I was going to stay out of the fray on the "Dan Rather Thing", but it's hard to even read the news, the blogs... without being utterly inundated with various points debunking the evidence presented Wednesday on 60 minutes.

CBS responded to the attacks on their credibility by digging in their heels:

"For the record, CBS News stands by the thoroughness and accuracy of the 60 Minutes report this Wednesday on President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.

This report was not based solely on recovered documents, but rather on a preponderance of evidence, including documents that were provided by unimpeachable sources, interviews with former Texas National Guard officials and individuals who worked closely back in the early 1970s with Col. Jerry Killian and were well acquainted with his procedures, his character and his thinking.

In addition, the documents are backed up not only by independent handwriting and forensic document experts but by sources familiar with their content. Contrary to some rumors, no internal investigation is underway at CBS News nor is one planned. We have complete confidence in our reporting and will continue to pursue the story."

One of the planks of their rebuttal, it seems, is that the documents in question are not the only evidence that points to the dereliction of duty that George W. Bush is guilty of.

Thanks to Instapundit for pointing us to this ABC News article.

HODGES SAID HE WAS MISLED BY CBS: Retired Maj. General Hodges, Killian's supervisor at the Grd, tells ABC News that he feels CBS misled him about the documents they uncovered. According to Hodges, CBS told him the documents were "handwritten" and after CBS read him excerpts he said, "well if he wrote them that's what he felt."

Hodges also said he did not see the documents in the 70's and he cannot authenticate the documents or the contents. His personal belief is that the documents have been "computer generated" and are a "fraud".

In addition, there are a number of sources that disagree with Dan Rather's insistence that the documents are indeed genuine: including Lt Colonel Killian's wife and son (Killian is the alleged author of the document) as well as airmen who actually served with the then Lieutenant Bush.

None of this was offered by Dan Rather, though it was certainly offered to him according to Killian's family.

This doesn't even address the documents themselves, which are given careful attention by bloggers such as LGF and Powerline.

LGF (Little Green Footballs) demonstrates how you can make a perfect copy of several of the documents in question using Microsoft Word. Charles of LGF puts it best when comparing the documents:

The vertical spacing between lines is identical. The right and left margins are identical. Each and every character in each and every line matches up with the exact same characters in the lines above and below. The line breaks fall exactly on Word's autowrap boundaries. The date at upper right aligns perfectly with Word's default tab stops.

Another of the bogus documents even has auto-centered text, again matched exactly by its Word equivalent.

And several other bloggers have done similar experiments with the other documents posted at CBS, and discovered the same exact 1:1 correspondence between the so-called "original" documents and quickly typed MS Word documents, using default settings.

Listening to the Tony Snow Show today, the Fox News anchor and radio talk show host pointed out other inconsistencies such as manuals that were referenced in the documents that do not actually exist.

Or how about some of the other anamolies like the invalid addresses referenced in the documents?

Or the fact that the dates mentioned for Lieutenant Bush's physical were wrong? According to officers that Bush served with, your physical is scheduled during the month of your birth.

Or how about the fact that the documents describe the fact that Killian was under pressure from General Staudt to "sugar coat" Lieutenant Bush's records when in fact General Staudt had retired a year earlier?

I can only shake my head with disgust.

My power was just restored today in the wake of Hurricane Frances. During that time my wife, son and three dogs stayed on a boat with my parents so we could at least have air conditioning, ice, etc. Luckily the boat we stayed on was large enough to accommodate us all, but alas, no satellite TV or cable news. We watched the local airwaves and only now I realize what a monopoly biased media has on the have-nots. People like Dan Rather are the only access that some people have to the news.

There ought to be a law against this. There ought to be consequences.

Just tell me where I can vote for them.

[UPDATE FROM MICHAEL]

Adding an update to this article: there is a great article over at ratherbiased.com that has an articulated 21 point rebuttal for Dan Rather's accusations.

Posted by Michael at September 11, 2004 11:53 AM