QandO

September 09, 2004

Piling On
Posted by Dale Franks

Journalism is funny. No matter what the political views of reporters, above all else, they love to play "gotcha" with rival news organizations.

So, the Washington Post is leading off with this:

Documents unearthed by CBS News that raise doubts about whether President Bush fulfilled his obligations to the Texas Air National Guard include several features suggesting that they were generated by a computer or word processor rather than a Vietnam War-era typewriter, experts said yesterday.

ABC News is going with this:

More than half a dozen document experts contacted by ABC News said they had doubts about the memos' authenticity.

"These documents do not appear to have been the result of technology that was available in 1972 and 1973," said Bill Flynn, one of country's top authorities on document authentication. "The cumulative evidence that's available … indicates that these documents were produced on a computer, not a typewriter."

On the other hand, not everyone wants to deal with the forgeries problem. The AP handles it like this:

Reviving issues that have shadowed his political career, the documents show Bush ignored a direct order from a superior officer and lost his status as a Texas Air National Guard pilot more than three decades ago because he failed to meet military performance standards and undergo a required physical examination.

But the authenticity of the memos was questioned Thursday by the son of the late officer who reportedly wrote them. One of the writer's fellow officers and a document expert also said Thursday the documents appear to be forgeries.

Still, the documents marked the second time in days the White House had to backtrack from assertions that all of Bush's records had been released. They also raised the specter that Bush sought favors from higher-ups and that the commander of the Texas Air National Guard wanted to "sugar coat" Bush's record after he was suspended from flying.

The AP then spends 1,000 words rehashing the charges against Mr. Bush in the memos in detail. But, hey, at least they mentioned the possibility of forgery, though they appear to feel that it isn't all that important.

CBS News, on the other hand isn't saying anything.

Probably wise.

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