Will Smear Republican For Food
Today on the CBS Evening News, he offered the classic “winged pigs” defense on Memogate:
Distilled down to its base essence, this is like using several soapboxes as proof that your target farted in church on the grounds that he plotted to keep anybody from detecting it by ingesting the soap so he could blow lilac-scented bubbles out his ass.There were attacks today on the CBS News 60 Minutes report this week raising new questions about President Bush's Vietnam-era time in the Texas Air National Guard.
The questions raised by our report include:
[TAKE: GRAPHICS]
— Did a wealthy Texas oilman-friend of the Bush family use his influence with the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives .. to get George W. Bush a coveted slot in the National Guard .. keeping him out of the draft and any probable service IN Vietnam?
[TAKE: BULLET]
— Did Lieutenant Bush refuse a direct order from his commanding officer?
[TAKE: BULLET]
— Was Lieutenant. Bush suspended for failure to perform up to standards?
[TAKE: BULLET]
— Did Lieutenant Bush ever take a physical he was required and ordered to take? If not, why not?
[TAKE: BULLET]
— And did Lieutenant Bush, in fact, complete his commitment to the Guard?
[TAKE: OC]
These questions grew out of new witnesses and new evidence — including documents written by Lieutenant Bush's squadron commander.
Today, on the internet and elsewhere, some people — including many who are partisan political operatives — concentrated not on the key questions the overall story raised but on the documents that were part of the support of the story.
They alleged the documents are FAKE.
(TRACK UP)
[TAKE: RATHER VTR]
{ DOCUMENTS}
EVENING NEWS/RATHER
9-10-04
TRACK: MANY OF THOSE RAISING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CBS DOCUMENTS HAVE FOCUSED ON SOMETHING CALLED SUPERSCRIPT...
A KEY THAT AUTOMATICALLY TYPES A RAISED "TH". CRITICS CLAIM TYPEWRITERS DIDN'T HAVE THAT ABILITY IN THE 70S.
BUT SOME MODELS DID....
IN FACT, OTHER BUSH MILITARY RECORDS ALREADY RELEASED BY THE WHITE HOUSE ITSELF SHOW THE SAME SUPERSCRIPT.
HERE'S ONE..... FROM 1968.
SOME ANALYSTS OUTSIDE CBS SAY THEY BELIEVE THE TYPEFACE ON THESE MEMOS IS NEW TIMES ROMAN.... WHICH THEY CLAIM WAS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE 1970S. BUT THE OWNER OF THE COMPANY THAT DISTRIBUTES THIS TYPING STYLE.... SAYS IT HAS BEEN AVAILABLE SINCE 1931.
DOCUMENT AND HANDWRITING EXAMINER MARCEL MATLEY ANALYZED THE DOCUMENTS FOR CBS NEWS.
HE SAYS HE BELIEVES THEY ARE REAL...BUT IS CONCERNED ABOUT EXACTLY WHAT IS BEING EXAMINED BY SOME OF THE PEOPLE QUESTIONING THE DOCUMENTS....
BECAUSE DETIORATION 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.
DOCUMENT AND HANDWRITING EXAMINER MARCEL MATLEY DID THIS INTERVIEW WITH US PRIOR TO THE 60 MINUTES BROADCAST.
HE LOOKED AT THE DOCUMENTS AND THE SIGNATURES OF COLONEL JERRY KILLIAN....COMPARING KNOWN DOCUMENTS WITH THE COLONEL'S SIGNATURE ON THE NEWSLY DISCOVERED ONES.
1:01:08
SOT/MATLEY "WE LOOK BASICALLY AT WHAT'S CALLED SIGNIFICANT OR INSIGNIFICANT FEATURES TO DETERMINE WHETHER IT'S THE SAME PERSON OR NOT..../// I HAVE NO PROBLEM IDENTIFYING THEM. ///
I WOULD SAY BASED ON OUR AVAILABLE HANDWRITING EVIDENCE, YES. THIS IS THE SAME PERSON."
TRACK: MATLEY FINDS THE SIGNAT'URES TO BE SOME OF THE MOST COMPELLING EVIDENCE...
WE TALKED TO HIM TODAY BY SATELLITE.
14:32:58
SOT/MATLEY "SINCE IT IS REPRESENTED THAT SOME OF THEM ARE DEFINITELY HIS...THEN WE CAN CONCLUDE THEY ARE HIS SIGNATURES."
14:33:30
SOT/DAN "ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT QUESTIONS COME ABOUT THESE. WE'RE NOT, BUT I WAS WONDERING IF YOU'RE SURPRISED."
SOT/MATLEY "I KNEW GOING IN THAT THIS WAS DYNAMITE ONE WAY OR THE OTHER AND I KNEW THAT POTENTIALLY IT COULD DO FAR MORE POTENTIAL DAMAGE TO ME PROFESSIONALLY THAN BENEFIT ME. AND I KNEW THAT. BUT WE SEEK THE TRUTH. THAT'S WHAT WE DO. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PUT YOURSELF OUT. TO SEEK THE TRUTH AND TAKE WHAT
COMES FROM IT."
TRACK: ROBERT STRONG WAS AN ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER FOR THE TEXAS AIR NATIONAL GUARD DURING THE VIETNAM YEARS.
HE KNEW JERRY KILLIAN, THE MAN CREDITED WITH WRITING THE DOCUMENTS.... AND PAPER WORK... LIKE THESE DOCUMENTS...WAS HIS SPECIALTY.
HE IS STANDING BY HIS JUDGEMENT THAT THE DOCUMENTS ARE REAL.
1:23:47
SOT/DAN "WHEN YOU READ THROUGH THESE DOCUMENTS, IS THERE ANY DOUBT IN YOUR MIND THAT THESE ARE GENUINE/"
SOT/STRONG "WELL,, THEY ARE COMPATIBLE WITH THE WAY BUSINESS WAS DONE AT THAT TIME. THEY ARE COMPATIBLE WITH THE MAN I REMEMBER JERRY KILLIAN BEING. I DON'T SEE ANYTHING IN THE DOCUMENTS THAT'S DISCORDANT WITH WHAT WERE THE TIMES, THE SITUATION OR THE PEOPLE INVOLVED."
TRACK: STRONG SAYS THE HIGHLY CHARGED POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE OF THE GUARD AT THE TIME... WAS PERFECTLY REPRESENTED IN THE NEW DOCUMENT.S
2:10:53
SOT/STRONG "IT VERGED ON OUTRIGHT CORRUPTION IN TERMS OF THE FAVORS THAT WERE DONE, THE POWER THAT WAS TRADED. AND IT WAS
UNCONSCIONABLE. FROM A MORAL AND ETHICAL STANDPOINT. IT WAS UNCONSCIONABLE."
TRACK: IT IS THE INFORMATION IN THE NEW DOCUMENTS THAT IS MOST COMPELLING FOR PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH PRESIDENT BUSH'S RECORD IN THE NATIONAL GUARD.
13:29:28
SOT/DAN "YOU'VE STUDIED PRESIDENT BUSH'S RECORDS FOR 10 YEARS.. ARE THESE DOCUMENTS CONSISTENT WITH TE RECORD AS YOU KNOW IT."
13:29:38
SOT/MOORE "THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY CONSISTENT WITH THE RECORDS AS I KNOW IT."
13:38:26
SOT/DAN "PUT IT IN CONTEXT AND PERSPECTIVE FOR US ... THE STORY AND WHAT WE CALL THE COUNTERATTACK ON THE STORY. WHERE ARE WE RIGHT NOW?
13:38:38
SOT/MOORE "I THINK WHAT HAS HAPPENED IS SOME INCRIMINATING DOCUMENTS HAVE COME OUT. THE WHITE HOUSE, YOU SHOULD REMEMBER, HAS NOT DISCREDITED THE DOCUMENTS. THEY'RE RELYING ON THE BLOGOSPHERE AND OTHER PEOPLE TO DO THAT. BECAUSE THE WHITE HOUSE PROBABLY KNOWS THESE DOCUMENTS ARE IN FACT REAL."
Jonathan Rothenberg of blogsforbush.com – where, to make full public disclosure, my humble little Internet journal is now listed – gives a less colorful but devastatingly succinct tale of the tape:
-CBS went back to its lone expert to reaffirm his initial claim of authenticity and, because he did, the documents are, therefore, real.Rather’s “THEY ARE, TOO, AUTHENTIC! I’M GOING TO HOLD MY BREATH UNTIL YOU ADMIT IT!!” stonewalling is hardly surprising, I suppose. Nobody wants to admit that they’ve been made to look…well, as stupid as they all think Bush is. Still less does Gunga-Dan want to admit that he was suckered by the very campaign whose water he’s carrying as slavishly as a towel boy for the Skinny Dippin’ Wolf Women of Planet Heineken. Would bring back too many uncomfortable memories of his palm frond waving for the Man from Grope. He’s probably hoping he gets to go fishing again with Saddam Hussein.
-CBS did not attempt, at all, to air the opinions of the many handwriting, typographic and forensic experts who disagree.
-CBS simply claimed that typewriters existed when the letter was purportedly written and that Times New Roman font existed as well and that, therefore, the documents are real.
-CBS did not defend the claim that the Times New Roman font was not offered on the typewriters used at that time or that such a low-level function as National Guard clerical work would have had what was then a highly sophisticated and expensive word processing system.
-CBS ignored the issue of fixed-pitch versus proportional pitch.
-CBS ignored the fact that, using Microsoft Word's default settings, today one could write an EXACT replica of the supposed letter
-CBS dismissed the statements of the purported author's family that such a letter was out of character.
-CBS did not interview contemporaries who dispute the legitimacy of the documents but interviewed one contemporary of the purported author to support the CBS account.
-CBS did not interview any opposing viewpoints, but did interview the author of 2 Bush-bashing books.
Since Rather’s probably close to calling it a career anyway, and the bloom fell off his professional rose a loooooong time ago, he may feel like he’s got little to lose by not bailing out of this fiasco – though I would think CBS News would. But that brings us back, as I alluded to yesterday, to the question of where these bogus memos came from.
According to the ever-resourceful American Spectator Prowler column, the paper trail is pretty much what one would have expected.
More than six weeks ago, an opposition research staffer for the Democratic National Committee received documents purportedly written by President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard squadron commander, the late Colonel Jerry Killian.
The oppo researcher claimed the source was ‘a retired military officer.’ According to a DNC staffer, the documents were seen by both senior staff members at the DNC, as well as the Kerry campaign."More than a couple people heard about the papers," says the DNC staffer.
I've heard that they ended up with the Kerry campaign, for them to decide to how to proceed, and presumably they were handed over to 60 Minutes, which used them the other night. But I know this much. When there was discussion here, there were doubts raised about their authenticity."
Given that they were dutifully and eagerly passed along anyway, one surmises that the “doubts about their authenticity” fell along the lines of, “You think we’ll get caught?” as opposed to any ethical concerns, much less protecting the tattered remains of their candidate’s public integrity. OTOH, this would seem to further distance the Clintonoids from culpability. Or does it?
According to a Kerry campaign source, there was little gossip about the supposedly hot documents inside the office of the campaign on McPherson Square. ‘Those documents were not something anyone was talking about or trying to generate buzz on,’ says the staffer. ‘It wasn't like there were small groups of people talking about this as a bombshell. I think people here weren't sure what to make of it, because provenance of these documents was uncertain."
This would square with the notion of the Clinton squad coming into the campaign, reconnoitering its resources, discovering these phony documents, and throwing them immediately into the fray. It would also help explain why the Clintons’ DNC puppet, Terry McAuliffe, appeared to be pissing himself today:
Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe today said neither his organization nor John Kerry´s campaign leaked to CBS documents questioning President Bush´s service record, which may have been forged. He suggested White House adviser Karl Rove could be behind the documents. ‘I can unequivocally say that no one involved here at the Democratic National Committee had anything at all to do with any of those documents. If I were an aspiring young journalist, I think I would ask Karl Rove that question,’ Mr. McAuliffe said.
Uh-huh. It doesn’t require a sensitive olfactory capacity to determine that T-Mac’s rhetorical flatulence doesn’t smell like lilac. I just wish Rove was half as much the grand master the Dems make him out to be. Maybe then Bush would be up by Johnson-Goldwater/Nixon-McGovern magnitude and the disloyal opposition could be busying itself preparing for Hillary’s grand processional four years from now.
Still, it’s not as though these attacks on the President’s service were ever going to gain any more traction – read zippo – than they had before in any of Bush’s three previous campaigns. If this weren’t the case, there wouldn’t have been the compulsion to fabricate these Killian memos in the first place. Indeed, perhaps the greatest irony of the latter is that even if these documents were authentic, the story still would make no sense and would pale in comparison to the totality and quality of Dubya’s National Guard stint which spanned five years and four months, the first four years full-time duty, and with enough accumulated service to fulfill a nineteen-year obligation, let alone six.
Yet the President doesn’t brag about it, and has never run on it. And if Senator Kerry had done the same, his Swiftboat Vet problems would never have materialized. Guess it sucks to be him, aside from the billion-dollar fortune.
I think when we look back on this campaign we’ll scratch our heads in amazement that the Democrats could ever have nominated somebody so hapless and vulnerable even apart from the suffocating, tone-deaf hauteur and the corrupt willingness to hurl tsunamis of mud at the first hint of two-way criticism.
The clumsiness, carelessness, and cluelessness of this caper may be the official stake through the heart, according to Democrat analyst Pat Caddell on Fox News Live today:
CADDELL: But more importantly than the overall numbers, it's what the internal numbers are showing. The hemorrhaging that John Kerry was having in August has not stopped. It's amazing. I've done a half-dozen Presidential campaigns and four major nominees, and I've never seen this kind of problem. And his negatives are going up, at a point, he's got the highest negatives by a consensus of these polls, that any challenger in the history of American Presidential politics. And this thing that they're doing with this going after Bush on this National Guard is insane. The last thing in the world they need is to have Vietnam on the table, and that is exactly what they're doing with this. I have no idea what they're doing with this.It would be the end of the race. He said it three times in a row. And then concluded that he’s trying to “save his party.”
JANE SKINNER: We're going to get to that Vietnam issue in just a second, Pat.
CADDELL: No, I'm just saying this is a wrong issue for them; they've got to get back to something more serious, another agenda…when I was talking about hemorrhaging I'm talking about it's across the board in the numbers, and it's still going on. The motion is happening day to day, and it's taking up areas, and by the way by larger margins than the vote numbers, vote movement takes place last. And what I'm saying is yes, this thing can swing back and events can do it, but they have got to get to another message soon, or this thing could close out in a few weeks.
SKINNER: And Dan, just the last 10 seconds to you. This issue of the CBS, the memos, the Air National Guard service, any impact if indeed in turns out, and we don't know at this point if indeed it turns out that these are fake memos? Any impact on the race?
DAN LUNGREN: It would just be piling on on John Kerry because-
CADDELL: It would be the end of the race.
LUNGREN: Fair or not, people would look at it, people would look at it as another evidence.
CADDELL: It would be the end of the race. It would be the end of the race. They're so involved in this, they have gotten themselves so involved in this issue, the last 24 hours, that somebody's going to, if they're not authentic, they're going to be blamed for it. It's incredible to me that they've gotten in this.
LUNGREN: I've never had the opportunity to agree with Pat so much.
SKINNER: We don't know what's going on!
CADDELL: Well I'm trying to save my party, you know, by telling the truth.
Almost sounds like Zell Miller without the twang.
posted by JASmius at 8:36 PM
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