CBS seems to be circling the wagons. In a long, drawn out explanation, CBS tries to counter each of the inconsistencies of Wednesday's '60 Minutes' Memogate fiasco (which they call an "unusual campaign issue").

Most notably, General Hodges, who supposedly independently verified the memos authenticity, says he did nothing of the sort. CBS apparently read the memos to him over the phone instead of letting him view them, and they informed Hodges that the memos came from Col. Jerry Killian as a matter of fact, rather than a matter of doubt. Hodges says he thought they were handwritten and told CBS that "well if he wrote them that's what he felt."

CBS also says that the Boston Globe says that document expert Phillip Broussard says that he has changed his mind. Apparently the letters *could* have been typed on an IBM Selectric Composer typewriter. But Broussard says the Boston Globe is lying and twisting his words. CBS contacted Broussard, but they don't give any statement from him and instead say only that "he could not dismiss the documents as fake". (So that must mean they're real!)

As for the issue of Col. Staudt, who retired a year and a half before he was supposedly pressuring the Guard to "sugarcoat" Bush's record, CBS amazing (and without evidence) claims that he could have maintained his influence long after he left the guard.

Yadda yadda yadda, CBS caps off their defense with this childish (and hilarious) bit of redirection:

In a separate development, the Boston Globe this week reported that Mr. Bush promised to sign up with a Boston-area unit when he left his Texas unit in 1973 to attend Harvard Business School. Mr. Bush never signed up with a Boston unit.

What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Apparently it's okay for CBS to present forged documents, because Bush said he was going to join the Massachusetts National Guard but never did. I can only laugh.

I wonder if Rather's career is over. Someone take away his shoelaces.