Burnt Orange Report

DMN: Documents May Be Forged, but The Content is Still Valid

By Andrew Dobbs

Alright, I'll admit that I've denied myself the insatiable joy of delving into the history of American typewriters over the last week as many of my blogosphere colleagues seem to have done. I have a hard time believing that CBS News would walk on air with completely fake documents and unless the accusers have seen the actual documents up close and personal there is no way for them to analyze them. Still, where there is smoke there tends to be fire- something shady is going on for sure.

So let's assume for the sake of argument that the documents are indeed faked and that someone managed to fool one of the nation's preeminent journalists- Dan Rather- into believing something absolutely false. Does it make a difference? According to the Dallas Morning News, the answer is no:

The former secretary for the Texas Air National Guard officer who supposedly wrote memos critical of President Bush's Guard service said Tuesday that the documents are fake but that they reflect documents that once existed.

Marian Carr Knox, who worked from 1957 to 1979 at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, said that she prided herself on meticulous typing and that the memos first disclosed by CBS News last week were not her work.

"These are not real," she told The Dallas Morning News after examining copies of the disputed memos for the first time. "They're not what I typed, and I would have typed them for him."

Mrs. Knox, 86, who spoke with precise recollection about dates, people and events, said, "I remember very vividly when Bush was there and all the yak-yak that was going on about it."

She added that she does not support Mr. Bush as president, deeming him "unfit for office" and "selected, not elected." (...)

She said that although she did not recall typing the memos reported by CBS News, they accurately reflect the viewpoints of Col. Killian and documents that would have been in the personal file. Also, she said she didn't know whether the CBS documents corresponded memo for memo with that file.

"The information in here was correct, but it was picked up from the real ones," she said. "I probably typed the information and somebody picked up the information some way or another."

Mrs. Knox said that she didn't recall typing a Killian memo alleging that a commander, Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt, was pressuring officers to "sugar coat" Mr. Bush's record. But, she said, such a portrayal of Col. Staudt was consistent with his character and Col. Killian's opinion of his superior officer. (...)

Other evidence in the documents seem to point to a forgery and the source seems pretty unimpeachable here- a sound of mind woman who did all of the typing for the superior officer in question who has no interest in fronting for Bush. Still, she says that forgery or no forgery Bush was a shmuck during his time in the Guard.

So the story is still quite disturbing. CBS appears to have perhaps been duped by someone but the dupe still caught the right information. They clearly had a familiarity with the situation on base- being able to identify the correct commanders and capturing Killian's general tone and attitude. Perhaps these documents were recreated from someone's memory of the originals or perhaps they are real after all. Still, the point is- fake or not fake Bush shirked his obligations to his country while serving in the Guard.