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Whether I'm beating a dead horse depeneds on whether you still can't make up your mind about whether the documents are fake. So, you tell me. The Wikipedia article, which cites Newcomer, is easier to absorb than Newcomer in the original Greek, if that's any help.

I can't tell you whether the documents are fake. I can tell you that a consensus of experts says they're fake, that CBS repudiated the Rather report and fired, demoted or discredited those associated with it, and that Rather, himself, says he wouldn't have used the documents in question. Given that it's very likely the documents were fake...and certain they never should have been used and were only because of Rather's bias, arrogance, self-righteousness, and ambition.

Why is my position so difficult to accept?

At the time I didn't know about the opinions of a consensus and I found it impossible to follow the technical discussion. One guy said a typewriter could do what another said it couldn't. One expert claimed a near perfect match for the documents and Word generated modern copies. Another said the similarities were only superficial and disappeared upon examination under magnification. A third said it was impossible to decide because, after so many generations of copying, too much noise had been introduced. And so on.

By the way, I believe it's true that a consensus of experts supports the idea that modern global warming is caused by human activity...and that Intelligent design is about as scientific as necromancy.