Posted on 09/10/2004 7:46:03 AM PDT by alisasny
Here's part of how this story got here . . . from a little Marc Ambinder back-lurking on the blogs . . .
At 8:00 pm ET Wednesday night, CBS News does the story . . .
at 8:59 ET before the broadcast is finished!!! the documents come into question via a poster named Buckhead on the Free Republic Web site: LINK
Buckhead seems well-read on his forensic document examination skills. "Howlin, every single one of these memos to file is in a proportionally spaced font, probably Palatino or Times New Roman. In 1972 people used typewriters for this sort of thing, and typewriters used monospaced fonts. The use of proportionally spaced fonts did not come into common use for office memos until the introduction of laser printers, word processing software, and personal computers. They were not widespread until the mid to late 90's. Before then, you needed typesetting equipment, and that wasn't used for personal memos to file. Even the Wang systems that were dominant in the mid 80's used monospaced fonts. I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old."
Well, this is bandied about by dozens of Freepers, as they're called and is picked up at 8:30 am ET and added to by www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/ this little green football guy is a very popular conservative blogger . . .
It's expanded upon by www.powerlineblog.com/ in the early morning:
and also by www.spacetownusa.com/hmmm
and here, at 10:36 am ET: www.allahpundit.com/.
Around midday, the popular author Roger L. Simon praises the blogosphere for getting this story . . . LINK
Between this time and mid-day, reporters in the MSM that's the Main Stream Media to these folks (that's us) are alerted by some sources to the blogosphere's agita . . . others have read the blogs themselves.
At 2:41 pm ET, one blogger even consulted his own forensic expert and told anyone using the blog that, well, they must credit him: indcjournal.com/.
To Drudge, around 3:00 pm ET . . .
and the Weekly Standard . . . around 5:00 pm ET . . .
to Fox after 6:00 pm ET and then the AP and then ABC . . .
John Podhoretz credits the blogosphere, as he should: LINK
In other stories: The Washington Post 's VandeHei and Edsall report on the "multi-front attack on President Bush's National Guard service" by Democrats yesterday. Notably there is only one line about the controversy over the authenticity of the documents unearthed by CBS News, with the paper dealing with that separately in another story Noted below. LINK
The Boston Globe does not get into the debate about the documents, focusing instead on the full-throated DNC push on Bush's service. LINK
A New York Times editorial on the new documents and Bush's Guard service does include a reference to the documents' authenticity being challenged. LINK
The White House lobs claims that the Kerry team is behind attacks on Bush's military service record. The Washington Times ' Bill Sammon reports White House press secretary Scott McClellan describes it as desperate measures for desperate times. "You absolutely are seeing a coordinated attack by John Kerry and his surrogates on the president." LINK
The New York Daily News writes that the revival of debates over Kerry and Bush's military records is turning New York voters off. LINK
Corky Siemaszko of the New York Daily News reports President Bush' former Harvard Business School proof, Yoshi Tsurumi, has come out of the woodwork to say his former student supported the Vietnam War but did not want to fight it. Tsurumi says Bush claimed his father's connections got him into the Texas Air National Guard. "But what really disturbed me is that he said he was for the Vietnam War," said Tsurumi.. "I said, 'George, that's hypocrisy. You won't fight a war that you support but you expect other people to fight it for you.' He just smirked." LINK
Rowan Scarborough of the Washington Times writes "For years, the Democratic attacks have centered on two charges, including one that Mr. Bush failed to meet drilling requirements from mid-1972 to early 1973. A less-persistent accusation was that he used his father's status as a prominent Texas politician to win entry into the Guard after he graduated from Yale and faced the military draft in 1968. That charge has never been proved. And the White House thought it had snuffed out the question on non-drill compliance last winter, when it released records showing he was paid for the drills during the period in question and that he received sufficient points to achieve an honorable discharge in October 1973 as he entered Harvard Business School." LINK
ping
If there are very few experts on typewriter fonts and the like, it is because so few are needed, as so many laymen understand fonts and typewriters and word processors.
Not only is it a forgery, it is a clumsy and awkward forgery.
And the AP story in my local paper spends most of its space repeating the negative statements against Bush, and then mentions the Killian son's slightly disparaging remarks but fails to mention the facts that show that this is definitely a forgery.
BUCKHEAD AS FREEPER OF THE YEAR! Should get a special invatation from President Bush to attend one of the balls on January 20, 2005.
New war cry at DU:
"Don't be a Buckhead, vote for Kerry."
New 527:
"Buckheads for Bush!"
We always favor looking at the content and substance over WHO is offering up the information, but in the war that will ensue about WHO gave CBS the potentially phony documents, it is interesting to Note that the right (Drudge, Fox, right-leaning blogs, others) led the way in pointing out the questions we have all been asking and they were onto the questions, with remarkable detail, relatively soon after the documents were made public.
Clearly, the implication is that the Right gave the documents to CBS to set them up.
What these people don't understand is the robust nature of the complex system that is the Internet. Just looking at Free Republic, after Buckhead raised this issue, we instantly had 100's of people communicating and researching. These folks included Freepers who are document experts, some who are military who used the equiptment in question back in the 1970's, many who are frequent users of MS Word and recognized the documentation - the list goes on. All of these folks were instantly looking into this and, this is the important part, were able to talk to each other.
Such a dynamic is extremely powerful and one we have seen many times on FR. It is that dynamic that is confusing the MSM because they have never seen it and don't understand it.
In the pantheon of FReeRepublic:
Jim Robinson
Kristinn
Registered
Dr. Raoul
Angelwood
Buckhead
Howlin
Tonk
And not necessarily in that order. (There are others, I just can't think of 'em right now)
We're Not Worthy! :)
It is right-wing bigotry at its worst, ya know, that discriminatory intolerance for mistruth. Liberals, on the other hand, have proven they will compassionately believe whatever the DNC wants them to believe.
FReepers rule!
Sadly, the local media in my neck of the woods (N. CA--N Bay) are still touting the Bush was AWOL and that these docs are the smoking gun. By the time the pro-Kerry/anti-Bush media sycophants bury the forgery evidence in future back pages, the public will believe the original story that first came out. The media knows this and just like the transparent LIE of the AP booing, will just shrug their shoulders, make some lame excuse ("it was "oooing" not booing) and move on to the next spin cycle that makes Bush look evil and Kerry the only alternative.
McAwful and Edwards (who never served a day in their pampered pussy lives) are demanding answers from President Bush! The nerve of these jerks is appalling. However, they know the leftist MSM will accommodate DNC talking points rather than focus on the real issue of Kerry who hasn't answered any reporters questions in a month, has been caught in LIES regarding his service and whereabouts,(Christmas in Cambodia?) and refuses to release his own 180's...
Im so very impressed! Super job!
When I said that, I was NOT JOKING at all.
This, by buckhead and others who worked with him, is most certainly deserving of Pulitzer attention.
You're right... It may well have reversed the possibility of significant damage to the Bush campaign.
God Bless FR.
/
great 'toon
I'd definitely add John Robinson, for all those emergency drives to the server facility in the earlier days, when the site crashed. The term "yeoman's work" just doesn't begin to describe it: words fail me.
Beyond that, your list is an excellent one. After creation of the website (JimRob), the single greatest political feat I've seen is "Sore Loserman."
I know from the early discussions of the "documents" that you all played a part in this success. KUDOS to all of you... you've done us proud! :-)
Here is a link to the NY Post story
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