CBS Article Undermines Prior Assertions

However, the article does undermine the defense presented by Dan Rather by reporting the following:

• . . . handwriting analyst, Marcel Matley, who CBS had claimed vouched for the authenticity of four memos, vouched for only one signature, and no scribbled initials. The Times reports he has no opinion about the typography of any of the supposed memos.


• Robert Strong noted he's not a forensic expert and isn't vouching for the documents. [Robert Strong, apparently a retired English professor and contemporary of Killian, was the only associate of Killian quoted by CBS as supporting the memo's contents.]


• Retired Col. Maurice Udell, the unit's instructor pilot who helped train Mr. Bush, said Friday he thought the documents were fake.

  "I completely am disgusted with this (report) I saw on 60 Minutes,"' Udell said. "That's not true. I was there. I knew Jerry Killian. I went to Vietnam with Jerry Killian in 1968."



• CBS News Anchor Dan Rather, who reported the story for 60 Minutes, said typewriters were available in the early 1970s which were capable of printing superscripts. CBS pointed to other Texas Air National Guard documents released by the White House that include an example of a raised "th" superscript.

  That superscript, however, is in a different typeface than the one used for the CBS memos. Document examiner Sandra Ramsey Lines of Paradise Valley, Ariz., who examined the documents for the AP, said she was "virtually certain" they were generated by computer.



• Some forensic experts were quoted by news organizations, including The Associated Press, saying the memos appeared to have been computer-generated with characteristics that weren't available three decades ago

These items remained unanswered in the report and stood in stark contrast to Rather's feeble yet forceful assertions. As a result, my impression of the article was somewhat different than that of Powerline. It appears to me that the CBS/AP report is undermining and weakening the Dan Rather defense rather than asserting it.

In addition, unless I'm missing something, the article appears markedly different that Rather's news report as described by WizBangBlog.

Update:

Lead Source, Matley, is now denying he can authenticate the Bush Guard Memos. See The End is Near.

Update: Dallas News (New - 9/14): Col. Killian's former secretary weighs-in on the matter against CBS. [see Latest News]