Anatomy of a Forgery

The American Spectator ^ | 9-10-4 | Washington Prowler

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Anatomy of a Forgery

By The Prowler

Published 9/10/2004 12:09:06 AM

More than six weeks ago, an opposition research staffer for the Democratic National Committee received documents purportedly written by President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard squadron commander, the late Col. Jerry Killian. The oppo researcher claimed the source was "a retired military officer." According to a DNC staffer, the documents were seen by both senior staff members at the DNC, as well as the Kerry campaign. "More than a couple people heard about the papers," says the DNC staffer. "I've heard that they ended up with the Kerry campaign, for them to decide to how to proceed, and presumably they were handed over to 60 Minutes, which used them the other night. But I know this much. When there was discussion here, there were doubts raised about their authenticity." The concerns arose from the sourcing. "It wasn't clear that our source for the documents would have had access to them. Our person couldn't confirm from what file, from what original source they came from." The documents that CBS News used were not documents from any of Bush's personnel files from his time in the National Guard. Rather, CBS News stated that they were documents uncovered in the personnel files of Killian. That would explain why the White House or the Pentagon had never before released or even seen them. According to a Kerry campaign source, there was little gossip about the supposedly hot documents inside the office of the campaign on McPherson Square. "Those documents were not something anyone was talking about or trying to generate buzz on," says the staffer. "It wasn't like there were small groups of people talking about this as a bombshell. I think people here weren't sure what to make of it, because provenance of these documents was uncertain." A CBS producer, who initially tipped off The Prowler about the 60 Minutes story, says that despite seeking professional assurances that the documents were legitimate, there was uncertainty even among the group of producers and researchers working on the story. "The problem was we had one set of documents from Bush's file that had Killian calling Bush 'an exceptionally fine young officer and pilot.' And someone who Killian said 'performed in an outstanding manner.' Then you have these new documents and the tone and content are so different." The CBS producer said that some alarms bells went off last week when the signatures and initials of Killian on the documents in hand did not match up with other documents available on the public record, but producers chose to move ahead with the story. "This was too hot not to push. If there were doubts, those people didn't show it," says the producer, who works on a rival CBS News program. Now, the producer says, there is growing concern inside the building on 57th Street that they may have been suckered by the Kerry campaign. "There is a school of thought here that the Kerry people dumped this in our laps, figuring we'd do the heavy lifting on the story. That maybe they had doubts about these documents but hoped we'd get more information," says the producer. "If that's the case, then we're bigger fools than we already appear to be judging by all the chatter about how these documents could be forgeries." ABC News' political unit held a conference call at 7:00 p.m. Thursday evening to discuss the memo and its potential ramifications should the documents turn out to be a forgery. That meeting took place around the time that the deceased Killian's son made public statements questioning the documents' authenticity. According to one ABC News employee, some reporters believe that the Kerry campaign as well as the DNC were parties in duping CBS, but a smaller segment believe that both the DNC and the Kerry campaign were duped by Karl Rove, who would have engineered the flap to embarrass the opposition.

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[litany_of_lies]

Great point. They may have sat on Swifts because they thought they had a nuke to throw out with the docs. OOPS!

[smonk]

drudge is linking to this story, and it implicates the kerry campaign.

[Howlin]

• Why did George Bush say "I did my duty" when he missed months of duty in 1972, 73 and 74?
• How did George Bush avoid getting called into active service for missing months of duty in 1972, 73, and 74?
• Why did George Bush disobey a direct order to take his physical?
• What standard did George Bush fail to meet when he was grounded for failing to perform at US Air Force/Texas Air National Guard Standards?
• Why did George Bush go above his commander's head to ensure a favorable evaluation he had not earned?
• Why did George Bush say he received "no special treatment" when Ben Barnes says he pulled strings to secure a Guard slot for him?
• Who asked Bush family friend Sidney Adger to get Bush a slot in the Guard immediately after Bush graduated and at the height of the Vietnam War?
• When will George Bush produce any credible witness who can attest to his service in the Alabama Air National Guard?

  ========

  Do you realize that those "talking point/questions" in that DNC ad were ALL in those memos and articles in the last day?

[Zellenn]

Last night after reading the posts about the TANG memos on 60 Minutes, I sent up a very earnest prayer to God that He snatch the evil arrows of lies being thrown at our President and reverse their direction so they shoot the Accuser in the foot.

I love the sound of one foot hopping!!

[lunatic12]

The first commandment of forgery...

To thine own font be true!

[maryz]

but a smaller segment believe that both the DNC and the Kerry campaign were duped by Karl Rove, who would have engineered the flap to embarrass the opposition.

LOL! Makes me think of the old saying, "You can't cheat an honest man!"

[GoLightly]

You do know I meant gives, not gived. LOL

You know that phrase that's been bandied about quite a bit, the timing is suspicious?... IMO, this thing began about the same time as Kamp Kerry declared that it was taken care of & if true, it might explain his advisers telling him to hang tight, it would blow over, the media wants him to win... CBS sat on it & didn't do the story before the damage was done, but if it had popped too soon after SBV first came out, people would be more likely to associate the two "events" with suspicion. Soon as the SBV story died down a bit, they come out with the one two punch of the memos & the Barnes' story.

All that strategy & planning the timing & it blows up right in their faces in less than a day. :::evil snicker::

[Credo]

As a former Marine Officer, I cannot countenance a military officer writing in this style for official documents. I may not have insight into the AFNG, but generally military correspondence is written in 3rd person passive voice.

The 4 May "Memorandum FOR 1st Lt. ..." is highly irregular. You don't use Memorandums for orders, you use orders for orders.

Of course the font is something I never saw on a typewriter and this is more than 10 years before I served. I think somebody passed these blatant forgeries off to embarrass the Kerry campaign. I don't it was the Bush campaign that did it.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Finally.

[NYCVirago]

Do you realize that those "talking point/questions" in that DNC ad were ALL in those memos and articles in the last day?

Wow! And isn't it amazing how quickly the DNC was able to compile these talking points?

[Diddley]

Ping to self

[cartoonistx]

Like sharks circling about a wounded companion, the MSM is in the early stages of a feeding frenzy. CBS is bleeding now but when the blood in the water drifts into the nostrils of her competitors, the flesh will be ripped off in huge chunks!

[fuzzy122]

"It's all Bush's fault."

You had doubts that it would be?

Stay Strong,
Fuzzy122

[fuzzy122]

[nopardons]

bttt

[Carolinamom]

BTTT

MY, we're up early!

[hope]

"FONTGATE!!!"

LOL!

[Dog]

More than six weeks ago, an opposition research staffer for the Democratic National Committee received documents purportedly written by President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard squadron commander, the late Col. Jerry Killian.

Chris Lehane..

CBS got the documents from the DNC and the Kerry camp....LOL!!!!

[Dog]

You three have to be the Freepers of the year for spotting this fake from the moment it crossed the wires.

Jim.....I think we need to do something special for these three....they have earned the honor of being called FREEPERS OF THE YEAR...

[MindBender26]

As bottom line to this article, there are only two possibilities:

Entire thing was set up by Kerry, and poorly: AMF
Entire thing was set up by Rove and the idiot Kerryistas were too stupid to see it. Again, AMF

I'm beginning to see that some young producers believed Kerry people that letters were genuine. They accepted the kerry provenance. That's as far as they went. They believed because they wanted to believe.

Idiots and mental criminals

The real hedline here is, "Kerry Kampaign Source Of Forged Letters."