I think, at first, he really thought they were real. He must have gotten them from a source that he thought was reliable. I can see him drooling over the forgeries thinking, “This is too good to be true,” with a big smile on his face, and then adding the thought, “I’ll retire bringing down Bush.

And instead of being a good journalist by checking and rechecking all angles and sources, he ran with it. Now he is so wrapped up in wanting them to be real, he can’t back away, or he is too embarrassed with his screw up, he will not admit he is wrong.

All he had to do is say, “These documents are forgeries. We, CBS and I, screwed up. We are sorry and apologize to you, the public, and the president. We’ll try much harder in the future to bring you the facts.”