I was working all day without an Internet connection. last night, after talking to the kids and looking over their report cards (all A's for the older piglet, and all 100's for the younger one) and getting them to bed, I checked the news.
As is typically for me, I found myself skipping over my home page (MSNBC) and going straight to the blogs first. In this case Instapundit. I was a little fascinated with this post at Mr. Reynolds site, where he blogs on the ongoing CBS news forged memos controversy:
We can't yet say for certain that it's a forgery, I suppose -- but it looks that way. And we can say for certain that CBS was unforgivably sloppy, at the very most charitable, to bring documents like this forward and present them as genuine without noticing, and answering, these questions beforehand.
I surfed around some of the links, and then watched Special Report with Brit Hume (recorded on Tivo), who also mentioned doubts about the documents.
I assumed that most who read the blogosphere are aware of the documents experts and in particular all of the posts at Powerline about the documents. (Note: Lots more to read this morning there about this). The kicker for me is that you can type in the same document using the defaults of Microsoft Word, print out your copy, and then overlay one of the supposed "real" documents, and get an exact match.
Also interesting is the places in one of the documents where the typist left a space between a number and the the letters "th". Word has a feature called AutoFormat As You Type. When you type in a number followed by a "st" (as in 1st) or "nd" or "th", Word automatically makes the text smaller and in superscript. The way someone who is ignorant of Word might get around this is to leave a space between the number and the text, such as typing in "1 st".
A better way would have been for the forger to turn off the option in Microsoft Word by choosing Tools, then AutoCorrect Option, and then by clicking on the AutoFormat As You Type tab. On this tab, you would uncheck the option Ordinals (1st) with superscript option. Then you click on the OK button.
The result - no more automatic superscript for ordinal numbers. (Note: The less sophisticated can do this also by backspacing over the AutoFormatted superscript text, retype the text, and then by not pressing the Spacebar after typing in the text. You would make sure the text does not automatically superscript again by clicking in another space or word away from the formally superscripted text.)
I have been using and teaching others to use Microsoft Word for about 9 years, so I am fairly familiar with the program. In particular the default settings. My conclusion is this: This was not a sophisticated forgery. These documents appear to be a very amateur job by someone who was not particularly knowledgeable about Microsoft Word and how to deal with some of the features Microsoft put into the program to "help" with document formatting. (Note: Nothing personal Mr. Gates. I love Word, warts and all).
The crude way the author of the forgeries dealt with the "th" problem leads me to guess that they were someone a bit older, who did not have the either the time, knowledge, or patience to figure a way around their AutoFormat problem. (Word Help, as is typical, is not much help to the casual user in figuring out how to turn this option off) Perhaps someone who has a computer (or access to one) and who has someone always make their Word docs for him or her (say, by a secretary) or whose knowledge is limited to turning the thing on and checking his or her email.
I would think that when looking for the forger, assuming the media feels like it, would not involve looking for a "hacker" or someone younger than at least my age (38). I would look for some older (dare I say a Democrat - goes to motive) with a grudge, a laptop, and possibly a secretary who typically does his or her typing for him or her. I have had tons of these types of students over the past few years (typically after his or her secretary had been downsized) and these forged documents would be about par for the course for someone like that.
Update: Please read the related Scrappleface "story":
(2004-09-09) -- CBS reporter Dan Rather today released the text of a recently discovered email from then-Lt. George W. Bush's Air National Guard commanding officer which casts more doubt upon the military service of the man who would become the 43rd President of the United States.
Read the rest. Hilarious!
I decided to join the ranks of the forgers. Maybe I can get on 60 Minutes too.
http://gopandthecity.blogspot.com/2004/09/dan-rather-exclusive.html
Posted by: The Man | September 11, 2004 at 04:49
As much as I wish the non-political entertainers would stay out of politics the fact is that speech is free, getting an audience is not. Too many simply cannot resist the temptation to use the audience they have attracted for their talent to prattle on about politics. But hay some do “turn pro”. Arnold, Sonny Bono, Fred Grundy, Fred what his face, Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard.
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