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[Gahiggidy]

And compare that to my MS Word document overlaid on the CBS News “original,” in an animated GIF alternating between the two:

Again, please note: the superscript “th” in “187th” is lower in relation to the 7 character in my Word document, because it’s a screenshot. In the printed version the superscript matches the position of the CBS News “original.”

- http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/



CBS themselves say they didn't even have the original. They "authenticated" a photocopy.

 

[MIMIC]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

THAT "th." I thought the whole deal was about the "th" in words like "this," "the," "three," etc.

 

[Ripclawe]

ABC to CBS: DOUBLE FUCKED!

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/NotedNow/Noted_Now.html

HODGES SAID HE WAS MISLED BY CBS: Retired Maj. General Hodges, Killian's supervisor at the Grd, tells ABC News that he feels CBS misled him about the documents they uncovered. According to Hodges, CBS told him the documents were "handwritten" and after CBS read him excerpts he said, "well if he wrote them that's what he felt."


Hodges also said he did not see the documents in the 70's and he cannot authenticate the documents or the contents. His personal belief is that the documents have been "computer generated" and are a "fraud".

 

[Drinky Crow]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200409100010

Yeah, it's Brock's site, but they do a good job showing how most of the amateur forensics done by conservative bloggers is pretty much wrongheaded and misinformed.

EXHIBIT A: Superscript was available

Many news outlets and conservative publications have falsely reported that the documents' "use of the superscripted letters 'th' in phrases such as 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron" raise suspicion because 1970s-era typewriters were incapable of producing such letters. In fact, journalist and weblogger Joshua Micah Marshall has pointed out that superscripted letters appear on other documents in Bush's military file that are known to be authentic. Moreover, IBM released a typewriter in the 1960s, the Selectric II, which was capable of producing superscript type.

EXHIBIT B: Proportional spacing was available

Another widely reported claim against the authenticity of the 60 Minutes documents is that their use of so-called proportional spacing -- a typesetting method in which varying letters occupy varying widths on the line, such as an "i" occupying less space than a "w." Press accounts have cited many so-called "experts" claiming that typewriters with this feature was rare and would not have been in wide use in the Guard in the 1970s. But in fact, typewriters with proportional spacing had been available since 1941, when IBM introduced the first model. Typewriter advertisements from 1953 and 1954 suggest the feature was widely available. President Richard Nixon's official letter of resignation from 1974 used proportional spacing, as do many White House documents from the 1960s available on an online archive.

EXHIBIT C: Apostrophe was available

Several media outlets and conservative pundits have suggested that the apostrophes used in the CBS memos add credibility to the charge that the documents are forged. However, print advertisements for the IBM Executive Electric typewriter from as early as 1953 reveal that this typewriter featured a curlicue-type apostrophe similar to the type used in the CBS memos.

EXHIBIT D: Font was available

Press reports have also emphasized that the documents appear to be written in either Times Roman or Times New Roman font, suggesting that they were produced on a modern computer word processor, not a typewriter. In fact, Times Roman font dates back at least to 1945, as this short history explains. According to another account, Times New Roman dates to 1931, and IBM specifically hired its designer, Stanley Morison, to adapt the font to the Selectric typewriter. In fact, the Selectric Composer typewriter, introduced in 1966, not only could insert superscript but also featured proportional type and a font called Aldine Roman, a font similar to Times New Roman that appears to match the font in the memos (hat tip: Daily Kos).

The plot thickens...

 

[Apharmd Battler]

http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200409\POL20040909d.html

LOL!!!

 

[aaaaa0]

Yeah, it's Brock's site, but they do a good job showing how most of the amateur forensics done by conservative bloggers is pretty much wrongheaded and misinformed.

Debunking of the debunking:

http://shapeofdays.typepad.com/the_shape_of_days/2004/09/the_ibm_selectr.html

For a couple of days now we've been talking about whether the CBS memos could have been produced using the technology available in 1972 and 1973. We've talked about two typewriters mainly, both widely used at that time: the IBM Executive series and the IBM Selectric series.

Though the question has hardly been conclusively answered, the consensus of opinion among interested parties seems to be that neither an Executive nor a Selectric could have produced these memos.

My purpose here is not to debate the relative merits of either of those typewriters; that discussion is happening elsewhere. Rather, I want to take a moment to consider the dark horse candidate, the one piece of equipment that is widely believed to have been capable of producing a document similar to these memos, but that has been dismissed as being so improbable an alternative as to hardly bear talking about.

I'm referring to the IBM Selectric Composer. This machine resembles a sophisticated electric typewriter in most respects, but is in fact a full-fledged cold-type typesetting machine. (Cold type as opposed to hot type, machines like the Linotype that would cast entire lines of type in molten lead as the typesetter worked. Ah, those were the days.)

Whenever the topic has turned to the Selectric Composer, it has been dismissed out-of-hand as being far too expensive an item to find in an office on an Air National Guard base: The machine sold for anywhere from $3,600 to $4,400, and fonts were extra and not cheap. Furthermore, the Composer was widely agreed to be far too complicated and slow a machine to use for typing up memoranda, especially ones that were destined to go into a file and not even be distributed.

But the nagging question remained: Could an IBM Selectric Composer have been used to produce these documents?

I found my answer the same place everybody finds everything these days: Google. Typing "IBM Selectric Composer" into that search site took me to the aptly named ibmcomposer.org, which describes itself as "the only site on the Internet completely dedicated to the IBM 'Selectric' Composer line of typesetting machines." The site, which is run by Gerry Kaplan, includes information, scanned user manuals, and photographs of the only working IBM Selectric Composer I've been able to find. And, fortunately for me, it also includes an e-mail address.

When I first heard back from Gerry, I felt a little bad for having bothered him. He'd been fielding calls and letters all day, he told me, including an inquiry from CNN. But he was a trouper, willing — enthusiastic even — to help out.

I asked Gerry, in a fit of hubris, if he wouldn't mind trying to reproduce a sample from one of the CBS memos on his Selectric Composer. Just over an hour later, he emailed me back a sample, typed up on his Composer using the 11-point Press Roman type ball and scanned into his computer.

[... etc ...]

Read all of it.

CBS = d00m3d....

 

[aaaaa0]

More d00m...

http://shapeofdays.typepad.com/the_shape_of_days/2004/09/the_signatures.html

I'm not going to take credit for this one. These came to me via an anonymous tipster who collected them from PDFs posted on the USA Today Web site.

The signatures don't look the same.

 

[Gahiggidy]

This is interesting...

CBS Star Witness - In his Own Words
Just 2 short years ago, CBS's Star witness, Marcel Matley wrote a book titled,
Using and Cross-Examining Handwriting Experts." (pdf)

In it, he denounces his own methodology he used for CBS:

The Problem with Copies

Do not passively accept a copy as the sole basis of a case. Every copy, intentionally or unintentionally, is in some way false to the original.

In fact, modern copiers and computer printers are so good that they permit easy fabrication of quality forgeries. [heh -ed] From a copy, the document examiner cannot authenticate the unseen original but may well be able to determine that the unseen original is false. Further, a definite finding of authenticity for a signature is not possible from a photocopy, while a definite finding of falsity is possible.

Why didn't you tell Dan Rather that Mr. Matley?

-- http://wizbangblog.com/archives/003633.php

Remember, CBS never had access to the original documents. They recieved photocopies from thier "unimpeachable" source.

 

[KingV]

Wow, the plot thickens... I can't believe CBS is holding on to the original line. I assume they only had "copies" because it would be incredibly obvious they were written on computer if they had the originals.

 

[Gahiggidy]

Scary thought is that it wouldn't have been that diffilcult to actually drag out an old typewriter from the 70's and type up those up in that crummy, monospaced font you see on all the other, verified, documents.

Whoever created these is either...

A). Stupid
B). Desperate
C). Intentionally setting up poor, poor Dan.

How can we trust anything from the press anymore that's bassed on "exclusively obtained information" from "secret sources"?? If they can get duped by this, how do we expect the press to spot B/S when people are actually putting effort into it?


Dan Rather will be to journalism what Enron was to corporate management.

 

[Ripclawe]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...ep11,1,6728631.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

As another of the corroborating experts for its report, CBS and Rather presented an on-air interview with Marcel B. Matley, a San Francisco document examiner. Rather said Matley had corroborated the four Killian memos.

But in an interview with The Times, the analyst said he had only judged a May 4, 1972, memo — in which Killian ordered Bush to take his physical — to be authentic.
He said he did not form a judgment on the three other disputed memos because they only included Killian's initials and he did not have validated samples of the officer's initials to use for comparison.

A CBS official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the network had two other document experts, who CBS did not identify, examine the documents, which were copies of the originals.

The experts studied the type font or style, spacing and other variables and deemed the memos legitimate, said the official

 

[Cooter]

This is a major blow for big media. (CBS, ABC, NBC, NYT ie.)

 

[aaaaa0]

And the d00m just keeps on rolling in....

http://www.indcjournal.com/archives/000838.php

Based on Powerline's suspicions of forgery over the documents put forth regarding George W. Bush’s National Guard service, I decided to do some legwork and track down the opinions of forensic document examiners that may have an expertise in old typefaces.

After contacting several experts, a rather notable Forensic Document Examiner named Dr. Philip Bouffard took the time to examine a pdf of the documents and perform an initial visual analysis of their authenticity. Dr. Bouffard has a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Michigan, but got involved in forensic examination of typefaces after working in “graphics” with NCR until 1973 and taking a two-year Certification Program in Document Examination at Georgetown University. After completing the program, he became specifically interested in typewriter classification and went to work for a prosecutor’s crime lab in Lake County, Ohio.

Using something called the Haas Atlas, the definitive collection of various typefaces, Mr. Bouffard (and other forensic document examiners) examined the veracity of various documents for over 30 years. Beginning in 1988, Mr. Bouffard hired a programmer to write a computer database program that catalogues the nearly 4,000 typefaces that appear in the Haas Atlas. This computer program is now a forensic standard that is sold as a companion to the Haas Atlas by American Society of Questioned Document Examiners (ASQDE). Though semi-retired, Dr. Bouffard is one of the top two experts in forensic document examination (regarding typefaces) in the country.

[...read the rest...]

Oh and lookie here... The Boston Globe totally misquoting the guy...

http://shapeofdays.typepad.com/the_shape_of_days/2004/09/what_the_boston.html

[...]

On Thursday, when this story was still just a glint in the blogosphere, Bill hit Google and, what with one thing and another, tracked down Dr. Bouffard at his office at the Lake County, Ohio, crime lab. He interviewed Dr. Bouffard by phone and email and got many juicy quotes. Dr. Bouffard indicated that, based on his preliminary analysis, he felt that it was at least a 90% probability that these memos are forgeries. (Bill provided the 90% number; Dr. Bouffard said it was "at least that high.")

Today's edition of the Boston Globe includes a story titled "Authenticity backed on Bush documents." This story, by Globe staffers Francie Latour and Michael Rezendes, quotes Dr. Bouffard as saying "he now believes the documents could have been prepared on an IBM Selectric Composer typewriter available at the time." (You know my opinion on this theory already, yes?)

[...]

Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2004/09/11/authenticity_backed_on_bush_documents/

Philip D. Bouffard, a forensic document examiner in Ohio who has analyzed typewritten samples for 30 years, had expressed suspicions about the documents in an interview with the New York Times published Thursday, one in a wave of similar media reports. But Bouffard told the Globe yesterday that after further study, he now believes the documents could have been prepared on an IBM Selectric Composer typewriter available at the time.

Bouffard is PISSED:

http://www.indcjournal.com/archives/000859.php

"What the Boston Globe did now sort of pisses me off, because now I have people calling me and e-mailing me, and calling me names, saying that I changed my mind. I did not change my mind at all!"

"I would appreciate it if you could do whatever it takes to clear this up, through your internet site, or whatever."

This is pretty damning evidence.

 

[Gahiggidy]

Looks like they cut & paste Killian's signature and onto the forged documents....

You'll also notice that the font size in the signature block is slightly larger than the body of the text.


Read all about it here....

http://www.speakeasy.org/~schulien/Bush_memos/August_1st_notes.html

 

[Ripclawe]

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040912-125608-4609r.htm

DALLAS — New information casts additional doubts about the authenticity of the memos purportedly written concerning President Bush by a former superior officer in the Texas Air National Guard in the 1970s, as Dan Rather and CBS News doggedly stuck to their guns defending the documents.
"They're forged as hell," said Earl W. Lively, 76, who during the era in question was director of Texas Air National Guard operations in Austin.
Mr. Lively said he had proof that Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt — who supposedly forced an underling to favorably alter reports on Mr. Bush's activities as a member of the Guard in the early 1970s — had been honorably discharged nearly 18 months before the date of the memos, purportedly written by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe called the documents "further evidence, really, that George W. Bush failed this country when it was his time to serve and he hid out."
He suggested that White House political adviser Karl Rove might have been the one who supplied CBS News with the documents.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

This is a major blow for big media. (CBS, ABC, NBC, NYT ie.)

An equally big blow for those who fell for it and those who went against it?

 

[Gahiggidy]

 

[Gahiggidy]

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