Here's another connection we might ant to consider.
At the leftoid site Buzzflash, there's an archived interview with James Moore, author of the smear job Bush's Brain and Bush's War for Reelection. He is a staucnh defender and advocate for Burkett, the head case who claims that he saw W.'s records being tosed in a trash can ( http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/02/con04070.html ), and this second interview he goes on at length about the National Guard period, demonstrating an intimate familiarity with the people and chronology of W.'s service.
The interview is here: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=16829
For me, the most telling circumstantial evidence is his admiring mention of "Dave Moniz at USA Today, who is consistently pursuing this story.
Well, guess the only other MSM outlet to feature the forgeries -- not just the four that Gunga Dan whipped out, but two additional ones that have been seen nowhere else? Yep, USA Today.
So the theory du jour: Moore is very, very close to the forger, fed them to Rather and USA Today, and is so obviously partisan that Rather & Co. can't afford to cite him as the source, as such a move would highlight their own willingness to lie in Kerry's cause.
Here's is Moore talking to Buzzflash back in April:
As somebody who's tried to do these things for major broadcasting outlets and networks, I know how difficult that is. When the White House says they aren't answering questions, they aren't answering questions. And if you can't get to documents with independent sources, it's very hard to write these stories. I know of one national publication right now that has at least one source that has damning information about George W. Bush and the National Guard, and they can't write the story because they cannot get a second document or a second source on it. And it would have a huge impact on this campaign. So a lot of people actually are trying.
Pardon the length of this post, but all of the above leads me to believe that focusing on CBS and demanding apologies/retractions/firings is the wrong strategy. CBS will never admit a thing because it has too much to lose and Rather still carries too much clout at Black Rock.
Therefore, we should be targeting USA Today, which has the same documents from the same bogus source, plus two additional ones. USA Today has just been hit had by the scandal of their globe-trotting reporter who spent 15 years just making stuff and was caught cold. Unlike CBS, it still cares about its credibility (at least to a certain extent). We should be pressuring USA Today to come clean, thereby dragging CBS along with it.
Golly! Almost forgot to mention the most obvious link: Moore was one of only two people interviewed by Rather who said the forgeries looked correct. And by the way, there is more on producer Mary Mapes here (http://www.gopusa.com/news/2004/september/0913_mapes_documents.shtml), who spoke repeatedly with Burkett and, presumably, lined up Moore, who has no obvious qualification to be be quoted as an authority, except that he has written two viciously anti-Bush smear books.
And. of course, if he tapped out the memos or knows the person who did.
Apologies if other Freepers have already made these connections.