CBS...JFK...WTF
A number of folks (and that number would be more than one, and less than five) have asked me what's going on with this whole CBS thing they keep hearing about.
Well.
Briefly, it's become really just horribly obvious that CBS News, in a "60 Minutes II" piece by network anchor Dan Rather, used as the main source for a hit job on President Bush forged documents that alleged to show Bush had asked for and received preferential treatment during his tour of duty. If you have any doubt as to whether or not these documents were created in Microsoft Word, as opposed to an old-skool IBM Selectric typesetting typewriter, just take one look at this comparison, assembled by Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs. An animated GIF is worth a thousand words.
There is proof miles and miles beyond that, though. Do you know who Bill Burkett, Mary Mapes, David Van Os, and Joe Lockhardt are? Really the one-stop-shop for this whole scandal is Allah. Click on the link and just keep scrolling. You could also visit the guys who really broke the story, Power Line, or, for slightly snarkier and more...well, more biased coverage, Ratherbiased.com.
CBS, for it's part, has really yet to admit any wrongdoing. They're sticking with the story that they simply can't authenticate the documents, as opposed to admitting they're forgeries, which is a very different thing. Rather is pimping the "fake, but accurate" line, by which he means, quite ludicrously given the circumstances, that the assertions in the documents remain true.
Lileks points out the fallacy, by imploring you to imagine a CBS producer intoning the following:
"We understand that there has been some controversy over the newly discovered Michelangelo painting featured in “60 Minutes” expose of curatorial malfeasance at the Metropolitan Museum. Some outside experts note that close analysis of the wood frame reveals the presense of modern staples, and while we agree this is curious – as are the words ‘Abiline Frame Shop’ engraved into the wood – it is hardly conclusive. Others have questioned the use of acrylic instead of oil paints, and the presence of nylon fibers embedded in the brushstrokes have led some to question whether the painting is indeed 500 years old. These are issues worth pursuing, and we will redouble our efforts. But it’s a little bit frustrating to see all this reduced to a debate over slivers and threads, instead of the real question, namely, how did Michelangelo’s “Madonna of of the Dealership” include a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air rendered with such astonishing detail, half a millennium before the car was designed? That’s the issue we think should be the focus of our attention.”
Everyone seems to be slowly coming to the conclusion that the documents came from the Kerry campaign. I'm not on board with that. Yet. The evidence of complicity between CBS News and the Kerry campaign is sickening, though, and can really only be for one purpose. Go read Allah.