So what needs to be done to definatively confirm whether the docs are real

[Cicero]

I think CBS needs to open up access to the original documents, if they haven't already. Let any group of experts come in and examine them.

Even a layman should be able to tell whether the documents were actually typed or were produced with a modern printer. Typed documents will have indentations from where the keys strike. Also, the letters will not quite line up, they'll be close, but you can't get the same exactness you can get with a Word document.

The paper could also be tested with non-destructive means (is it the same type as was used at the time, trace elemnets, etc.), and the ink as well, the determine whether is came from an ink cartridge or from a ribbon.

You'll also have to look at the signatures, compare them with other samples.

This, IMNSHO, is the only way to even have a chance at putting this issue to rest.

Later,

[GOPisEvil]

1. Watch the CBS Evening News tonight.

Dan's going to 'splain it all.

[gratuitous]

2. The documents are authentic

Even the White House has not contested that.

If someone wants to claim that they are forged, then the burden of proof is on them. See the way it works?

[shraby]

3. The White House doesn't

say they are authentic like they should be doing, they are just letting everybody call them forgeries. That's Rove's plan.

[Cicero]

5. Then they'll need access to the documents

...in order to be believed. You can't look at a copy of a scan of a screen shot of a copy and self-righteously declare its a forgery.

Later,

[KansDem]

4. So are we going to hear a HUGE explosion of cognitive dissonance...

...this evening?

CNN poll -- 50% believe they're "forgeries"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2335261

So what does a HUGE *anything* of cognitive dissonance sound/look like?

[Lefty48197]

6. Typewriters have a "fingerprint"

All of the old typewriters had some tiny unnoticeable characteristic that basically worked like a "fingerprint". There would always be one letter, or two, or three... that typed the letter just a tiny bit too high, or a tiny bit too low, and the combination of those variables made the type from each individual typewriter quite distinctive. That is to say, an expert could compare two typed pages, and tell you if they were typed on the same old style typewriter.

[DrWeird]

7. Does anybody really think Dubya served honorably?

Let's face it. Everybody knows he was a draft dodger and a deserter.

[Yupster]

8. You can never prove anything is on the

up and up.

Once the tin foil hats are put on, any proof just means that more people are in on the conspiracy and it's even bigger than you thought.

[Vitruvius]

9. Oh, they're real. The superscript "th" was no big deal in the '60s and '70

'70s, and the old IBM Executive had proportional spacing. And some secretaries had a small superscript "th" built into their machine; it was a fairly standard option.

And you could type mathematical equations on either the Executive or the Selectric, full of superscripts and subscripts, greek letters and more... (As in my thesis and pubs from that era.) Technical typist using the Executive had a box full of special-purpose letters & symbols; you'd slide the plastic holder into a little fixture in front of the paper, then strike any key -- which would strike the back of the special purpose letter or symbol and push it against the ribbon and the paper.

With the Selectric, you'd just switch the ball; every mathematical symbol in creation was available on one or another Selectric ball.

Both options were utterly common in industry as well; especially in engineering departments and R&D labs.

[Spazito]

10. Let the bush admin and the freepers prove they aren't

CBS stands by their story, addressed the questions, seems good enough for me.