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..............In the years that CBS producer Mary Mapes has been pursuing this story, she never contacted Lt. Col. Jerry Killian's secretary, Marian Carr Knox, until after her existence was revealed by the Drudge Report. On 60 Minutes on Wednesday, Knox said that the documents were forgeries, but the content was accurate. Mapes interviewed Killian's widow Marjorie Connell and his son Gary. Both expressed doubt to the CBS producer that the documents were real. Neither of them have appeared on the network nor even been mentioned in CBS's reporting. CBS' own experts have moved away from the authenticity of the documents....

"Mr. Rather is standing by his story, but hanging on by his fingernails. The focus had been on whether CBS had relied on forgeries. In his second 60 Minutes broadcast, Rather had the courage to bring onstage the 86-year old secretary, Mrs. Marian Carr Knox, who said flat-out that the document suggesting inattentive duty was a forgery — this was not a document typed by her or in her office. But even though the document was fake, Mrs. Knox went on, its sentiments weren't fake."

Apparently the Chirac Broadcasting System hasn't learned the first rule of politics: when you're in a hole, stop digging. Marian Carr Knox -- the 86-year old former secretary to Dubya's squadron commander, Jerry Killian -- was flown to New York to talk to 60 Minutes last night, and began the conversation by saying the famous CBS memos weren't authentic. But, like any lawyer who doesn't have opposing counsel to object to improper questions, Dan Rather led her through statements about which she apparently knew nothing. And Mrs. Knox speculated her heart out. Mrs. Knox said that though the CBS documents...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A former Texas Air National Guard official who served at the same time as President Bush says he believes the bigger story about gaps in Bush's service is being overlooked in disputes over the validity of certain Guard documents. ``I think the public ought to be concerned about his preferential treatment getting in and whether he satisfied his commitment to the Air Guard. Those are the two fundamental questions,'' said Robert Strong, the administrative officer in charge of air operations at Guard state headquarters from early 1971 until March 1972.Documents publicized last week by the CBS...

Marian Carr Knox's story has been shifting fast and furious over the last 3 days, and quite dramatically from a week ago. She seems to add more charges with each interview she gives. Compare: ABC News, Sept 14 "He did have complaints about Bush. Bush missed his physical and went off to Alabama with none of the paperwork, I remember Killian talking about that," Knox said. "But it wasn't in memo file." CBS News, Sept 16 Did Knox ever hear Killian talk about this, or did he write memos about Bush not taking the physical? “He was upset about it....

A former secretary at Ellington Air Force Base is challenging the legitimacy of documents used to discredit President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard, saying the records are probably fake because she never typed them. Marian Carr Knox, 86, former secretary to Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, worked at the Houston air base from 1956 to 1979. She is now retired. "They're forgeries as far as I'm concerned because I didn't type them," Knox said Tuesday at her southwest Houston home. She said she typed all of Killian's memoranda and office letters during the time Bush served under him...

In what appears to be a case of a torpedo reversing course, documents that formed the basis for a 60 Minutes report alleging misconduct by President Bush when he served in the Texas Air National Guard in the early 1970s have been debunked as crude forgeries by document experts and the widow and son of the officer who allegedly wrote them.

This may come as a shock to some of you, but I grew up idolizing Dan Rather. In 1973, he stood up to Richard Nixon and asked tough questions in a press conference when the Watergate scandal was unfolding. Nixon tried to deflect the query by saying: "Are you running for something?" Rather's brilliant retort: "No, Mr. President, are you?"

(snip) Killian's former secretary, 86-year-old Marian Carr Knox, also questioned the documents in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. "These are not real," Knox said in a story posted Tuesday on the newspaper's Web site. "They're not what I typed, and I would have typed them for him." Knox told the newspaper she did not recall typing the memos, but that they echoed Killian's views on Mr. Bush. She said he retained memos for a personal "cover his back" file he kept in a locked drawer of his desk, but she was not sure what happened to them when...

BUSH COMMANDER'S SECRETARY SAYS MEMOS ARE FAKE, CONTENT IS ACCURATE: "I did not type those memos& It's not the form I would have used. And there are words that belong to the Army, not to the Air Guard... However -- the information in those are correct," Marian Carr Knox says on "60 Minutes II"... CRITICIZES BUSH'S ATTITUDE: "Plain and simple. Bush didn't think he had to go by the rules that others did." RATHER DOES NOT MENTION KNOX IS A DEMOCRAT EARLIER: CBS NEWS PRESIDENT DEFENDS REPORTING: "We established to our satisfaction that the memos were accurate or we would...

First post so be gentle. Marian Carr Knox says the memos are fake cuz "...there are words in there that belong to the Army, not the Air Guard" Bill Burkett was a "retired Texas National Guard officer" If he was the forger wouldn't he have known better? Maybe he faxed the memos but wouldn't it be unlikely that he wrote it?

1) Rather mentions Ben Barnes in the opening and fails to disclose Barnes' ties to the Kerry campaign, misleading people who did not see the original piece 2) Rather made no mention of Amy Barnes' (Ben's daughter) statements that her father's statements on the 60 Minutes piece are politically motivated 3) In Rather's introduction, he says: "The woman who describes herself as Colonel Killian's right hand during much of the 1970s, Marianne Carr Knox, Colonel Killian's secretary, flew to NY this afternoon to tell us she believes the documents we obtained are not authentic. But, there is yet another confusing...

Isn't there an absolute logical inconsistency to relying on the word of anyone who steps forward to vouch for the substance of forged documents? Let's set the stage.Some totally dishonest person has created false evidence. They had to think about making it look real. Names, dates, terminology, issues. They not only forge documents, but in this case U.S. military records of a dead officer, in order to smear the President of these United States. Already it seems there has to be a special place in Hell for this person.Not only have they created these fakes, their motives are so impure...

CBS has a problem on their hands. They have this square peg they been trying to beat into a round hole and it just won't fit no matter how many times they beat it with a hammer. Instead of using a round peg they appear to have decided to replace their square peg with yet another square peg in hopes they can somehow force it to fit. CBS has a name for their new square peg: Marion Carr Knox. It is obviously clear that Ms. Knox is a perfect fit for the square thinking of CBS -- she considers Bush...

Rather Talks of Questions On Papers Controversy About Bush and Guard 'Not About Me' By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 16, 2004; Page A01 CBS anchor Dan Rather acknowledged for the first time yesterday that there are serious questions about the authenticity of the documents he used to question President Bush's National Guard record last week on "60 Minutes." "If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story," Rather said in an interview last night. "Any time I'm wrong, I want to be right out front and say, 'Folks,...

Marion Knox's statements prove the documents are forgeries and not even factually incorrect. Dan Rather again showed his bais by not following up on her statements. All he wanted was a statement they were factually correct, despite the fact her others statements prove otherwise.

NEW YORK - Top Republicans on Wednesday tried to tie the Kerry campaign to disputed documents used by CBS News for a story examining President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas National Guard and called for a congressional investigation. Meanwhile, CBS News president Andrew Heyward promised to work harder to answer questions about the veracity of memos it believes were written by the president's late National Guard commander. The network continues to maintain that "the content" of the story is true. The documents written by Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian indicated he was being pressured to sugarcoat the performance ratings...

HOUSTON (Talon News) -- Despite repeated assertions by CBS news that documents used in a "60 Minutes II" story to question the National Guard service of President George W. Bush are authentic, more testimony continues to emerge which eat away at CBS's claims. Now, the secretary of former Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, the supposed author of the documents, says that Killian never typed memos. "He didn't need to. He had me," Marion Carr Knox, Killian's former secretary at the Texas Air National Guard said to Internet reporter Matt Drudge. Knox added, "I did not type these particular memos. I typed...

While CBS continues to treat the viewing public like idiots, they’ve sent a much more detailed statement to their affiliate stations. An undercover lizardoid operative has forwarded the statement to me: September 15, 2004MARION CARR KNOX, SECRETARY OF LT. COL. JERRY KILLIAN, TO APPEAR ON “60 MINUTES” TONIGHT IN FIRST TELEVISION INTERVIEWCBS NEWS AFFIRMS ITS INTENTION TO CONTINUE TO REPORT ALL ASPECTS OF THE STORYMarion Carr Knox, the secretary of Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, whose personal memos were part of a report on last Wednesday’s (8) 60 MINUTES broadcast regarding questions about President Bush’s service at the Texas Air National...

Well, time will tell if this little stunt buys them the time they need to let this pass. We need to keep up the pressure on this. Thank goodness for guys like Bozell and Britt + Tony Snow. I'm gonna just puke if they get away with this by hiding behind a partisan 86 year old grandma. Though nothing suprises me today.