This has the the DNC’s fingerprints all over it:
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 Col. 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.”
The concerns arose from the sourcing. “It wasn’t clear that our source for the documents would have had access to them. Our person couldn’t confirm from what file, from what original source they came from.”
Wanna end this and prove the documents are true. Do the following:
1.) Name the source of the documents.
2.) Name how the source got the documents.
3.) Release other documents from the same time period.
4.) Explain all the inaccuracies in military lingo and regulations.
5.) Explain the presence of a General’s name in the 1973 document when the General retireed in 1972.
6.) Explain the existence of a machine that had all the capapbilities to produce these documents in the time period. And don;t just say one existed that could do proportional fonts, one existed that could do superscript, etc. Shoe me one that could do all of these things, and then show me that it was in the Lt. Col.’s reach.
7.) Show me one office in any branch of the military who would not only write a memo accusing superiors of illegal pressure, but would sign it , distribute it, and keep it.
Good fucking luck. I must admit I am savoring the backlash that is going to occur against the DNC and CBS. However, in light ofrecent events, an argument could be made they are the same thing.
*** Update ***
Even Kevin Drum has some questions, and no one, and I repeat, NO ONE wants to believe that Bush was AWOL more desperately than Kevin.
S.W. Anderson
” I must admit I am savoring the backlash that is going to occur against the DNC and CBS.
Suppose for a moment someone created bogus documents with deliberate telltale flaws and made them available to certain people
JPS
So how did “someone”–hypothetically–know that CBS could be counted on to swallow them hook, line and sinker?
Um, let me rephrase. How did this hypothetical scoundrel make CBS abandon its journalistic integrity in its eagerness to prove what they already knew must be true?
beartums
The Spectator as a window into the DNC? Give me a break. Certainly the memos are more authentic than those made-up quotes.
Dean Esmay
I don’t trust the American Spectator as a source on something like this either, but the question remains open as to who produced these forgeries.
Steve
Regarding Drum, yeah he has done a pretty decent job of being skeptical about this. So far this makes him the most rational/respectable Lefty blogger out there. The rest appear to be kool-aid drinkers.
Dean
Mis-ter Anderson:
By your “logic,” who was more likely to undertake a second-rate burglary into the headquarters of the DNC, using a piece of tape (easily discovered) to keep a door open, and pay for these burglars from publicly traceable accounts?
John Cole:
Along the way to fantasy-land, you’d might as well ask CBS to press the Kerry campaign for a copy of his military records, too.
Just sayin’…