But Why?

posted by Jeremy Chrysler @ 9:32 PM

1. Karl Rove. I don't really believe this, but it's the easy answer for people who can't come to terms with the possibility of liberal muckraking. As far as I can tell, the first time Rove's name was mentioned was in pacetown's comments: "My theory? Karl Rove is having a seriously fun time with the mainstream media. He certainly had some fun creating these documents and having them leaked to CBS. LOL, Karl, LOL!" Even as it seems unrealistic, Bush will win huge PR points when the non-CBS networks pounce on the wounded, 60-legged beast and reveal the letters as frauds.
2. The Forgers were just that lazy: This is a fairly reasonable possibility, but they went to a lot of trouble to make the documents look old and slipstream truth with fiction in such a way that the documents would be believable. As many suggest, there are several stylistic features of the documents (use of CYA, improper abbreviation, shadowy reference to the people "upstairs" for whose benefit this document would have been written) that don't really jive with this theory.
3. The Forgers started out Joking and got in over their heads: Until CBS reveals the source of these documents, we won't know if this is true, but it seems to be to be a certain possibility. Imagine this scenario: a couple of Kerry supporters, aware of questions surrounding Bush's National Guard service, string together a couple of documents which fill in the holes...they print them, refine them a bit, print them again, and 'age' them a little bit before sharing them, offline, with friends. The question is how CBS would be connected with such a scenario. This is a question that I can't answer.
4. CBS is intentionally deceitful: This explanation won't work either, because the forgeries aren't good enough. Were CBS somehow wholly responsible for this farce, they would have done a better job creating forgeries. Heck, I would have done a better job creating forgeries.
5. CBS is just that Lazy: It wouldn't be anything new. They screwed up here, or at least misrepresented. Now, they insist that they stand by their 'sources' whoever they are. CBS execs are likely wringing their hands trying to figure out how to get out of this, because experts are overwhelmingly rejecting their claims. Are they covering up laziness or deceit? In either case, this is a big black eye, and considering that's their logo, that's a big problem.

To me, it's most likely the last option. CBS likely got so excited about some information, that was perhaps funneled through a credible source through some garden-variety forger. This solution doesn't particularly satisfy me, but neither does anyone else. If any pacetown readers have any thoughts, please do not hesitate to leave them here for us. We can only speculate until CBS decides to reveal their information. The evidence against them is mounting, and they may not have any room to retreat by tomorrow evening. They may be holding out, hoping that September 11th coverage requirements will give them a free-pass. Hopefully we'll know, sooner rather than later.

UPDATE: According to a contact of Allahpundit, the NY Sun and Post may be picking up on this tomorrow, perhaps even on the front page. Keep your eyes open.

UPDATE: Mainstream Media pick up on the story. Here's a lpartial ist of stories:

1. GUARD-MEMO 'HOAX' - New York Post
2. CBS documents look forged, colonel's son says - Washington Times
3. Bush National Guard memos may be forgeries - Miami Herald

There's about 1600 more, although most are reprints from Matt Kelly's AP story. The bigger this story this becomes, the less that John Kerry gets to talk about the issues.

Via Allah: check out the article in the Spectator article on this...their sources indicate that the Kerry camp knew about these documents weeks ago and that they may have been responsible for dropping them into CBS's hands.