Joseph M. Newcomer weighs in on the RatherGate documents. Who is Newcomer? He is a qualified expert in computer typography--and one of the pioneers of electronic typesetting. He began working on computer typesetting technology in 1972. He personally authored one of the earliest typesetting programs for what later became laser printers. Not only has he written on Microsoft Windows font technology in a book he co-authored, but he has also taught courses on it. And he goes out of his way to stress that he is no fan of George W. Bush--but that he is "even less a fan of attempts to commit fraud, and particularly by a complete and utter failure of those we entrust to ensure that if the news is at least accurate." His analysis is worth reading in fully. Money quote:
...it takes approximately 30 seconds for anyone who is knowledgeable in the history of electronic document production to recognize this whole collection is certainly a forgery, and approximately five minutes to prove to anyone technically competent that the documents are a forgery. They were hoaxed, pure and simple.
