Just watched the Dan Rather spin. It would be unbelievable but, hell, I live in Canada and am used to state media pulling this sort of stunt every single day.

I just finished watching it myself. Rather left out so much stuff it isn't even funny. He didn't even talk about what typewriters might have had the capability to use superscript, for Pete's sake! Nor did, of course, he mention all the errors of style, format or even fact (that nonexistent Air Force manual) that are even more relevant than questions of typography.

Just wait, I predict they will say the original is hidden in a vault and that this was a recreation of the original, so as not to damage the original. But of course, no one will ever be allowed to see the non-existent original.

Another tidbit:

I noticed on the May 4, 1972 order that it was addressed to Bush at 5000 Longmont #8, Houston, Texas 77027. I went to usps website and did a zip search for that address and it turns out that the address is an apartment bldg. but the zip was 77056 not 77027. I am not aware that zip codes have ever been changed.

CBS's forensics expert is Marcel Matley, who seems legit from his online bio. Perhaps your expert could talk to him now.

Notice that the only thing Matley wanted to talk about was the signature? Dollars to donuts he's not going to vouch for the type. And he will be asked.

The CBS news segment showed a brief flash of a document that supposedly proved others created at that time had the same type of "th". But the document shown did not have a superscripted "th".

What I saw appeared to be an elevated "th" in approximately the same size font as the other type. It also looked as if it had a dash under it. That's easy to create with a regular typewriter by rolling the platen down a tiny bit and holding it while typing the "th".

Can you give us a source for the new "not kerned" bit? I'm curious how so many people could've made that mistake.

Somebody needs to consult another graphology (handwriting) expert. The Killian signatures are very different, and clearly not from the same hand. Just look at the Ks in Killian.

That's it? That's the superscript th? Hm. Monospaced type. Pre-Y2K dates. A black marker that is really black.

Times New Roman may have been around for a long time but IBM Composer uses Press Roman, not Times New Roman. Press Roman has a foot on the 4's. Times New Roman does not. The documents in question do not have the feet on the 4's.

Here's a look at what 4's look like in IBM Composer, the document in question, and Microsoft Word.

Rich,

You just boiled down Dr. Bouffard's argument - he actually found 14 inconsistencies, but didn't want to put a 100% on it because of the poor document quality.

Bill:
Can you get Dr. Bouffard's opinion on Marcel Manley? Has the good Doctor ever heard of this Mr. Manley????

Wait a minute. Hold on, folks.

Are we talking about Bush's service record here? The one with one superscripted and three non-superscripted "111th"'s?

If so, that's already been acknowledged as being an authentic document from the early 1970's. Why would it have been kerned?

I've said it before, I'll say it again. If I was handed a f***ing fax of a letter with no official letter head I would automatically discredit it. Even a shitty forger would at least fake the letter head.

The fact that, even such a poor quality memo is spaced PERFECTLY as one written in Word, almost to the pixel should warrent a trip to the round filing cabinet.

The problem I'm seeing now is this. The left WANTS the information to be true so it doesn't matter how bad it smells. The right wants it to be a forgery so they can claim Bush served properly. Neither side is going to win this one arguing if the damn thing was kerned or not or if it was typed using ENIAC.

This is in response to tonight's CBS Evening News.

Rather uses the th in the (uncontested) Chronological Listing of Service (shown by R on the air) as proof that the early 70's office typewriters could treat the th combination. Rather is wrong in the sense that the th in the Listing of Service (in the 4Sep68 entry) is an in-line, fixed-space, special character, definitely not a superscript, the evidence is clear. On the other hand, the th-s in the disputed memos are true superscripts, and, to boot, proportionally spaced. On the th point, Rather's defense fails.

I am surprised (disappointed?) by the shallowness of the defense offered by CBS, as if they want this story to go on.

Also, to resolve the kerning and the line spacing questions, you really need better copies than what we can get on the web right now.

Bill, drop the auto-centering idea. With a disclaimer for the (low) quality of the copies, my measurement shows that the centering of the headings may have been achieved through tabbing but certainly not through auto-centering.

I don't know anything about the Texas ANG but the idea of an IBM Composer in an admin office in 1972 is hilarious.

UPDATE: I'm going to verify this via expert before I say unequivocal, so stay tuned.

Criminy, I swear I've spent more time in edit mode than draft mode today. Well, that's life when you actually care to make a reasonable attempt at verification, huh?

When LTC Killian assumed and relinquished command of the 111th he would hav had to sign for all the property (identified by make, model, serial number), including the typewriters, etc.. These inventories are a big deal because commanders are repsonsible for the equipment. If there was a high end typewriter, printing press, or whatever, it would have been listed in the inventory. Not sure where this inventory would be now but the military tends ot keep all this peperwork somewhere; a copy probably remains with the unit.

Right. I think we need to get a consensus of authorities.