Two Thoughts On Yesterday's Kerfuffle

First, CBS News says:

60 Minutes consulted a handwriting analyst and document expert who believes the material is authentic.

To anyone who has the slightest idea of how documents were produced in the early 70's, the memos scream fake, and a clumsy and childish fake at that. So either CBS are lying and they did not bother do get the documents authenticated at all, or their handwriting analyst and document expert is a retarded hamster.

Second, as Dean Esmay noted yesterday and others have noted since, the Democratic National Committee was busy pumping this story at the very moment it was melting down:

Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 22:42:39 -0500

....

Back in February, President Bush sat down in the Oval Office for an interview with Tim Russert and spoke about his service in the National Guard. Bush told us, "I put in my time, proudly so." He said, "And I'm telling you, I did my duty."

But now we know that Bush dishonored the Oval Office by lying to the American people.

New investigations from multiple media sources have revealed the truth about President Bush's service. New military documents show that Bush disobeyed a direct order from his commander to take a flight physical and "failed to perform to U.S. Air Force/Texas Air National Guard standards" — and was grounded as a result.

New evidence supports claims that Bush missed months of service and that he never showed up for service with the Alabama National Guard.

New evidence shows that Bush received special treatment. His supervisor wrote that he felt pressured from above to "sugar coat" Bush's records.

This stands in stark contrast to the Republican Party's distancing itself from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Very very stark contrast. So stark that some people are wondering:

From the Kerry perspective a scandal involving forged documents is a disaster. Kerry had yesterday to get in front of the story and he missed that boat. Instead of being able to stay on message and trying to beat down the post convention pulse which has sent Bush several points ahead in various opinion polls, Kerry is likely to face questions about who was responsible for the forgeries. While it would be astonishing if anyone inside the Kerry organization had a hand in them, it is a question that will be asked. Moreover, the spectacle of Kerry announcing that his campaign organization and the Democratic Party had nothing to do with issuing those documents will occupy several critical news cycles and focus attention on character -- exactly where Kerry does not want to be.

At the bottom of the story, though, is this point: CBS have been extremely, extremely stupid in their handling of this. The Democratic Party have been nearly, if not equally, as stupid. Whether they involved themselves in this mess deliberately, or were unwitting dupes of the forgers because they wanted to believe, it is transparently clear that they are not particularly bright.

Tell Me Again Why I Need You, Karl.

Damned if I know.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 510 words, total size 3 kb.