Power Line

In the course of the CBS/60 Minutes II/TANG/Forged Documents discussion, I've discovered an excellent blog, Power Line. Written by three attorneys, this is no half-baked rant, but, as the news networks are discovering, a force to be reckoned with. A recent entry expresses nicely what I've been sensing for some time: that the major news media are more interested in pushing their own agendas than in factual, disinterested-third-party journalism. CBS, and particularly Dan Rather, have pretty clearly demonstrated that they are willing to sacrifice their credibility for the sake of the Kerry election. I heard on WLS this morning (Don Wade & Roma) a very good comparison. Apparently, the Boston Globe (owned by the same company as the New York Times) found 100+ swift boat veterans sworn afidavits about John Kerry "didn't meet journalistic requirements" for investigation and reporting, yet two poorly forged documents slamming Bush were "too hot not to report". The forgery story itself has taken some turns. The initial red flags raised on the documents were:

• Verified by unknown experts
• Proportional text, uncommon in 1971.
• One document has a raised "TH" (for 111TH), which seems impractical using 1971 technology.
• A memo entitled "CYA" which seems to be more damning of the author than of Bush. Not much of a cover.

Several people have pointed out that a device did exist in 1971 which could do both superscript and proportional type (the IBM Selectric Composer). The weaknesses in this argument are that this device cost between $16,000 and $22,000 dollars (adjusted for 2004), and if it did exist, it was unlikely that the Texas Air National Guard would own one, or use it for writing memos to file. More recently, the following facts have also come to light, adding nails to the coffin:

• The documents have centered text which is impractically perfect. We're talking centered at a pixel level, purportedly using a typewriter, on two documents produced four months apart. This kind of centering would be almost impossible, and certainly much more work than someone would make for a memo nobody would ever read.
• Retyping the documents on the exact Selectric Composer CBS claims was used creates a document which does not match the document. Typing the content into MS Word produces an image so similar that the only variances are easily explained through the fuzzing of multiple photocopies.
• One of the documents mentions a certain senior official pressuring people in certain ways. Unfortunately, the named person had resigned the military about a year earlier, and had no such influence.
• The General (CBS's prime witness) now says the documents are fake, and says CBS misled him into thinking it was a handwritten note.
• CBS's document expert was only a handwriting expert. He verified the signature was that of the purported author, but not whether the document was authentic, or even whether the signature originated on that page.
• No verifiably authentic documents from TANG have yet been uncovered using a similar typeface, style, or superscript. (It's possible someone might, but not likely.)
• Both the author's wife and son say the document is uncharacteristic and improbable.

Basically, all the evidence points to these documents being forgeries, and not very good ones at that. CBS seems to be counting on the fact that only those intensely into the news will research to find out the truth. Sadly, it seems that many Kerry supporters fall into this category.