UPDATE, 6:15 ET:

UPDATE, 6:30 ET:

UPDATE, 6:40 ET: Okay, CBS didn't release this on their own website, but Drudge got it instead, from CBS News division President Andrew Heyward:

We established to our satisfaction that the memos were accurate or we would not have put them on television. There was a great deal of coroborating [sic] evidence from people in a position to know. Having said that, given all the questions about them, we believe we should redouble our efforts to answer those questions, so that's what we are doing.

As Instapundit and Kerryspot have both noted, Heyward not only misspelled "corroborated" (and they sat on this for six-and-a-half hours?), but they pronounce the memos "accurate" and not "authentic".

The message: We presented America with fraudulent materials, for which Dan Rather personally vouched. Having spent the past four days desperately seeking anyone to back us up, we've now given up, but you should still believe us when we tell you that these forgeries accurately support our smear on George Bush. The search for better forgeries will continue.

If it took Heyward six extra hours to come up with this, Viacom needs to find someone who has a clue and a dictionary to run its news division.

Here's a question: if CBS really has all of this "coroborating" evidence on hand, why not show it? Why was Dan Rather out chatting up Marian Knox this afternoon if their story was as well-sourced as Heyward claims? If the memos are "accurate", why does one of them describe pressure being applied on Killian and Hodges by a general who had retired 18 months before the date of the memo? How did the memos get created if all Knox had in the TANG office was a manual Olympia and a standard Selectric, neither of which could do the proportional spacing and kerning evident in the memos?

Who gave the memos to CBS News?

Until Heyward and CBS News answers these questions, they haven't "coroborated" anything. They're also no longer a news organization; they're the Nixon White House, defending the 18-minute gap on the tapes. They're toast.

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» Postponed from Straying Thoughts
According to Captain Ed, the noon statement that was postponed until 3:00, then 5:00, then 6:15, will now be at 6:30. I think they're carving their own typeface out of a bar of soap. [Read More]

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Tracked on September 15, 2004 6:01 PM

» RatherGate: Subjective v. Objective Defense? from A Stitch in Haste
A housepainter cannot defend shoddy work on the grounds that he worked to his satisfaction. A student does not get an A for submitting homework that was to his satisfaction. No, Rather and CBS must be held to objective standards, which they clearly d... [Read More]

Tracked on September 15, 2004 6:11 PM

» Naturally, CBS is full of BS from She Who Will Be Obeyed!
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» Nevermind Whether They're Authentic, Answer the... from Josh Ferguson
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» Important Point from snellspace.com
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» Marian Carr Knox Says Memos are Fakes from Josh Ferguson
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Tracked on September 16, 2004 1:22 PM