Ramblings' Journal

Media meltdown over Bush charges escalates

CBS has begun an internal investigation of the source of the National Guard "documents" they obtained, supposedly from a FOIA request. The documents supposedly show that then-Lieutenant Bush disobeyed direct orders and was not certified to fly during his time of service. The documents were supposedly written in the early 1970s.

Analysis of the documents has shown that the typeface and layout used was not available in the 1970s, but most likely came from a recent version of Microsoft Word. Microsoft didn't even exist until 1980, and did not begin manufacturing word processing software until the early 1990s.

Memos uncovered and touted by Rather's team appear to have been written in Microsoft Word, the experts said - a computer program that did not exist at the time Bush was in the Guard.

The same documents, purportedly authored by Bush Guard commander Jerry Killian, were challenged by Killian's widow and son, who told reporters on Thursday that the deceased National Guard commander would have never written such memos.

CBS is not alone in their misery. NBC is set to air three days of Today Show interviews with author Kitty Kelly, whose new "tell-all" book, The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, has been discredited by the supposed main source for the information in the book, ex-sister-in-law Susan Bush.

"I categorically deny that I ever told Kitty Kelley that George W. Bush used cocaine at Camp David or that I ever saw him use cocaine at Camp David," ex-Bush sister-in-law Sharon Bush said in a statement issued Thursday.

No comment from NBC officials today.

Posted by mhking at September 10, 2004 10:03 AM