Burkett - supposed opportunity to obtain the documents "from the trash"
Van Os - deeply connected Democrat and Burkett's lawyer
Cleland - Veteran liason for the Kerry Campaign who gave the go ahead to "counterattack".
Dan's "unimpeachable source" may just be someone he justified in his own mind--Mary Mapes, Van Os, Barnes. He did say on O'Reilly's show that a lie isn't always a lie.
Fellow Progressive Populist Caucus Members: Our brother, Bill Burkett is under siege by the Carl Rove smear machine. Bill is a charter member of the PPC and our friend. Co-founder of the PPC with me, David Van Os assures me that as Bill's legal Counsel on a longstanding basis, any assertions that Bill has engaged in "forgery" vis a vis the now infamous documentation of the Bush desertion of duty as a Texas National Guardsman is total smear with the footprints of the Karl Rove modus operandi all over it. Representing the PPC, I stand with both our brothers Burkett and Van Os and applaud their guts to stand up to the right wing slander machine; President Kerry and many of our DNC brethren can take a lesson from our two populist fellow-Texans who have the cajones to look contemptuously in the eye these ruthless cowards bringing down our formerly proud democracy and tell them to go to h*ll.
Stan Merriman Chair, Progressive Populist Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party.
I'm sure the word "forgery" has some obscure legal meaning that doesn't apply to fake documents cited in news stories. So Burkett may not be guilty of forgery.
Well there's a good character witness! I'll certainly believe anything Van Os says on behalf of Burkett, won't you? I'll also believe Barnes and Burkett, Rather and Mapes, and anyone else with some pricey swampland to sell. Just because Burkett compares G.W. Bush to Adolf Hitler doesn't mean his judgment and character could be in question....