I suspect you are right. There is certainly more to it than this. But we should keep a close eye on Burkett because he's surrounded by some very well connected people.
My personal guess of who the real perpetrators are is as good as anybody's out there and if I were to take it I'd say Ben Barnes and perhaps Rather's daughter. That given, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Barnes, Robin Rather, and some other real sources in the Texas Democrat Party are all connected together and, at least loosely, with Burkett. Van Os is a well known player in the Democrat Party here and has been for years. He's been their statewide candidate twice, chairman of the Travis County Party in Austin (the same party that hosted Dan and his daughter a few years later at a fundraiser), and a whole bunch of campaign roles - like this latest with Kerry and Dean. That he's tied to Burkett is important - perhaps not the heart of the story that Rather's protecting, but Burkett is important. Also - remember just how sloppy and bad those forgeries were. Sloppy forgeries = sloppy paper trail, so while you can bet that Dan will try to CONTAIN this thing to Burkett, Burkett's fingerprints will probably go all around the Democrat Party too in a not-so-neatly-concealed fashion.
the
Dan Rather fundraiser for Texas Democrats and biased TV text creator/reader
is connected to the
Robin Rather activist Democrat partisan
is connected to the
Ben Barnes former speaker of the Texas house and huge Texas Democrat donor and mega-Kerry fundraiser
is connected to the
Bill Burkett digruntled TANG officer
the
Dan Rather fundraiser for Texas Democrats and biased TV text creator/reader
is connected to the
Robin Rather activist Democrat partisan
is connected to the
Ben Barnes former speaker of the Texas house and huge Texas Democrat donor and mega-Kerry fundraiser
is connected to the
David VanOs democrat lawyer/activist and Kerry campaigner and former law partner of ex-Gov. Ann Richards' husband
is connected to the
Bill Burkett digruntled TANG officer