I am an aficionado of objectivity and Voltaire's "seeing things as they really are."
At first it seemed unlikely, implausible, and conspiratorial that someone would concoct fake memos, much less that CBS would air an episode of 60 Minutes based on those memos.
But being the ever curious type, I had to go find out for myself. And the news isn't good. I'm convinced beyond any doubt that these memos were indeed faked. Too many things now point to that conclusion.
Look at the analysis
here and
here.
And this point by point analysis:
The memos were written using a proportional typeface, where letters take up variable space according to their size, rather than fixed-pitch typeface used on typewriters, where each letter is allotted the same space. Proportional typefaces are available only on computers or on very high-end typewriters that were unlikely to be used by the National Guard.
The memos include superscript, i.e. the "th" in "187th" appears above the line in a smaller font. Superscript was not available on typewriters.
The memos included "curly" apostrophes rather than straight apostrophes found on typewriters.
The font used in the memos is Times Roman, which was in use for printing but not in typewriters. The Haas Atlas — the bible of fonts — does not list Times Roman as an available font for typewriters.
The vertical spacing used in the memos, measured at 13 points, was not available in typewriters, and only became possible with the advent of computers.
These memos are fake. CBS was had. Simple as that. It's embarassing. Let's admit it and let it go.