.-:*'``'*:-.,bouncey,.-:*'``'*:-.,bouncey,.-:*'``'*:-.,thud
Thats Safire falling off the turnip truck..
And he's a 1st rate jounalist ?...
It's done all the time.. in North Dakota, New Jersy, Louisiana, Missouri, to mention a few..
What you smokin Bill ?
Why would Burkett set up his old friend George Conn to be the fall guy?
Burkett recanted that Conn was the source, after Conn was contacted by the press and denied any knowledge.
After the Conn fingering, Burkett comes up with Lucy Ramirez, whom he said he was trying to protect. But he also states he has no knowledge of whom Lucy Ramirez is!
Why go to the mat to protect an unknown?
Some options:
a) Burkett did it and made up a name. Possible, but he would have done this years ago if he had the sophistication. Also, he knows the Memorandum format is not correct, so he would not have typed that.
b) Conn did it. But Conn is a DoD civil servant and would be fired for getting involved in a campaign, so Burkett changed his story after pleading from Conn not to finger him.
c) Someone else did it. Who would Burkett go to the lengths of defending, even if it meant first pointing the finger at a good friend that could lose a job? Only answer is the Kerry campaign. He cares more about unseating Bush than anything else, and would not finger the Kerry camp since he knows it would crush Kerry.
So who in the Kerry camp/DNC has Burkett been working with over the years? Look to Bob Ferkit and Zack Exley.
My favorite line:
"Joe Lockhart, the Clinton press aide newly hired to strip nuance out of Kerry's message"
After you strip the nuance out of Kerry's message, what's left? Nada. Zilch.