If they are fake, where did CBS get them ??

[kentuck]

It was my understanding that the AP or some other news organization filed a FOIA and rec'd these files from that request? Is that correct? So if they are forgeries, whomever fulfilled the FOIA would be the ones that had to forge them, is that correct? Stop me if this doesn't make sense...So did the Pentagon furnish the documents to CBS or the AP? Where did these documents originate?

[skooooo]

1. fer cryin' outloud..

they're not fakes. Why do we even take these claims seriously?

[dennis4868]

2. I have a bridge in Brooklyn.....

i want to sell you....

[fearnobush]

3. Rove planted a bug in his own office to get media to blame his

opponant for it. see Bush's Brain

[Guaranteed]

4. They're NOT FAKE.

STOP REPEATING THAT FUCKING BULLSHIT.

[Cassandra]

5. Actually, it would be rather diabolical if...

the Pentagon or whoever forged them (maybe) and sent them on, was hoping to create a backfiring scandal.

edit: for skepticism and syntax.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

6. If they got fake documents from the Pentagon wouldn't that backfire on the

Pentagon?

[kentuck]

9. Exactly Yo_Mama!

Finally.... you see the absurdity of someone claiming they are "fakes".. Thanks.

[Cassandra]

13. I thought about that mid-sentence..

but kept going with an idiotic post anyway. :-)

[jfalchion]

8. Am I a liitle slow or...

is this getting waaaayy too complicated?

[Must_B_Free]

12. No - it's quite simple

Rove collected the real docs in the 2000 campaign. The he forged them verbatim with a word processor. Then he leaked them to 60 minutes and directed the Freepers to say they were forged. Now, when the real docs come out they will be dismissed as forgeries.

Simple as whistlin' dixie.

[rwenos]

7. Pub "Courier 10" Argument is Bogus

From what I read on freerepublic last night, the Pub argument is that "there were no proportional fonts in 1970 -- these documents were obviously wordprocessed." They say that because the font is Times Roman proportional, instead of Courier 10. Probably 95% of IBM Selectric typewriters in the era were shipped with Courier 10 printheads.

But the claim is factually inaccurate. Clearly, the documents WERE proportionally spaced -- look at the lower-case "i" letter, it's quite narrow, then look at the "w" or "o", which is much wider. That distinction is a telltale sign of a proportional font.

ONE BIG PROBLEM WITH PUBBIE ARGUMENT:

The Selectric had SEVERAL PROPORTIONAL printheads. The heads were interchangeable -- if you will recall, the Selectric broke new ground, because it had no carriage. The print ball moved, while the paper stayed still. The print balls were interchangeable. I had a catalog with over 100 printheads, all in different fonts. At least 25% of them were proportional.

Thus, a document typed on a Selectric could easily have had a proportionally-spaced printhead.

(Sometimes it pays to be old, and remember stuff.)

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

10. You are correct

I remember one clerical person I worked with who was rather proud of the interchangeble heads on her typewriter. These Selectrics were still used into the 80's.

[shraby]

15. Write to Wapo and let them know

and demand they do a little research before they print such garbage.

[kentuck]

16. CBS investigated and researched for 6 weeks....

WaPO researched for 1 day...hmm-mmm.

[kentuck]

11. whatever, they hope to create enough confusion....

so that it comes out a wash....at least until the election.

[shraby]

14. If they are originals

it's a simple matter to see if there are indentations where the letters are. Wordprocessors and computers don't do that.

[Dookus]

17. kick

because THIS is the important question to answer.

From what I understand, these memo's were NOT slipped to somebody - they were released by the government under FOIA.

[K8-EEE]

19. Yes didn't the WH release copies of these??

That's what confuses me about the forgery thing.

[geek tragedy]

18. Probably the guy's secretary.

That would be the obvious answer--someone who maintained his private records.

[kentuck]

20. Kerry doesn't have a dog in this fight...

Contrary to what some prognosticators are saying about htis hurting the Democratic Party..unless, of course, he gave the documents to Dan Rather? Now, who would believe that? :)

[A_Possum]

21. There's a lot more stuff to authentication than just typeface

There's the paper, the age of it, the signature, the pressure of the keys deforming the paper--I can think of those myself, and I don't know anything much about the field. You might even be able to get fingerprints tho I don't know after all this time.

However, this claim that it was done on a word processor and then re-copied to make it fuzzy--bah, that would be incredibly easy to spot. There would be no pressure indents for the letters from the keystrikes. It's EASY to tell the difference between a piece of paper that's been typed on vs a paper that was printed by any kind of copying.

No honest expert can pronounce on these documents without having access to the originals. And the WaPo ought to know that.

If anybody truthfully was going to forge the this kind of thing, and had enough experience to forge the signature well enough to pass CBS's expert, wouldn't they be smart enough to TYPE it out on a period typewriter? Instead of this silly idea of photo-copying it?

So, ok, that doesn't mean Rove didn't forge the docs as a plant and deliberately do a poor job to make it deliberately possible for experts to see the mistakes, but in that case, he was taking one HELL of a chance that CBS would catch it. And then what? Seems like a pretty long and wild shot to me.

CBS knows where they got these documents. They aren't saying where they got them. That's pretty damn interesting.

[kentuck]

22. Also, like they haven't been preoccupied with other issues lately...

FOr weeks they have been working on this conspiracy theory??