Dan Rather, surrounded by the facts, still refuses to surrender to them. CBS News (presumably with Rather's blessing) has posted this story on its site:
Questions Linger Over Bush MemosI won't go any further, because the blogosphere has put it to rest -- in spades. I just want to comment on the third and fourth paragraphs.
NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2004
(CBS/AP) Amid challenges from other news organizations and partisans [i.e., bloggers: ED], CBS News continued to defend itself over criticism stemming from documents it obtained that questioned President Bush's service in the Air National Guard.
On "The CBS Evening News" Monday night, Dan Rather said his original report on "60 Minutes" used several different techniques to make sure the memos were genuine, including talking to handwriting and document analysts and other experts who strongly insist that the documents could have been created in the 1970s – as opposed to a word-processing software program, as some have charged.
"Everything that's in those documents, that people are saying can't be done, as you said, 32 years ago, is just totally false. Not true. Proportional spacing was available. Superscripts were available as a custom feature. Proportional spacing between lines was available. You can order that any way you'd like," said document expert Bill Glennon.
Richard Katz, a software designer, found some other indications in the documents. He noted that the letter "L" is used in those documents, instead of the numeral "one." That would be difficult to reproduce on a computer today....
Document "expert" Bill Glennon is certainly right that proportional letter spacing, superscripts, and proportional line spacing were available 32 years ago. But that ducks the fact that Microsoft Word and the version of Times New Roman used by Microsoft Word weren't available 32 years ago. I think it's been shown conclusively that the so-called documents can be replicated exactly -- and only -- using Microsoft Word and its Times New Roman font.
Now, what about the numeral "one" that looks like a lower-case "L"? Guess what? The numeral "one" in Microsoft Word's Times New Roman resembles a lower-case "L". In fact, it looks exactly like the numeral "one" as it appears at the top of the forgery at this link. Moreover, the lower-case "L"s sprinkled through the text of the forgery look exactly like the lower-case "L"s in Microsoft Word's Times New Roman. You can check this at home and send me an e-mail if you disagree.
What's next, Dan? I think it's time for you to say that you were brainwashed when you served in Korea. But you can't can you, because you didn't serve in Korea. Hmmm...I though you said somewhere that you did. Am I making up stuff about you? Why not? You make up stuff all the time.
