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September 09, 2004

No, They Couldn't Be That Stupid (Or Could They?): Are CBS's "AWOL" Docs Forged?

First, James at American Barbarian pointed out that the docs had superscripting, which other docs from the same man and the same typerwriter don't.

I thought, "Um, nice try, but don't be silly. They wouldn't do that. And they'd check."

But Powerline and Little Green Footballs agree with Barbarian.

I don't know if the evidence is conclusive.

Some are pointing out that the documents came from the Pentagon and are therefore authentic. That, of course, is ludicrous. There are political partisans everywhere in the government. It is not a difficult trick for a clerk to insert a couple of juicy pages into a file.

As Yours Digitally snarks in the comments-- if Sandy Berger could take away codeword-clearance documents in his underoos, presumably one could smuggle in a forged Bush doc the same way.

Update: JHF asks, "Why do you say they came from the Pentagon?"

I got that from the second comment to this report.

But that comment appears to have been in error.

Here liberal Kevin Drum walks back from his previous assertion that the White House had "released" two of the docs (which would presumably have come from the Pentagon originally). The White House didn't have its own copies of these docs-- just what CBS faxed them.

So forget all that-- these docs weren't from the Pentago, but from "the personal files" of a dead man.

posted by Ace at 02:08 PM

Comments

LGF just posted a slam dunk, the documents are perfect matches when created in MS Word under default settings....

Posted by: James on September 9, 2004 02:14 PM

Charles' spin will fall short soon. I mean, it's just as futile as conspiring, say, that a former Clinton aide were stuffing secret documents into his trousers. You can't get classified documents out, and you can't get forged documents in.

Posted by: Yours Digitally on September 9, 2004 02:20 PM

Who says that the forged documents came from the Pentagon?

Posted by: JFH on September 9, 2004 02:28 PM

CBS says so:

"60 Minutes has obtained a number of documents we are told were taken from Col. Killian's personal file. Among them, a never-before-seen memorandum from May 1972, where Killian writes that Lt. Bush called him to talk about "how he can get out of coming to drill from now through November."

Posted by: Yours Digitally on September 9, 2004 02:34 PM

It's that damn Giacomo, the French-Italian forger again. He got us with the Niger papers, and with that little wooden boy who he said came to life, but this time he slipped up.

Posted by: See-Dubya on September 9, 2004 02:35 PM

"we are told"

CBS knows the documents are bogus.

Posted by: Steve on September 9, 2004 02:47 PM

LGF superimposed their version over the CBS version, and it lines up perfectly.

Posted by: morpheus on September 9, 2004 03:02 PM

HOLY SHIT.

Drudge just linked to PowerLine. PowerLine's buckling under the traffic. I think it's the first time in history a blog has been linked from Drudge.

Watch Fox News tonight, folks. And CBS...

Posted by: Jeff B. on September 9, 2004 03:10 PM

Of the 4 documents 2 have the superscripted th. But if you check the other 2 documents note that there is a space in between the numbers and the th. The only reason I can think of why someone would include a space is to stop Word from making the th a superscript. Granted the hypothetical forger was a rank amatuer unwilling to go the extra mile to find an old typewriter to do the job on yet that doesnt mean it isnt so.

Posted by: The E on September 9, 2004 03:12 PM

I can tell Powerline is having an, err, "big day."

I'm getting shitloads of hits off a trackback from Powerline.

Not a link.

A trackback.

And you bloggers out there know how generally useless a trackback is.

If you want to get in on this schmorgesborg (sp-- ??? no idea), link PowerLine now.

Posted by: ace on September 9, 2004 03:22 PM

I think it's "smorgasbord." And since I don't have a blog of my own, I'll make that my contribution to the blogosphere for the day...

Posted by: Smack on September 9, 2004 03:29 PM