And the Hits just keep on Comin'

Here's Ben Barnes (via PoliPundit):

To accept CBS's insistence the four documents from the early 1970s are authentic, you would have to believe the following: (1) That the late Jerry Killian, Bush's commanding officer, typed the documents--though his wife says "he wasn't a typist." (2) That Killian kept the documents in his personal files--though his family says he didn't keep files. (3) That the disputed documents reflect his true (negative) feelings about Bush and a contemporaneous official document he wrote lauding Bush did not. (4) That he typed the documents on a technically advanced typewriter, an IBM Selectric Composer--though that model has been tested and failed to produce an exact copy of the documents. (5) That this advanced typewriter, which would have cost $15,000 or so in today's dollars, was used by the Texas National Guard and that Killian had gained the significant expertise needed to operate it. (6) That Killian was under pressure to whitewash Bush's record from a general who had retired 18 months earlier. (7) That Killian's superior, Maj. Gen. Bobby Hodges, was right when, sight unseen, he supposedly said the documents were authentic, but wrong when, having actually viewed the documents, he declared them fraudulent. Now if you can't accept all that, there's another side. To believe the documents are forgeries, you have to believe this: (1) The documents were typed recently using Microsoft Word, which produces documents that are exact copies of the CBS documents. (2) There's no number 2. All you have to believe is number 1.

Ben Barnes

Even the Washington Post abandons CBS

The final pillars of mainstream media support for CBS' untenable position are crumbling. Even the Washington Post has abandoned CBS' lost cause. Rather and his network are left swinging in the wind like sausages during crow season. Hey, that was kind of a Rather-seque simile, dontcha think?

One CBS memo cites pressure allegedly being put on Killian by "Staudt," a reference to Col. Walter B. "Buck" Staudt, one of Bush's early commanders. But the memo is dated Aug. 18, 1973, nearly a year and a half after Staudt retired from the Guard. Questioned about the discrepancy over the weekend, CBS officials said that Staudt was a "mythic figure" in the Guard who exercised influence from behind the scenes even after his retirement

Uhmmm, yeah, there's certainly something mythic about CBS' story. At least this signals it's open season on Pravda^H^H^H^H^H^HCBS.



WaPo: Expert Cited by CBS Says He Didn't Authenticate Papers

The bizarre candidacy of John Kerry

...He either perjured himself in his antiwar testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in admitting to committing atrocities or he actually committed those atrocities, which is worse... ...He was present at a meeting of the VVAW where assassinations of public officials were discussed. Whether or not he voted against them or left the meeting, he has never explained why... ...He was rated the most liberal senator in 2003 by the nonpartisan National Journal. And that doesn't even begin to tell the story of his egregiously anti-defense and anti-intelligence record for his entire 20 years in the Senate. He has failed to denounce Michael Moore's deceits, but demands that President Bush denounce the Swiftees' truths. He insists Iraq isn't part of the War on Terror yet claims that we've lost 1,000 people in the War on Terror... ...He refuses to release all his military and medical records and hides behind his biographer Brinkley, who contradicts him, saying Kerry alone possesses authority over his records. He brutalized Vice President Cheney for saying America would be safer under Bush-Cheney but in the next breath, said he would make America safer... ...He says he won't delegate our national security to other nations, but never stops complaining, essentially, about Pres. Bush's failure to delegate our national security to other nations.

The bizarre candidacy of John Kerry

Zell Miller Speaks Out

In the Journal, Zell Miller responds to his critics including one former peanut farmer-turned-president.

...I charged that John Kerry is weak on national security, and I listed some of the many weapons systems he has opposed over the years. My critics tripped over themselves to point out that Dick Cheney opposed some of the same weapons systems when he was defense secretary. But, like with so many things in life, timing is everything. Mr. Kerry was proposing the cancellation of many of these weapons systems at the height of the Cold War--the worst possible time to weaken our military strength. It would be comparable to a senator in 1943 proposing to scrap the B-29 Bomber or Sherman tank or Higgins landing craft. By contrast, Mr. Cheney waited until after we had won the Cold War to propose modernizing our forces and replacing older weapons systems. There's a huge difference. Whether it's the Cold War of yesterday or the war on terror today, Mr. Kerry has sought time and time again to weaken our military at the exact moment we need to show our strength... ...But for David Gergen and this newspaper's Al Hunt, among others, to call me a racist was especially hurtful. For they know better. They know I worked for three governors in a row, not just one: Carl Sanders, Lester Maddox and Jimmy Carter. They knew I was the first governor to try to remove the Confederate emblem from the Georgia flag. And by the way, when I called each of Georgia's former governors to tell them what I was about to attempt, Jimmy Carter's first question to me was, "What are you doing that for?"...

I will never trust John Kerry with my family's safety

Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota are trending Bush

The Boston Globe brings news that Kerry's position is as bad as Rather's, with the report that Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota are "trending" Bush: "In short, Kerry is no longer expanding into Republican turf as much as he is defending his own. Kerry's struggle to hold the Upper Midwest is one of the first problems Democrats mention when they describe their anxieties about the campaign -- especially faced with recent polls, such as one released yesterday by CNN/USA Today/Gallup that suggested Bush was leading Kerry in Wisconsin by 8 percentage points. Of the trio, Wisconsin is the site of the most intense campaigning, having supported Gore over Bush by less than 6,000 votes last time. ''Bush right now is smelling blood,' said former Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile."

Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota are trending Bush

Swiftboat Veterans: 3, Kerry: 0

The spot report for John Kerry's Silver Star action has resurfaced at Bandit's Hideout, and it affirms the story told by the Swiftvets while contradicting the later two versions of his citation. Bandit, who has done yeoman work on Kerry's Viet Nam narrative, has posted scans of the two-page document from Newscentral.tv. Fox News reports that this spot-action report was written by Kerry himself, ironically, since it supports the Swiftvet version of events for the engagement... ...Although it's difficult to see how this action should have resulted in a Silver Star, it would seem a commendation of some sort would be appropriate. It's all of the exaggeration, lies, and paperwork alterations after the fact that calls Kerry's character into serious question.

I no longer wonder why Mr. Kerry won't sign his Form 180 that would release all of his records.

Silver Star Spot Report Surfaces

Seen around the web

eBay: RARE 1961 IBM 72 SELECTRIC TYPEWRITER GREAT FOR FORGING



Fafblog: Damning interview with an IBM Selectric



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Citizen-Journal: Obituary for the NY Times