Archives for 2004

It looks like the rats are hurrying to get off the sinking ship that is CBS, and the title really says it all: “Expert Cited by CBS Says He Didn’t Authenticate Papers.”

This is, hands down, the most scathing indictment of the incompetence of the hacks at CBS, and it lists, line by line, the flaws in the forgeries:

– Word-processing techniques. Of more than 100 records made available by the 147th Group and the Texas Air National Guard, none used the proportional spacing techniques characteristic of the CBS documents. Nor did they use a superscripted “th” in expressions such as “147th Group” and or “111th Fighter Intercept Squadron…”

– Factual problems. A CBS document purportedly from Killian ordering Bush to report for his annual physical, dated May 4, 1972, gives Bush’s address as “5000 Longmont #8, Houston.” This address was used for many years by Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush. National Guard documents suggest that the younger Bush stopped using that address in 1970 when he moved into an apartment, and did not use it again until late 1973 or 1974, when he moved to Cambridge, Mass., to attend Harvard Business School…

– Stylistic differences. To outsiders, how an officer wrote his name and rank or referred to his military unit may seem arcane and unimportant. Within the military, however, such details are regulated by rules and tradition, and can be of great significance. The CBS memos contain several stylistic examples at odds with standard Guard procedures, as reflected in authenticated documents.

Compare this coverage to the kiss on the lips but no tongue from the NY Times. Not surprisingly, the piece is authored by Jim Rutenberg, who Balloon Juice readers are well aware is nothing more than a shill for the Kerry campaign. I guess he is moonlighting for the CBS folks, although at this point a distinction between CBS and the Kerry campaign is becoming harder to identify.

You would think that in a climate in which the integrity of mainstream media is on the line, the New York Times, notorious for their closeness to CBS, (ever heard of a New York Times/CBS News Poll?) would want to at least attempt balanced coverage of the issue, let alone the type of laudable journalism practiced by the Washington Post. But then again, the NY Times doesn’t care about integrity. Perhaps CBS should consider a partnership with Burger King next, the admitted home of the Whopper?

Finally, the only people I can still find defending the now obvious forgeries are the idiots at the Daily Kos and Atrios. The Daily Kos has gone so far as to state (brace yourselves):

Those memos added an unecessary exclamation point to Bush’s record. While their authenticity appears to be real, based on subsequent research…

*** Update ***

John Podhoretz has more:

IF you’ve been following the story, you know this already. If you haven’t been follow ing the story, then I’ll cut to the chase: Four documents used by CBS News last week in a story about George W. Bush’s National Guard service are forgeries.
When I first wrote about this on Thursday, in a column that appeared on Friday, it seemed likely but not certain they were phony. We called the column “CBS’ Big Blunder?” with a question mark just to be careful.

There’s no need to pull any punches now. I’m going to be blunt here: Anybody who spends an hour reviewing the evidence and the expert testimony knows they’re forgeries.

*** Update #2 ***

Tom Maguire has similar thoughts, although he characterizes the NY Times piece as ‘offering Dan a little snuggle, as opposed to the kiss on the lips but no tongue I have characterized it to be.

Commence giggling.

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