FreeperGate: Liberal Media Debunks Debunker

Will the real CBS memo forger please stand up?

Burkett or "Rather" Buckhead?

If you haven't followed the minutia of the CBS document scandal over apparently forged documents reassembled to look like the personal journal of George Bush's former Guard commander, don't bother trying to catch up.

If you're up to speed though, it's getting really good.

After mainstream media outlets picked up and reported criticisms as they appeared in partisan blogs like FreeRepublic.com, it seems only fitting that media turn the microscope on the accusers.

While the controversey surrounding the documents all stemmed from several "alert" bloggers, one stood out in particular. "Buckhead" who's identity is now known.

LATimes.com

WASHINGTON � It was the first public allegation that CBS News used forged memos in its report questioning President Bush's National Guard service � a highly technical explanation posted within hours of airtime citing proportional spacing and font styles.

But it did not come from an expert in typography or typewriter history as some first thought. Instead, it was the work of Harry W. MacDougald, an Atlanta lawyer with strong ties to conservative Republican causes who helped draft the petition urging the Arkansas Supreme Court to disbar President Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the Times has found.

The identity of "Buckhead," a blogger known previously only by his screen name on the site freerepublic.com and lifted to folk hero status in the conservative blogosphere since last week's posting, is likely to fuel speculation among Democrats that the efforts to discredit the CBS memos were engineered by Republicans eager to undermine reports that Bush received preferential treatment in the National Guard more than 30 years ago.

Republican officials have denied any involvement among those debunking the CBS story.

Reached by telephone today, MacDougald, 46, confirmed that he is Buckhead, but declined to answer questions about his political background or how he knew so much about the CBS documents so fast.

"You can ask the questions but I'm not going to answer them," he told The Times.

As a former resident, I'd like to ask him why he admits to being from "Buckhead." Probably the cheap cigars and watered down scotch affecting his judgement.

But not his mastery of typography!

Operating anonymously as "Buckhead" and immediately following the CBS story the Republican appointee to the Fulton County Board of Registration and Election went to work citing...

...that the memos that CBS' "60 Minutes" presented on Sept. 8 as being written in the early 1970s by the late Lt. Col Jerry B. Killian were "in a proportionally spaced font, probably Palatino or Times New Roman."

"The use of proportionally spaced fonts did not come into common use for office memos until the introduction of laser printers, word processing software, and personal computers," MacDougald wrote on the freerepublic website. "They were not widespread until the mid to late 90's. Before then, you needed typesetting equipment, and that wasn't used for personal memos to file. Even the Wang systems that were dominant in the mid 80's used monospaced fonts.

"I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old. This should be pursued aggressively."

The Sept. 8 late-night posting � written less than four hours after the CBS report was aired � resulted in a flurry of sympathetic testimonials from fellow bloggers, spreading within hours to other sites. The next day, major newspapers such as The Times and the Washington Post began consulting forensic experts and reporting stories that raised similar questions.

You know though it could just be a watchful eye and some good googling, but when did he find the time? The busy Buckhead's prior GOP activism and complete resume appeared in the Times today after outing him.

MacDougald is a lawyer in the Atlanta office of the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice and is affiliated with two prominent conservative legal groups, the Federalist Society and the Southeastern Legal Foundation, where he serves on the legal advisory board and has been involved in several high-profile cases.

Founded in 1976, the Southeastern Legal Foundation advocates "limited government, individual economic freedom, and the free enterprise system," according to its website.

The foundation has fought affirmative action and domestic partner benefits for government employees, and successfully challenged a Clinton administration plan to use proportional sampling, rather than a hard count, to estimate the population in the 2000 census.

MacDougald helped draft the foundation's petition in 1998 that led to the five-year suspension of Clinton's Arkansas law license for giving misleading testimony in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.

And MacDougald assisted in the group's legal challenge to the campaign finance law sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). The challenge, ultimately presented to the U.S. Supreme Court, was funded largely by the Southeastern Legal Foundation in conjunction with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the law's chief critic, and handled by former Clinton investigator Kenneth W. Starr.

The Supreme Court upheld the law, which banned unlimited contributions from corporations to federal candidates and political parties.

The foundation was joined in its challenge by a cadre of groups that spanned the ideological spectrum, including the National Rifle Association and the American Civil Liberties Union.

When does he find time to drink cheap scotch, smoke cheap cigars and create (I mean debunk) cheap forgeries anyway?

Please keep in mind all the evidence leading to the accusations of Burkett being the forger (like I said if you're not up to speed, don't bother) stem from his activism, prior web postings and ties to political affiliations. Oh, and the use of a Kinko's near his home. So did Burkett get sloppy there or just seem to?




[edit on 18-9-2004 by RANT]

Several credible (moreso then 'Buckhead' or the supposed forger) have come forward denouncing the documents as forgery. No due diligence was made on the part of CBS to validate them, they just ran with it.

Here's another question:

Back in February, the Dallas Morning News reported that key members of the Kerry campaign were raising questions about the very same memos supposedly revealed for 'the first time' by Rather. I wonder,,,,,

Is it more than supposition that the Kerry camp is behind this whole thing?

I smell something rotten in Kerry-ville.

Originally posted by everlastingnoitall
Several credible (moreso then 'Buckhead' or the supposed forger) have come forward denouncing the documents as forgery. No due diligence was made on the part of CBS to validate them, they just ran with it.

They are forged. CBS screwed up. But who forged them?

Honestly I don't care as this is just entertaining to me. I'm fascinated by the new interactive nature of media viewership.

Oh and on the real "issue" I don't need documents to tell me Bush was a spoiled kid that avoided Vietnam. Likewise, Kerry can also be a bit of a tool. So no need to remind me he may have been 30 years ago.

On the issues of tommorrow Kerry makes cream corn of Bush and I'm "decided."

Now back to the soap opera that is media today...

Outing MacDougald AKA "Buckhead" can hardly be called "debunking" as your so sensational headline leads one to believe. (should be a little truth in advertising eh!)

MacDougalds membership at Freerepublic makes his being a republican an obvious point that is no news. Whether or not he had any help from or ties to the RNC is a moot point as well because he is not the one being accused of forgery or using forged documents to damage a serving president.

Attacking the messenger is not going to make this go away RANT.

Originally posted by Phoenix
Attacking the messenger is not going to make this go away RANT.

Make what go away? I just said I don't even care about Bush's Vietnam record. And I care even less that CBS screwed up. There's nothing to make go away in my mind, but if you've got a particular grudge to hang on to and a liberal media boycott to organize don't let me stop you.

This is just getting funny to me is all. I didn't out the guy. LA Times did.

And if you notice the smiley in the title you dislike it may make my obvious pleasure with this back and forth fiasco more tolerable to you.

I bet CBS and Rather hopes it all goes away pretty soon though.

In all honesty and seriousness (although this whole subject amuses me to no end as well), what would the fallout be if it is discovered conclusively that the Kerry camp came up with all of this?

I would expect, that if, for instance, the Bush camp somehow was proved to be connected to distribution of falsehoods about Kerry that made national news, such as one of his war medals or was shown to have overtly forged federal or military documents claiming that Kerry's medals were won erroneously that the fallout would be nuclear. So what happens if this turns out to be Kerry's doing?

Originally posted by RANT,

This is just getting funny to me is all.

Glad you find it funny - I find it absolutely hilarious to watch the shambles over there at the Kerry campaign headquarters as well as the hand wringing going on at DU, gives me great pleasure to say the least.

I don't think it could ever be tied directly to Kerry or Bush.

Now the camp of one or the other? Possible in very remote degrees.

I mean somebody forged them. And it was a partisan effort, that goes without saying.

But I doubt it's CBS, or anyone on top of either campaign.

But the accusations they do fly.

Originally posted by Phoenix
Originally posted by RANT,

This is just getting funny to me is all.

Glad you find it funny - I find it absolutely hilarious to watch the shambles over there at the Kerry campaign headquarters as well as the hand wringing going on at DU, gives me great pleasure to say the least.

Yeah, I read your talking points already over at Freeper and I've seen the influx here.

Kerry scrambling, Democrat implosion, hand wringing desperation, blah, blah, blah.

You might as well just post the direct link to your "point" Phoenix.

The Myth of Kerry: "the Come Back Kid"

The polls are very good for President Bush, the Kerry campaign is imploding and the Democrats are demoralized.

You're not the first today to try to remind me I'm "demoralized."

But if the current news cycle and pressure on Bush and the polls I've seen make me demoralized, keep it coming baby!

Well, I would like to say that in 1972, at New Mexico State University at Carlsbad, my english teacher had a proportional font typewriter. I don't remember what kind it was, but it wasn't an IBM Selectric. I had never heard of such a thing and I was skeptical, but having the opportunity to do some serious work on it, I can say that it did have a proportional font.

But, I doubt this will change anything, at all.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Well, I would like to say that in 1972, at New Mexico State University at Carlsbad, my english teacher had a proportional font typewriter. I don't remember what kind it was, but it wasn't an IBM Selectric. I had never heard of such a thing and I was skeptical, but having the opportunity to do some serious work on it, I can say that it did have a proportional font.

But, I doubt this will change anything, at all.

Now don't go telling me they could be real Grady, I can't handle the plot twists as it is now.

Though RNC spokesman Jim Dyke is trying to pin it on the Kerry camp with aforementioned fall guy and general basketcase Burkett being the runner.

Antes are upped! Who will blink? I'd recommend Kerry just let Dyke stew in the simmering sauce of his own "wild accusations" (former Bush line on Kerry accusing him of Swifting). I think Bush called those accusations at the time the act of a desperate man. Can he wear the label himself now?

Tune in never when the whole truth is revealed!