Dan Rather May Have Cost Kerry the Election

[obby]

Friday, Sept. 10, 2004 12:59 a.m. EDT

Longtime Democratic strategist Pat Caddell said Friday that if documents aired by CBS newsman Dan Rather Wednesday night turn out to be forged, as alleged by experts, the presidential race "is over."

"It would be the end of the race," Caddell told Fox News Live. "It would be the end of the race," he repeated.

"[Democratic officials are] so involved in this," the former Carter pollster worried. "They have gotten themselves so involved in this issue [in] the last 24 hours that somebody's going to, if they're not authentic, they're going to be blamed for it. It's incredible to me that they've gotten in this."

Caddell said he wasn't trying to sensationalize the issue, explaining that instead "I'm trying to save my party, you know, by telling the truth."

He said that forfeiting the presidential race would be the least of his party's problems if Democrats are tied to any forgery scandal.

"The race is over – and we've got bigger problems than that," he warned.

Still developing!!!!!!

[italia23]

I know that both candidates have condemned it, but this garbage with the Swift Boat Vets and Texans for Truth has to stop. I don't think I beleive either of them.

[sobeton]

:spin: CBS: Guard memos are authentic: Dems rip Bush's service

By Noelle Straub

Saturday, September 11, 2004

WASHINGTON - Democrats continued to hammer at President Bush's military record yesterday despite growing controversy over the authenticity of newly surfaced memos critical of his Texas Air National Guard service.

CBS News, which unveiled the documents on its ``60 Minutes'' program, stood by its story.

``I know that this story is true,'' news anchor Dan Rather said. ``I believe that the witnesses and the documents are authentic.''

The memos in question, supposedly written by late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, who was Bush's squadron commander in Texas, state that Bush failed to meet the standards of the Texas Air National Guard and to carry out a direct order to undergo a required medical exam.

Killian's widow and son and one of his colleagues have questioned the document's validity. Various font experts also have said the type does not look like it came from a 1970s typewriter.

CBS last night aired comments from Robert Strong, who ran the Texas Air National Guard administrative office during the Vietnam era, saying the documents were compatible with ``the way business was done at that time.''

The network also aired an interview with handwriting expert Marcel Matley showing how he compared signatures on the memos with Killian's.

Meanwhile, Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe charged, ``It has come crystal clear that the president has lied to the American public about his military service.'' But McAuliffe also suggested that Republicans could have put out false documents to embarrass Democrats.

``I can tell you that nobody at the Democratic National Committee or groups associated with us were involved in any way with these documents,'' he said. ``I'm just saying that I would ask Karl Rove the same question.''

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House is not analyzing the documents. ``We don't know whether the documents were fabricated or are authentic,'' he said.

The White House distributed the memos to reporters after receiving them from CBS.

``The documents do not change the facts,'' McClellan said. ``The president met his obligations and was honorably discharged. And the one thing that is clear is the timing and the coordination going on here. There is an orchestrated effort by Democrats and the Kerry campaign to tear down the president because of the direction the polls are moving.''