Apparently, Dan Rather told an outright lie last night during his defense of the Killian documents. Rather said (emphasis added),
Document and handwriting examiner Marcel Matley analyzed the documents for CBS News. He says he believes they are real, but he is concerned about exactly what is being examined by some of the people now questioning the documents.
But the Los Angeles Times is reporting today that,
But in an interview with The Times, the analyst [Matley] said he had only judged a May 4, 1972, memo — in which Killian ordered Bush to take his physical — to be authentic.
He said he did not form a judgment on the three other disputed memos because they only included Killian’s initials and he did not have validated samples of the officer’s initials to use for comparison.
So Rather just went on TV last night and lied his ass off.
The Times goes on to note that CBS apparently has two other document examiners at an undisclosed location who verified the documents,
A CBS official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the network had two other document experts, who CBS did not identify, examine the documents, which were copies of the originals.
So why did Rather lie about it last night and tell us Matley analyzed all the documents and said he believes all of them are real? Does CBS condone its anchors lying to their audience?
As Glenn Reynolds might put it, I think they’ve been making that clear for years. . . .
Source:
Amid Skepticism, CBS Sticks to Bush Guard Story. James Rainey and Elizabeth Jensen, Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2004.