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.

[cyncooper]

Has the First Lady now become the White House spokesperson?

No, but she was asked a question and answered it honestly. Scott McClellan is a WH spokesperson and he has addressed the concerns raised that the papers might be forged.

[wvromania]

true i may be missing something, but ONE HAS TO Honestly agree the MEDIA:

DID NOT GIVE COVERAGE TO VETERANS IN D.C. RALLY., NOR GIVING THIS NEW INFO ON KERRY AS MUCH SPEED/COVERAGE AS THE CBS NEWS. NOR HAS MEDIA PRESSED THE DNC ABOUT BUSH AND USAF CLAIM, AFTER BUSH SHOWED HE WAS ON ACTIVE DUTY FOR 120 DAYS...NOTHING BEING SHOWN IN MSM ABOUT THE DNC LIES, BECAUSE WE ARE ALLOWING THEM TO GET AWAY WITH DRAGGING OUT THIS STORY.

WHY BECAUSE KERRY AND CBS HAS THEM TALKING ABOUT "BS" THAT IS NEWS STILL TO THIS DAY,
CLINTON TOLD KERRY TO GET OFF OF VIETNAM, TRUE HE MAY WANT HIM TO LOSE. NOW THAT CBS HAS CHANGED THE TALKING POINTS FROM KERRY'S MILIARY RECORD TO THE MEDIA RECORD AND BUSH.....IN CLINTON'S WORLD THIS HURTS BOTH KERRY AND BUSH.

AND THE SWIFTBOAD GUYS ARE NOW VERY BOTTOM OF MEDIA'S ATTENTION...

REMEMBER THOUGH, WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM.

[ServesURight]

FReepers, cut I.M. Trenchant some slack here. He asked some questions that he was unfamiliar with and they've been answered. There's no need for ad-hominem attacks and replies that border on arrogancy. I too am unfamiliar with this topic, but I'm smart enough to just lurk and get the details.

[syriacus]

..leave it to time to tell us if your broadsides about hypotheticals and anachronisms were valid.

Good idea. I can live with the truth. That's why I quit being a socialist liberal Democrat. I'm merely a humble human being who doesn't have to push Democratic "innuendos" and "hypotheticals" every weekday evening, as poor Dan Rather does.

It's apparent that variations on the word "hypothetical" are very useful in discussions about Dan Rather.

[hflynn]

Shucks, you missed it again.

[syriacus]

There's no need for ad-hominem attacks

Which attacks are you referring to?

[wvromania]

hopefully we are all on the same team., here, i've just noticed that these important things are loosing air time also., and this could their way of changing the subject away from KERRY's war crimes, etc.

DID NOT GIVE COVERAGE TO VETERANS IN D.C. RALLY (OTHER THAN CSPAN)., NOR ARE THEY GIVING THIS NEW INFO ON KERRY'S SILVER STAR VIA SHOOTING A MAN IN THE BACK-- AS MUCH SPEED/COVERAGE AS THE CBS NEWS. NOR HAS MEDIA PRESSED THE DNC COMMERICIAL LIE ABOUT BUSH AND USAF CLAIM, AFTER BUSH SHOWED HE WAS ON ACTIVE DUTY FOR 120 DAYS...NOTHING BEING SHOWN IN MSM ABOUT THE DNC LIES, BECAUSE WE ARE ALLOWING THEM TO GET AWAY WITH DRAGGING OUT THIS STORY.

KERRY WAS HURTIN MUCH WORSE WHEN THE SWIFTBOAT GUYS, AND VETERANS WHERE IN THE NEWS, NOT DAN RATHER'S GAME. THE MOST DAN WILL GET MAY BE A FINE., REMEMBER WITH ELECTION BE CLOSE, THEY DON'T HAVE DRAG IT OUT LONG. DAN CAN PAY IS PRICE AFTER BUSH WIN'S IN LANDSLIDE.

AND THE SWIFTBOAD GUYS ARE NOW VERY BOTTOM OF MEDIA'S ATTENTION...

REMEMBER THOUGH, WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM.

[katana]

I'd like to take a crack at answering and/or replying with my own questions to the five points you raised.

1) Probably because they understand that this whole incident is backfiring hugely against everybody associated with it. Unlike Kerry, Bush may be smart enough to know that directly responding to something most people think is irrelevant would only serve to make it relevant. Right now the issue isn't whether he missed a physical the issue is fraud and deception by the most prominent member of major network news and I suspect he and his people want it to stay that way.

2) No one can be certain of anything except that the documents were typed in MS-Word font size 11 Times New Roman format. The precise alignment when the doc's and a new print of the same text are over laid seems conclusive. If you want to try and type one up and have it do the same thing feel free, but be sure to let us know how long it took and how much work was involved.

3) Yes, I was in college at that time and I remember typing on IBM Selectrics. Unfortunately for Rather's case I don't think anyone has said that this document could be proportionally spaced on a standard IBM Selectric, but only on an obscure and highly specialized version.

4) Do you think anybody in the Texas Air National Guard would prepare a personal memo to file as if they were typing up a math or chemistry exam? Come on.

5) Did you see any variation in the height of the superscripts within the documents and shouldn't there have been some if your last point is correct?

[cyncooper]

Evidently it escaped your attention that the MSM was not covering the Swift Vets except to try and discredit them.

The Swift Vets are doing fine and the exposure of CBS colluding with the DNC and Kerry Kamp to attack Bush will only underscore that they were trying to distract from the Swifties.

If you think the Kerry Kamp is not hurting you aren't aware of what is going on here.

[cyncooper]

I don't know why you addressed "all". Most of us replied courteously with fact-filled posts in reply to his queries.

If you have a complaint about a particular post or posts, address them directly. Don't paint the lot of us with the same brush.

[Nevermore]

Nice try. Fact is, the 1970's machine capable of producing this type of document (proportional spacing & special characters, superscripting, etc.) was not just a common typewriter, not a steno's tool, but a publisher's tool. But more conclusive is the issue of the exact match of spacing, kerning, alignment and behavior (e.g. when characters are or are not superscripted) to a modern, MS Word processor. These are mathematically intricate, non-trival coincidences.

By the way, Capricorn One was not documentary and Elvis is dead. Deal with it.

[IM2MAD]

Especially the "V" for valor notation and enhancements to Kerry's original medal documents.

[Mach9]

GO FOR IT.

[wvromania]

I'M AWARE AND AGREE WITH WHAT YOU FEEL., I JUST DIDN'T NOTICE NOTHING ON TV ABOUT THE REAL ISSUE OF KERRY'S FRAUD FILLED PROTESTING, VOTING RECORD. NOR HAVE WE HEARD ABOUT DNC COMMERICAL STATING BUSH WAS ON NOT IN usaf, WHEN HE WAS ON ACTIVE DUTY ....NOTHING...
ALL I'M SAYING DON'T LET THEM MAKE EVERYONE FORGET THE REAL REASON KERRY SHOULD NOT BE CINC OF OUR KIDS. NOT THE WRONG DOING OF THE RATS RATHER AND DNC. THE CBS STORY CAN BE CARRIED ON FOR OVER A YEAR, TO POSSIBLE LEGAL ISSUES, ETC, BUT HE ELECTION WILL BE COME AND GONE. I'M JUST AFRAID THEY ARE TRYING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT, WITHOUT LOOKING LIKE THEY ARE. MOST DEMOCRATS AROUND ME HERE IN WV ARE SAYING THIS IS RATHER'S MESS UP NOT KERRY'S.

[John Valentine]

There is one more possibility that has to be allowed for: That Killian or someone back in 1972, with great effort and precision happened to precisely match a document format not to be inexistence for another fifteen years - through sheer coincidence and dumb luck.

The chance of that happening is indistinguishable from the chance that a chimpanzee could sit down in front of a typewriter and compose a limerick - and not just any limerick - this one:

CBS replaced Cronkite with Rather
With Cronkite's blessing, I gather.
But as Danny grew older
His indiscretions grew bolder
And his words became nothing but blather

i.e. vanishingly small. Ergo, the documents are recent computer generated fabrications.

Case closed hard.

[wvromania]

No i didn't miss it again, not every has to agree with everything everyone says; i do agree (note i say agree with you on the rather issue) but what is concerning me is if this plays out and finger pointing is made over the next month and kerry mole is found., he can be fired., and kerry can distance himself from it......in the meantime, there are many many things that need to be keep in the media, like the things i mentioned before. shoots for all we know this Rather thing can play out for 6months to a year. they are still trying to get reporters to tell who leaked info in the joe wilson case.

just a opinion, just when i give mine, i get slammed. history will prove it i'm right or i'm "WRONG"....if i'm wrong then i'm the first to admit it.,


we all can agree they are forgeries., that already hurts Kerry, regardless, ...just don't let them use it to their advantage.. the truth will always surface in time.

[hflynn]

New Thread just started title "Here We Go Some More"

MEANWHILE, OVER THE WEEKEND journalists from around the country were attempting to track down the original source of the documents. "We're having a hard time tracking how we got the documents," says the CBS News producer. "There are at least two people in this building who have insisted we got copies of these memos from the Kerry campaign by way of an additional source. We do not have the originals, and our sources have indicated to us that we will not be getting the originals. How that is possible I don't know."

Damn, your missing it.

[beyond the sea]

Yes, ..... and a great movie!

[KC Burke]

One of the interesting things about this forum is that it always debunks and vets its own positions. The readers and followers get, not only the strengths of the media rebuttals, but the honest nuances that keep the conservative position from stalinistic lock-step thinking so much a part of the left. Your questioning preserves such an internal standard.

Occasionally, there are lurkers questioning for the mere purpose of casting doubt and befuddling the opposition. You have never appeared to be such an animal and rightly shouldn't be addressed as though you were.

[Aunt Polgara]

You seem to be overly concerned with the superscript issue. Yes, typists could move the platen to make superscripts, but to make the superscripts in those fogeries, it would have been necessary to either a) have special superscript characters or b) change the font ball, since the superscripts were smaller than the rest of the type.

Much more telling problems with the forgeries is the use of proportional fonts, kerning, text centering and line height. To my knowledge, not a single person has been able to produce copies of these documents with any 70's era equipment. Lord knows, I'm sure they are trying. Can you do it? I believe there is a reward for the first person to be able to do it.