I have already started calling him Richard Milhous Rather.
Posted on 09/14/2004 3:50:28 AM PDT by RatherBiased.com
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?
If so, where are the typist's initials? If someone else typed these, there should be a notation of the typist's initials at the bottom of the document.
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?
Do you realize that mathematical and chemical texts of the period were typeset when in book form? If superscripting is used on a typewriter, then one-and-a-half or double line spacing is used to allow for the line violations.
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? [emphasis added]
LTC Killian's wife and son both say he was NOT a typist.
The bottom line is this: Rather submits these memos with no evidence beyond that they confirm his story while the memos themselves are crude, stupid forgeries based on the overwhelming (not just preponderance) evidence. Experts, excepting the one or two cited by CBS, have nearly unanimously confirmed that the documents are likely inauthentic (including one who has indicated she could testify so in court).
Therefore, a question for you:
You indicated you thought your points had not been adequately addressed, yet you have obviously not been following all of the blogger and expert opinion on the matter (I have seen all of these arguments except for the line spacing one listed in posts on FreeRepublic). Why, then, should we not infer "adversarial intent" in your posing these inquiries?
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.
Smart isn't the issue. Their integrity's been overshadowed by their partisanship. Rather fired? No--he'll retire or move up somewhere in CBS. He was pleasing his employer as much as he was vindicating his own antiBushism.
Thanks for your reply. I appreciate what you have said about the documents that were examined by the Post, but I would add to this that a personal aide (like a private secretary), who is charged with recording highly sensitive information, as indeed this was, may have had a different typewriter. It may even be that Killian recruited an outsider for such sensitive texts on a 'piece work basis'. Such people abounded in those days and were usually legal secretaries who were familiar with the requisites attendant to confidentiality. Until Rather's source is more clearly defined, I would be cautious about a 'sting'. I think this is what the White House is concerned about in its cautious response to the authenticity of the documents. In any event, I have no doubt it will be best for W to get this behind him, sooner rather than later (i.e., before the election).
Well, that cinches it then. If Baghdad Bob says it's so, then I know it's so! What is Dan's name now? Someone stick him with a good moniker rivaling Baghdad Bob's.
Very true. I don't usually rubberneck at the scene of an accident.
I guess I'm hoping a few liberals' eyes will be opened. I'm hoping a few of them will be turned off to a Democratic party that needs to push lies to ensure its existence.
I left the Democratic party when I realized they relied on a lying media in order to remain in power.
Other liberals might be open to the truth, too.
Your focusing on the Selectric is confusing to me as I haven't followed all the fine detail of this. I thought the point about the font spacing appearing to be proportional meant that it couldn't have been typed on anything but an IBM Executive.
I used one in my dad's office in the same time period. It didn't have the ability to do superscript and couldn't underline superscript as I recall. I think he still has that old machine.
It appears to me that everything a fair person would use in evaluating the authenticity indicates it is a forgery. Font spacing, superscripts, signature, individual's usage history, individual's lack of typing skill, individual's exclusive use of handwritten memos, individual's family memory of work habits, font face availible on IBM Executive, and on and on.
If Dan had an Editor, the editor would have said, "Dan, you are being dupted like a cub; your politics is making you stretch to utilize bold face fabriction."
But Dan doesn't have an Editor...or honesty.
Tend to agree, although there must be other avenues for reaching CBS & Rather. Stonewalling works: Kerry hasn't released his records, and Rather/CBS aren't going to admit their haste in bashing Bush, and the rest of the MSM aren't going to admit the Swiftees were right about . . . what? at least four Kerry lies. Even if Bush wins, the behavior of the media here is most depressing.
Thanks for your reply. Those who used IBM Selectrics in that era commonly made manual adjustments to include superscripts and subscripts in typescripts (e.g. for grant applications and in manuscripts submitted for publication). In my replies to others in this thread, I think I have covered the other issues you raised. In particular, it is by no means clear that Killian was the typist, and it would not surprise if a typist failed to initial a memo he/she had typed. You are free of course free to characterize my queries as having been ill-informed if it pleases you, but it seems a bit inconsistent to then characterize my intent as adversarial. Why not conclude I am simply ill-informed and leave it at that? I note, for the record, that you did not respond to my first query.
Keith in Iowa
Do you know for a fact that the TANG had them? Put up, or shut up.
A Selectric Composer is not an ordinary Selectric that would have been found in clerical offices. I have a Selectric III at the office that is still used for light duty work like filling in forms and bank deposit slips. It does not have proportional spacing, and it was built a few years after 1972.
Thanks for your reply. Those who used IBM Selectrics in that era commonly made manual adjustments to include superscripts and subscripts in typescripts (e.g. for grant applications and in manuscripts submitted for publication). In my replies to others in this thread, I think I have covered the other issues you raised. In particular, it is by no means clear that Killian was the typist, and it would not surprise if a typist failed to initial a memo he/she had typed. You are free of course free to characterize my queries as having been ill-informed if it pleases you, but it seems a bit inconsistent to then characterize my intent as adversarial. Why not conclude I am simply ill-informed and leave it at that? I note, for the record, that you did not respond to my first query.
At last--something positive, active, meaningful, beneficial, purposeful . . .
The documents which both the Post and we examined were written by other people in the Guard, presumably those with access to secretaries.
I think your missing something. Rather continues to keep the story alive. Why? What is Rather's exit plan?
Ever so quietly talk suggesting Rather's document source is someone in the Kerry campaign is starting to surface. I think Kerry is toast anyway but if anyone is able to establish a link to the Kerry campaign staff we are looking at a Bush landslide.
IMHO Danny Boy is a Clinton sock puppet on a mission to destroy Kerry.
I have already started calling him Richard Milhous Rather.
When I put this together with all the other hypotheticals and anachronisms, all I can say is:What a complicated, multiple life Killian led. The people who were closest to him, knew him the least. Memos were given the "Scientific texts" treatment.
My earlier comment that Bush's Guard Unit was a CIA outpost could be true. Maybe Bush was in Cambodia during those months missing from his Alabama records.
Even better, since we're talking about hypotheticals and anachronisms, let's just say GW Bush was really the Scarlet Pimpernel . He constructed the role of a playboy to cover his patriotic efforts.
Great overview.
Thanks for your reply. Your vehemence is impressive. Has the First Lady now become the White House spokesperson? How much did Pat Nixon know of the Watergate burglary? How much did his wife know of Clinton's affair with Monica? In both cases, the answer is the same: not the truth until after their husbands told them -- belatedly. Your response about Killian's death pre-supposes that all of my other queries are frivolous and therefore, there seems no call for me to proceed further.
On FNC's Fox and Friends, former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg remarks: "I've been watching watching television news since I was five years old or thereabouts. I have never in my life seen a more one-sided piece, in the history--in the history, of television. Everybody in that story backed up, to one degree or another, CBS News's position in this. It was absolutely disgraceful."
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