The latter part of the column is the most interesting. Mary Mapes has destroyed herself and is obviously washed up, but the Republican establishment is about to crumble into dust because crusty-old-militaristic-marine Murtha is riding to the rescue.
I don't think so.
As for Mapes, Kurtz writes: "Mapes is right that the purported 30-year-old memos by Bush's long-dead squadron commander have not been proven to be forgeries."
No, Howie. They have not been legally proven to be forgeries, because for the usual reasons no prosecutor has pursued Mapes, Rather, and CBS for the crime of pushing a forgery on the public to influence a presidential election.
But anyone who doubts for a minute that these documents are forgeries simply hasn't looked at the evidence.
But anyone who doubts for a minute that these documents are forgeries simply hasn't looked at the evidence. You got that right. Here it is again, for those who never saw it or need a reminder:
This is the Mapes memo forgery, superimposed with the output of Charles Johnson's Word 2004 program. Identical to the millimeter, except for some artificial "aging".
A large reward has been offered to anybody who can do this using any typewriter or typesetting machine available in 1972. Nobody has claimed it, and nobody ever will.
What's more, even if you lay aside the type face question, content analysis shows more holes in this memo than you can shake a stick at. Most conspicuously, the abbreviations and layout are Army National Guard, not Air Force. Bill Burkett, take a bow.
CBS, Dan Rather, and Mary Mapes used forged military documents in an attempt to stage a coup d'état. Never forget that. In a just world, they would face a firing squad.
-ccm