Power Line: The Real Robert Strong

September 12, 2004

The Real Robert Strong

By my reckoning, there are only two "witnesses" relied on by CBS News to support its forgery scam who have not already repudiated the statements attributed to them by CBS: Marcel Matley, according to our sources a virulent and obsessive Bush-hater, who has purported to authenticate only a single signature on a forged document (contrary to what he himself has described as proper practice), and Robert Strong. Mr. Strong is something of a mystery man; several candidates for the role have been suggested. It is unclear exactly what support for CBS's story Mr. Strong actually supplies. CBS's description of his role is vague, at best:

Robert Strong was an administrative officer for the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam years. He knew Jerry Killian, the man credited with writing the documents. And paper work, like these documents, was Strong's specialty. He is standing by his judgment that the documents are real.
"They are compatible with the way business was done at that time," Strong said. "They are compatible with the man I remember Jerry Killian being. I don't see anything in the documents that's discordant with what were the times, the situation or the people involved."

This "endorsement" of CBS's hoax--the forged documents are "compatible with the way business was done at that time"--is so weak that Mr. Strong is, perhaps, not worth pursuing.

As it happens, though, we have not only identified the real Robert Strong, but have, through one of our readers, interviewed him.

Robert Strong is a professor of English who lives in a rural area west of Austin, Texas. One of his neighbors happens to be a Power Line reader. Last Wednesday afternoon, shortly before CBS broke the fake document story, our reader encountered Strong on the road that passes by their homes. Strong noted that the sign leading to their road had been knocked down, and asked our correspondent not to put it back up for a while because "I have things going on in my life...reporters are trying to talk to me."

Our correspondent asked, About what? Strong answered, About Bush's National Guard service. Strong said that in his opinion, President Bush hadn't properly completed his service. Strong told our correspondent that "some new documents have turned up." These new documents turned up "because of the Swift Boat Vets' ads. Bush's people shouldn't have gotten involved in them. Those Swift Boat Vet ads made people mad, and as a result these new documents came up." Strong expressed the opinion that "Bush is getting what is coming to him because of his people's involvement in the Swift Boat Vets' ads."

Strong said that he had served with President Bush in the Texas Air National Guard, which was news to our correspondent, who had never heard Strong mention such National Guard service.

In a follow-up conversation, Robert Strong told our correspondent that he worked with Jerry Killian in the Air National Guard from 1968 to the early 1970’s. He said that he believed that the CBS documents were genuine, but admitted that he “cannot vouch for the documents’ authenticity.” Further, Strong said that he doesn’t think it matters whether the documents are genuine are not.

Like many English professors, Strong has always been anti-Bush. At the same time, notwithstanding his claim to have served in the Texas Air National Guard, Strong admitted that he had never served with or even met Lt. Bush. He admitted further that Jerry Killlian had never discussed Lt. Bush with him. Strong acknowledged that he had “no personal knowledge about Bush’s service.”

Even though he admittedly could not vouch for the authenticity of the memos, Strong said he thought that they “seemed to fit the time and the man that Killian was.”

Strong added that the controversy over fonts was “ridiculous.” He said that the National Guard had Selectric typewriters, and the Selectric had a ball that could be changed out to type superscripts. He had nothing to offer on whether the Selectric balls duplicated the superscripts found on Word, or whether the Selectric balls could produce proportional fonts, kerning, or centered titles.

Strong said that he had no idea who “found” the documents, or where they came from.

Strong said further that he had just given an interview to USA Today. Watch for it in the morning, and ask yourself whether the USA Today reporter questioned Strong as intelligently as his neighbor did.

Bottom line: Robert Strong is an inoffensive English professor who dislikes, but has never met, President Bush; he has no idea whether the CBS documents are authentic; he never discussed Lt. Bush with Jerry Killian; and he has “no personal knowledge” about President Bush’s National Guard service. The only information Strong actually brings to the table is his confirmation that the CBS documents “turned up” as retribution for the Swift Boat Vets’ attacks on John Kerry.

And this is the best witness CBS News can bring forward in support of its smear of President Bush.

Posted by John at 10:28 PM |

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