[Rockingham]

A commendable goal, but one unlikely to be accomplished by an outsider. I do opposition research, and, from experience, I can tell you that trying to find the source of something like this can drive you crazy. In due course, the forger is likely to be revealed, probably by someone on the periphery of the plot who gets scared or angry at the perpetrators on some other issue.

My hunch is that the origin of the documentation is not the Kerry campaign or the DNC but someone affiliated with them. They likely have a longstanding personal grudge against Bush, a weak grasp of military protocol and clerical practice, and less skill at forgery than they assumed. Since the producer on the story is based in Dallas, the primary source probably lives there or elsewhere in Texas, but with other people also involved. My guess is that Barnes is mixed up in it, but that the actual forger is someone else.

[jmstein7]

Apparently, the American Spectator, USA Today, and the Rush Limbaugh show have some idea.

[twntaipan]

Speculating wildly: Rather's daughter--connections to Mapes and Barnes--hates the Bush family because her daddy hates em, and readily explains why Dan is willing to bet the entire farm on an increasingly apparent fraud. He knows she could go to jail.

[NJ_Tom]

Does it seem curious that these memos appeared after Carville & Begala started "helping" the Kerry campaign? Wouldn't it be a super way to ensure that Hillary doesn't have to contend with an incumbent Democrat in 2008? Seems awfully Machiavellian, but who knows?