Posted on 09/09/2004 11:55:04 AM PDT by GrandmaPatriot
Edited on 09/09/2004 11:59:36 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
'60 Minutes' Documents on Bush Might Be Fake /// 32-year-old documents produced Wednesday by CBSNEWS 60 MINS on Bush's guard service may have been forged using a current word processing program // typed using a proportional font, not common at that time, and they used a superscript font feature found in today's Microsoft Word program, Internet reports claim... Developing...
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60 Minutes' Documents on Bush Might Be Fake
By Robert B. Bluey
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
September 09, 2004
(CNSNews.com) - The 32-year-old documents produced Wednesday by the CBS News program "60 Minutes," shedding a negative light on President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard, may have been forged using a current word processing program, according to typography experts.
Three independent typography experts told CNSNews.com they were suspicious of the documents from 1972 and 1973 because they were typed using a proportional font, not common at that time, and they used a superscript font feature found in today's Microsoft Word program.
The "60 Minutes" segment included an interview with former Texas lieutenant governor Ben Barnes, who criticized Bush's service. The news program also produced a series of memos that claim Bush refused to follow an order to undertake a medical examination.
The documents came from the "personal office file" of Bush's former squadron commander Jerry B. Killian, according to Kelli Edwards, a spokeswoman for "60 Minutes," who was quoted in Thursday's Washington Post. Edwards declined to tell the Post how the news program obtained the documents.
But the experts interviewed by CNSNews.com honed in on several aspects of a May 4, 1972, memo, which was part of the "60 Minutes" segment and was posted on the CBS News website Thursday.
"It was highly out of the ordinary for an organization, even the Air Force, to have proportional-spaced fonts for someone to work with," said Allan Haley, director of words and letters at Agfa Monotype in Wilmington, Mass. "I'm suspect in that I did work for the U.S. Army as late as the late 1980s and early 1990s and the Army was still using [fixed-pitch typeface] Courier."
The typography experts couldn't pinpoint the exact font used in the documents. They also couldn't definitively conclude that the documents were either forged using a current computer program or were the work of a high-end typewriter or word processor in the early 1970s.
But the use of the superscript "th" in one document - "111th F.L.S" - gave each expert pause. They said that is an automatic feature found in current versions of Microsoft Word, and it's not something that was even possible more than 30 years ago.
"That would not be possible on a typewriter or even a word processor at that time," said John Collins, vice president and chief technology officer at Bitstream Inc., the parent of MyFonts.com.
"It is a very surprising thing to see a letter with that date [May 4, 1972] on it," and featuring such typography, Collins added. "There's no question that that is surprising. Does that force you to conclude that it's a fake? No. But it certainly raises the eyebrows."
Fred Showker, who teaches typography and introduction to digital graphics at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., questioned the documents' letterhead.
"Let's assume for a minute that it's authentic," Showker said. "But would they not have used some form of letterhead? Or has this letterhead been intentionally cut off? Notice how close to the top of the page it is."
He also pointed to the signature of Killian, the purported author of the May 4, 1972, memo ordering Bush, who was at the time a first lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard, to obtain a physical exam.
"Do you think he would have stopped that 'K' nice and cleanly, right there before it ran into the typewriter 'Jerry," Showker asked. "You can't stop a ballpoint pen with a nice square ending like that ... The end of that 'K' should be round ... it looks like you took a pair of snips and cut it off so you could see the 'Jerry.'"
The experts also raised questions about the military's typewriter technology three decades ago. Collins said word processors that could produce proportional-sized fonts cost upwards of $20,000 at the time.
"I'm not real sure that you would have that kind of sophistication in the office of a flight inspector in the United States government," Showker said.
"The only thing it could be, possibly, is an IBM golf ball typewriter, which came out around the early to middle 1970s," Haley said. "Those did have proportional fonts on them. But they weren't widely used."
But Haley added that the use of the superscript "th" cast doubt on the use of any typewriter.
"There weren't any typewriters that did that. That looks like it might be a function of something like Microsoft Word, which does that automatically."
If Rather didn't have the originals, or exact reproductions of them, comparisons to the originals are irrelevant.
Yes,
When you watch TV, and there is a graphic of a pile of documents, and they highlight a line and bring it forward so you can read it, do you think that they use actual documents for that? Sometimes yes, sometimes once you digitized the original, manipulated it, and animate it, it is not readable, so re-create digitally so it is. They do what is expedient and gives the "look" they are going for.
Yes it is a different discussion, but the prevailing standard is that if it is representitive or the actual document and verbatim it is OK.
All I am trying to say we need to make sure we are examining the actual original documents before we go farther with 70's typwriters, and MS Word overlays and such.
-- l8s
-- jrawk
Although I will refrain from celebrating just yet, I have to admit that this is looking rather nice.
Before I retired a little over a year ago, I was a very busy crime fighter for 26 years and I can tell you this.....you folks impress the heck out of me.
Now, if we only had the hard copy of the documents, so that we could send it to the lab for a few tricks, like paper composition and ink analysis!!
Again.....good job....this is fun to watch!!!!!
If they can't get their hands on the originals, they are up the creek.
The White House released the same documents yesterday without challenging their provenance.
Can we find an IBM typewriter of that time frame and retype the document to check what it looks like?
Thanks; of course, I've been there today, but didn't recognize the initials!
Good points.
NJ Neocon: 2004-08-28
On another thread, the white relased 'logs' while these docs were found 'at the same time'
I don't know which is funnier: Rather getting his face blown off by propaganda he propagates as news, or watching another great hope by the Democrat party getting so easily trashed.
I'm not sure the White House "released" these documents, period; most articles are quoting CBS.
The documents that the White House has were faxed to them by CBS.
And why would the White House make a big deal out of them being fakes, when we can take the ball and run with it?
UPDATE: I now have copies of the memos the White House released, and they are just versions that CBS faxed to the White House the day before the 60 Minutes segment aired. There's no indication that the White House had its own copies of these memos and had been sitting on them.
Apologies.
The funniest thing about all this is that it is insane. It doesn't make sense at all. If Bush's unit was the champagne unit and it was SOP to get these well connected guys a way out, why is Killian so angst ridden? The war was winding down, the draft was almost or already over, and there was an abundance of pilots. If Killian just wanted to go up the food chain, why would he care at all about George W. Bush?
The Mother of all CYAs is looking the other way. I imagine that someone like Killian (who apparently was (acc to the Left) up to his ears in "fortunate sons" ) wouldn't be particularly concerned about George W. Bush's drill attendance.
If supply records still exist from that unit you can find out the exact model of typewriter used at the unit.
The joy of seeing the spotlight of truth shined into a dark den of evil!
Its as if the witch is about to die...
Dan Rather deserves to be shamed into repentance.
Let us pray.
This is so much FUN! Watching the Demoorats crash and burn every other day.
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