Can't Tell The Players Without A Scorecard

Good job by UML Guy, who rounds up the Killian/CBS document puzzle.

We note from his chart that a typesetting expert has emerged on the side of CBS; InDC, who broke news with an earlier expert interview, has more.

And let's keep Robert "Corky" Cartwright, Hugh Hewitt's Professor of Computer Science from Rice in the mix, and get him on the scorecard.

MORE: NY Times coverage for Sept 11. They miss the brutal, non-technical developments. And they find experts on both sides of the typesetting debate, and offer us this:

Experts on documents said the veracity of the CBS memos might never be known because they had been copied so many times. CBS News officials said that its papers were copies, too, and that it did not have the originals. The network said it would not identify its original source.

Mr. Rather said, "We worked long and hard and became convinced that, yes, this person had the capacity to get the documents, and, yes, this person was truthful."

Mr. Matley, the documents expert, said in an interview after the program, that he had examined documents and handwriting since 1985 and had testified in 65 trials. Mr. Matley said the documents the network sent him were so deteriorated from copying that it was impossible to identify the typeface.

Makes sense if the goal is to cover one's tracks, but why would Killian copy and re-copy his personal files? We don't even know if this would have been a crime, but now we know it can't be detected? This is too perfect.

And if they can't even identify the typeface, how can they ever authenticate this? I am charitably setting aside (for the moment) questions about how these copies floated from Killian's personal files to CBS. Please tell me it was via a magic box from the Rose Law Firm.

The Times delivers another smack to CBS from their "expert", Robert W. Strong. Having established that the Selectric typewriter may be able to produce these documents, we get this:

Robert W. Strong, 62, was a staff sergeant in the adjutant general's office of the Texas Air National Guard at Camp Mabry at Austin in 1968, when Mr. Bush enlisted. Mr. Strong said in an interview Friday he was quite sure that he and others used Selectrics in the adjutant general's office. He added that he was not sure the typewriters and devices were also in the 147th Combat Support Squadron at the Ellington base in Houston, home of the 111th squadron.

"I'm skeptical that Killian was working on that," Mr. Strong said.

Mr. Strong was a crucial source for CBS News, insisting that the sentiment expressed in the memos were consistent with "the man that I remember Jerry Killian being."

WaPo coverage: They include the Dallas Morning News time-warp on Staudt, do not find new experts to support Rather, and see a White House move towards an embrace of the forgery defense (oops!). Some highlights:

Rather said that CBS's lead expert was Marcel Matley of San Francisco, a member of the National Association of Document Examiners who has taught, lectured and written about his field, testified in numerous trials, and consulted for government agencies. Matley said last night that a "60 Minutes" executive had asked him not to give interviews.

...The White House is raising doubts for the first time about the documents' authenticity. "I think there's a big question mark, like major news organizations are suggesting," communications director Dan Bartlett said last night. "Obviously, we see the same things that other people are pointing out now. But at the time, I had every reason to believe that a major news organization had authentic documents."

Comments

[Les Nessman]

"Matley said last night that a "60 Minutes" executive had asked him not to give interviews."

Bwahahahaha! An organization that interviews people for a living is now asking someone deeply involved with a major story to NOT give interviews? Well, that's really rich. What about the people's right to know? Do they think '60 Minutes' is above criticism?

[Mr. Davis]

CBS does not want it getting around how much it paid Matley for his expert services.

[cahmd]

Just a thought, perhaps the "forger" is now assembling all the relevant info and techniques provided by the bevy of comments and analyses by the aforementioned document experts and will release a "perfected" original. At least perfect enough to draw a split decision on its authenticity. To paraphrase Johnny Cochran, "if the font don't fit, you can't convict."

[Greg F]

Handwriting experts and witch doctors have about the scientific credibility.

[Tom Paine]

What do we see
On CBS?
That's what we see
We see B.S.!

"Tom Paine"

[TM]

Pretty good.

[Cecil Turner]

Yes, very common-sensical.

Glenn (linking Steyn, Jay Bryant, INDC Journal, the NY Post, et al) is kicking the b****slapping up another notch. This is fun to watch . . . and as long as Rather & CBS defend the story, it'll continue.

Hey, did we ever reach a consensus on whether barrel-fisking was bad form? Cuz this sure ain't very sportin'.

[TomCom]

cahmd

Once upon a time, someone said that if you sat a bunch of monkeys in a room, each in front of a typewriter, you might get Hamlet. Right.

now, if you sat a ton of DNC guys in front of a typewriter, you mighty get that purse from a sow's ear, gold from dross.... Right.

But, most important, fuhgedabout the form for the sake of argument; there's a substantive problem here.

[Brian]

This is ridiculous. Bush wasn't where he was supposed to be all the time, nor did he do anything he had to do. That much has always been known.

The sooner he admits this, the sooner we move past it.

[Cecil Turner]

"The sooner he admits this, the sooner we move past it."

I'd rather talk about the DNC forging documents so they can claim the President violated a direct order--and their co-conspirators at CBS News. I think that's a lot more germane to the present campaign than 30+ year-old Air National Guard records. And I don't really want to "move past it" thank-you-very-much.

[JM Hanes]

The strategy is clear:

You reduce the question of authenticity to the "trustworthiness" of your source. You can then (self-righteously!) claim you are ethically obliged to protect the identity of that source. You're home free.

If you parse the language of the various CBS defenses, you can see them heading toward this conflation from the start.

[Billie]

Dumb question here, but is it possible that CBS/Rather is using this 'event' to take the focus OFF the real problems that Kerry has? I can't help thinking that CBS had to know prior to Wednesday these documents aren't the real deal...But notice, for the last 4 days, no one has talked about the Swifties, treason, flip-flops, and other major problems with Kerry and/or his policies. Is it something that has thrown people off scent?

[Brian]

Cecil,

There's no proof that the DNC forged these documents.