A Closer Look at the Documents

Here is a link to the memos themseves, in .pdf format, so that everyone can get a nice close look. (Courtesy of Fox News).

1. Note that on page 1, the Memo's header says "111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron," and the th is not superscripted. After the number 2. in the body of the memo, the phrase "111th F.I.S. administrative officer" does have superscript. Also, no superscript in the first line, "MEMORANDUM FOR 1stLt. George W. Bush."

Whence the inconsistent superscripting? When I type in Word (or, since buying my current computer, Word Perfect), I use the ctrl-z (undo) function after typing an ordinal to get rid of the stupid superscripting, but sometimes I forget. Is that what we're looking at, here?

2. Did military memos address lieutenants by their first name, middle initial, and last name? I don't know the answer to this, but that "W" in there looks fishy.

3. On page 2 the distorted lines really jump out at you. I don't know how to explain that as the result of either a typewriter or a computer, but I know from my experiment that repeated photocopying will warp text like that. And the only reason I can think of to repeatedly photocopy something, of course, is to artificially age it.

4. No superscripting on pages 2 or 3.

5. If you want to CYA, as in memo 4, why would you type of a memo to that effect and put it in a file, rather than simply C'ing YA?

6. Was it standard for typewriters in 1972 to randomly put a bunch of spots all over a page?

Update: CBS' website has the text of a DNC "Action Alert" e-mail, basically asking people to sign a petition to get GWB to answer some questions. Key quote: "But now we know that Bush dishonored the Oval Office by lying to the American people."

Query: since when do Democrats think that lying dishonors the Oval Office?