Computer Illiteracy

By now, you have probably heard about the 60 Minutes story regarding George W. Bush's National Guard service and documents that shows that he didn't

You also have probably heard that they were forged. And forged badly.

In the controversy that is already being called Ra^thergate, CBS is insisting that the documents are authentic while they contain things that were not in common usage in the 1970s. Basically, many of the things that have been noted about why they are forgeries are things that *I* could have done correctly.

First, by using Times New Roman, a strictly computer font and the one that is most often the default on computers, the notes are identified as not being from a typewriter (this also includes the proportional spacing issue). It is the simplest thing in the world to change the font (although my mom has never gotten the hang of it). Furthermore, in the list of default fonts on my computer (Word from Windows 98) there is Courier New (which might not have gotten rid of the proportional spacing issue) and OCR A Extended (which would have gotten rid of the problem). Either of these fonts (as well as others that I have seen as defaults on other computers) would have been better choices for forging.

Second, there is the problem of the ^th and the ’ . Now, when I was a kid, I would sometimes play with the old typewriters at my grandparents' house. *I* could tell you that there is no such thing as the superscript button on a typwriter, not to mention no smart quotes. The difference between me and the forger is that I know how to turn the 'AutoCorrect' feature off in Microsoft Word. One of the notes even put a space between the number and the th, likely to prevent the AutoCorrect from kicking in.

This seems to be sufficient evidence of forgery without going into the fact that the son of the man who apparently signed the notes is claiming that this does not fit with statements his father made prior to his death about the then Texas Governor.



The thing that really gets me is the 60 Minutes fell for it. Sure, recognizing that the font is Times New Roman and realizing that that is not a typewriter font would require an expert (which, um, they should have hired, right?) as would seeing propotional spacing. But recognizing that the th is not from a 1970s typewriter only requires someone who has typed on both a computer and a typewriter...basically, anyone over the age of 35 who uses a computer today.

All appearances suggest that this was an attempt to discredit the President and his National Guard service. DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe claims not only that he wasn't involved, but that Karl Rove was.

Personally, I am not willing to rule out the fact that a 'Republican operative' created obviously forged notes in hopes of showing that the media was unfair to the President by not properly vetting negative news.

If so, the point was certainly made.