I enter my own home?

History will be the final judge of CBS and History will not deal kindly with the hubris that CBS is now wallowing in.

[Swordmaker]

1) Why has the White House not challenged either the authenticity of the documents, or the truth of the events described therein?

Why should they. THE WHITE HOUSE received the docments from CBS and they released them to stand or fall on their own. They fell. Deservedly so.

2) Are you certain that the documents were typed by Killian himself? Are you certain the documents were not typed by a Killian aide who may still be alive, and is Rather's source?

No, we are absolutely certain that they WEREN'T typed by Killian himself. They were typed by someone 15 years after his death. Are suggesting that someone was channelling Killian at their computer keyboard??? If so, that may explain why you think your five questions are profound.

3) Do you realize that IBM Selectrics, purchased on government research grants, were in widespread use in universities of that time period?

Do YOU realize that IBM Selectrics could not produce proportional type? The Models that could do that were the IBM Executive and the IBM Selectric Composer... completely different models than the Selectrics that were in widespread use in universities of that time period. These models cost between six and ten times the cost of an IBM Selectric which would handle most office tasks quite nicely, thank you.

Is it your position that Killian's shared secretary had two typewriters? One on which she produced every other typed document that was sent out of Killian;s office and another, far more sophisticated, that she used ONLY to produce these six memos??? If that IS your position, I have a slightly used bridge in Brooklyn for sale at a very nice price. I am certain you would like it.

4) Do you realize that it was a commonplace for typists who did not have custom features on their typewriters to manually adjust the line spacing, and sometimes the font, to insert subscripts and superscripts in mathematical and chemical texts?

Is it your position that these typists and their typewriters (which were limited to 96 characters per type ball) had handy typesets with ligatures, small character superscripts and subscripts plus other typesetting characters? Do you realize that each of those character balls cost almost $100 each? Do you really think that someone would take the time to switch typeballs while typing a 15 line memo for file??? If that is your position, you might like to have some of this excellent land I have for sale in Okefenokee Swamp. It would make an excellent site to put your bridge.

5) Do you realize that variations in the heights of superscripts (and depths of subscripts) were commonly seen within single documents typed in that time period because typists had variable skill in making manual adjustments to line spacing?

Do you realize that is irrelevent to this discussion unless you can show a typewritten product of ANY of those typewriters that comes even close to matching the twip level accuracy of the Word2000 produced overlays on the CBS Documents? If you think it is relevant, then I have this dandy opportunity for you to make some money investing in Nigerian bank transfers... just provide your SSN, your mother's maiden name, and your bank account number so we can transfer US$36,000,000 of which you can keep 15% for merely being gullible enough to believe any of CBS's allegations.

[Private_Sector_Does_It_Better]

PREDICTION: Tomorrow Rather's denial will change. He will begrudgingly admit the documents "may indedd" be "questionable" (he won't use the word forgeries), but the story is true.

The MSM will pick up on this "documents bad" "Bush bad also" will be the battle cry.

[Swordmaker]

Love it.

[Swordmaker]

Rather NOT
FontFace Dan
OldMedia Dan
DingDong Dan
StoneWall Dan

Cast your votes!

I vote for

(drum roll tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt)

Damn Rather

(Rim Shot!)

[bvw]

That's strange. And a strange executive secretary. , Miss Knox, who by the standards of such secretaries in their heyday shows an uncharacteristic disloyalty and running-on-at-the-mouth. My Mom went to Woods Secretarial School in NY -- I am using my own knowledge of her attitude and bearing in such matters, as well as work experience where I have met a few of that same type and I am also using general readings where that type and the stanadrds of close-mouthed eternal propriety are well described. Nixon's secretary, Clinton's secretary -- both examples of that honorable ethos.

I'll note that she lists number of young men whom she denigrates, them with their families, with the Guard. Four are named in that litany. There is a order to it -- I say, I am a close reader of people's words and dead on in many cases -- but not all, not all.

What is that order? It is a wrapping, the piggies that bother her are found wrapped in her own blanket, I say.

She says

" "Bush was not the only person of privilege who had a spot in the Guard. Senator [Lloyd] Bensen's nephew was in headquarters. There was a big jewelery store, Gordons. Their son was in the Guard. The owner of Batelstein's, a posh department store in the area, his son was in. The other kids couldn't get in like that. Hugh Roy Cullen's grandson was also in. He was a big oil man." "

Let's read her innards, okay? She leads with Bush, an oilman's son and ends with Cullen's grandkid -- another oilman's son. She has problems with oilmen. And with the rich. She mentions Senator Bentsen's son right after Bush -- she hates politicians too. Who does't, to some extent. But she has her hate ready to go all done up in ordered lists! She loves her hate! So ready is she to list, to smear, to be disloyal by running-on-at-the-mouth to her professional ethos, to her employer, to her state.

And she loves her dislikes, her hates. Who does she dislike the MOST? Why JEWS!

Her piggies of hate are wrapped deep in that blanket -- "There was a big jewelery store, Gordons. Their son was in the Guard. The owner of Batelstein's, a posh department store in the area, his son was in. The other kids couldn't get in like that. ". Pushy mercantile Jew boys -- how she dispises them! (Posh = pushy).

I bet George Bush liked the jew boys, was pals with them! There's HER problems -- Dubya got on her wrong side so many ways. He was a rich oilman's son and he cozied up to the despised pushy rich jew boys. Nothing to do with his services, his service -- just HER spite, hatred, grudge-bearing and well-groomed prejudice.

[I. M. Trenchant]

Would you care to comment on the merits of Mr. Katz's claims that, for the reasons he gives below, he concludes the 'Rather documents' were prepared by a typewriter not a computer?

1) Richard Katz, a software designer, found some other indications in the documents. He noted that the letter "L" is used in those documents, instead of the numeral "one." That would be difficult to reproduce on a computer today.

2) But Katz, the software expert, pointed out that the documents have both the so-called "superscript" th (where the letters are slightly higher than the rest of the sentence, such as 6th) and a regular-sized "th". That would be common on a typewriter, not a computer.

3) "There's one document from May 1972 that contains a normal "th" on the top. To produce that in Microsoft Word, you would have to go out of your way to type the letters and then turn the "th" setting off, or back up and then type it again," said Katz.

[Swordmaker]

Would you care to comment on the merits of Mr. Katz's claims...

Certainly!

1) Richard Katz, a software designer, found some other indications in the documents. He noted that the letter "L" is used in those documents, instead of the numeral "one." That would be difficult to reproduce on a computer today.

Mr. Katz's claim that the numeral "1" in the documents are actually the letter "l" is wrong. He cannot make that conclusion from the documents presented. His conclusion is merely wishful thinking on his and CBS' part. In actual fact, a REAL expert in fonts, Dr. Newcomer, a man who has the bonifides to back up his conclusions, has conclusively proved that Katz is a putz.

The lowercase letter "l" and its spacing in the CBS documents is only 3 units wide everytime it is used in a word... remember it is proportionally spaced... but every numeral "1" and its spacing is 6 units wide everytime it is used in a number in the documents. It just so happens that Times New Roman typeface has exactly those "font metrics" for those two characters. In fact, in modern proportional fonts, ALL numerals are exactly the same width. Why? Because numerals are mono-spaced so that columns of numbers will always line up correctly. Using a letter "l" for a numeral "1" would distort columns in a proportional typeset document.

2) But Katz, the software expert, pointed out that the documents have both the so-called "superscript" th (where the letters are slightly higher than the rest of the sentence, such as 6th) and a regular-sized "th". That would be common on a typewriter, not a computer.

So called "expert" Katz is far from an expert. I am a computer consultant who also has taught Microsoft Word. MS Word defaults to superscripting "th", "rd", and "nd" whenever they immediately follow the appropriate numeral. If, however, you place a SPACE between the numeral and those letter combinations, the combination will not be superscripted. You can also press "Control Z" immediately after typing the letter combination and the superscripting will be reversed.

3) "There's one document from May 1972 that contains a normal "th" on the top. To produce that in Microsoft Word, you would have to go out of your way to type the letters and then turn the "th" setting off, or back up and then type it again," said Katz.

Once more, "Expert" Katz proves his ignorance. The occasion of the non-superscripted "th" has a space between the numeral and the combination. It is in fact one of the proofs that these are forgeries... because there ARE no non-superscripted "th" combinations immediately following a numeral. Typists of the period would not have seperated them because the "th" is part of the ordinal. For example: "1st", "2nd" and "3rd" are more correct than "1 st", "2 nd" and "3 rd".

This disproves Katz's contention completely.

[Swordmaker]

PS. Where would you like your bridge delivered??? Florida?

[Ciexyz]

I remember the Watergate days, when the liberal media hammered at Nixon and parsed every comment, every action of his team. They were relentless, and they eventually brought Nixon down.

Hey Danny boy, we the public are relentless in defense of the truth, and we WILL bring YOU down!

[I. M. Trenchant]

Thanks for your reply and your vehemence. I appreciate them in equal measure. Of course, subsequently, or possibly shortly beforehand, the 'White House' expert in this area, Laura Bush, did break 'White House' silence, and the White House seems, a few short days later, to be in full-press mode to-day. And not a minute too soon I'd say.

I'm flattered you could use the words 'your five questions' and 'profound' in the same sentence. I could not have done so. I thought they were conspicuously pedestrian enquiries from a dilettante at a forum that never fails to enlighten about matters that go well beyond my purview -- as your post did.

Were there not IBM typewriters without balls (popularly called castrati) that produced proportional-type spacing? The only one I recall had, I think, the Helvetica font. Our department did have a battery of IBMs of numerous font and operational capabilities. They were used by office and academic staff alike for their different specialized purposes.

The cost of typeballs was modest in relation to their extensive communal use. The work product at TANG was likely much larger. It was not uncommon to switch typeballs (a simple operation) in my environs, but admittedly the multiple exigencies of the complex texts, almost as numerous as the typists who used them, likely exceeded anything at TANG.

I'll get back to you about the bridges and swamps you mentioned. They seem to me to be sound investments.

[I. M. Trenchant]

Your response was most helpful. I seriously doubted I would be able to develop a well-formed opinion about the merits of Katz's claims, but your post erased such doubts. I thank you very much for sharing your expertise, and especially, for your having patiently communicated the product of that expertise to an admitted dilettante. It was good of you and I appreciate it.

[I. M. Trenchant]

With the profits from my Nigerian investments I can now afford the bridges, but I'll have to get back to you about the swamp.

[Howlin]

I had this bookmarked so I wouldn't miss it this morning.

You just may be correct; from the way she phrases things -- so strident - she sounds like a woman who watched all this going on -- "corruption," as Ben Barnes said -- and it just "didn't sit right" with her.

I'd give a million dollars to have heard the conversation between herself and Barnes, if they did speak; gossipy and catty as hell. With a few drinks to go along with the empathy they showed for each other.

It's disgusting to see people bringing their own issues into things like this; but I think you're right: she didn't like the "boys" she had to deal with day in and day out.

Thanks for taking the time for the analysis.

[I. M. Trenchant]

I previously missed your post #83 in this thread (because it wasn't addressed to me specifically) and I want to thank you very much for troubling to express that sentiment. Your plea was timely and I'm sure it was the reason why most posts subsequent to #83 were more temperate and more informative than they had been previously. You characterized the reason for my initial post in this thread with absolute accuracy.

One of my babe-in-the-woods queries (#2) has some enduring merit in that it raised the question of who typed the memos, and if it weren't Killian, might it not have been his aide or secretary who may still be alive and is one of Rather's sources. This was at a time when most talk focused on Killian's lack of typing abilities and seemed to be ignoring that he'd almost surely have had secretarial assistance.

As it turns out, Killian's secretary, Marion Carr Knox, who was interviewed by Rather this evening, is alive (age 86), and according to her own account, she did type memos that had the same content as the ones Rather has been displaying nationwide -- excepting only that some of the terms now used are 'army' not 'airforce' jargon. She flatly said the 'Rather memos' are fakes. She has a spirited personality and was likely convincing to a general public.

I have said in FR, from the outset, that I thought the basic elements of the story about W's TANG service were likely as described in the memos and that there was a danger, politically, in giving the story 'legs' it would not otherwise have by challenging the authenticity of the memos. The ongoing 'investigations' of 'memo authenticity' at CBS provide them with a vehicle for dragging the story out to an obscene degree.

You may be interested in posts 131-137 in this thread where Swordsman first gave me a good spanking and then patiently, with absolute clarity, ran me through the arguments against the latest interpretations by a CBS 'expert' (Katz) who claims the memos had to typed by a typewriter, not a wordprocessor. I now lean heavily (ca. 100%) to believing Swordsman, not Katz, and begin to wonder how much of this is a CBS 'sting' operation.

One wonders if Rather will extend this into a long-running series, culminating in an interview with the forger himself, who will once again press the details in the memos on a nationwide audience. Possibly he/she will say the 'Rather memos' were typed recently from his/her memory of events, or very much less likely, they were typed on a wordprocessor using the originals, either then or now -- and then dramatically produce the originals!

The outstanding issue remaining is whether there is a Pyrrhic victory in the making. That is, Rather will be proved to have been duped (or alternatively, and unprovably, a Machiavellian schemer who calculated that being caught in a forgery would be worth it if it would give the story 'legs'), BUT he will write 'mission axccomplished' to his venture if W's TANG service is subjected to a nationwide scrutiny that damages the U.S. public's view of the president.

As we are always being told, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[Swordmaker]

"...the 'White House' expert in this area, Laura Bush, did break 'White House' silence, and the White House seems, a few short days later, to be in full-press mode to-day. And not a minute too soon I'd say."

Laura Bush was not the first White House representative to break the silence. However, this issue is not a Executive Department concern, nor should it be. The silence should be broken by the George W. Bush campaign or by the George W. Bush family. As a campaigner and as a member of the Bush Family, Laura is the person who can reply.

Were there not IBM typewriters without balls (popularly called castrati) that produced proportional-type spacing? The only one I recall had, I think, the Helvetica font. Our department did have a battery of IBMs of numerous font and operational capabilities. They were used by office and academic staff alike for their different specialized purposes.

You are correct. The other IBM typewriter that could produce proportional type spacing was the IBM Executive.

Introduced in 1946, the Executive used the conventional moving carriage and hammer mechanism. Each model released came in both Standard and Executive versions. The Executive differed from IBM's basic model in having a multiple escapement mechanism and four widths for letters, producing a near typeset quality result.

They also offered subscripted and superscripted ordinal ligature characters. However, they did not offset the sub and superscripts above the base or top lines. The ligature characters were merely a standard width character that was smaller. These typewriters could be ordered in a variety of typesets.

The important thing here is the "four widths for letters" which is very obviously not the case in the CBS memos which have properly designed font metrics which differ for every letter.

I'll get back to you about the bridges and swamps you mentioned. They seem to me to be sound investments.

Don't forget the shipping costs.