The REAL perpetrator is someone that Rather and dnCBS would LITERALLY put their careers and the entire dnCBS news organization in jeopardy of collapsing for.
No, Bill Burkett is NOT the man... And you can bet, if it turns out they name him, he'll either take the money and run and "admit it" or he'll deny it and note they're trying to make him the fall guy. But he is NOT the source of those documents.
I'll put my money on your logic woodb01, this whole thing stinks to high heaven of somebody in high places calling the shots. I just hope they are found out and all of them come crashing down.
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.
1. It seems odd that one would use a Kinkos where they had an account to pass along such secrets.
2. It seems that Kinko's would not normally discuss the status or services obtained by any of its customers.
But in a setup, both things could easily be arranged.
I agree with you but only because I have a gut feel that you are right.
Your statement that Dan Rather would never consider Bill Burkett as an "unimpeachable source" is, however, dead wrong. People on the Left are quite capable of listening to the likes of Bill Burkett and accepting what he says as absolute gospel. Don't doubt it for a minute. You establish your credentials with Rather based on your beliefs, in this case your hatred for George Bush. That is all it takes to become an "unimpeachable source". It's a "he must be telling the truth because I believe everything that he says" kind of circular logic that is characteristic of Left-wing types like Rather.
I think Burkett did the memos, but I think he did them for Michael Moore's movie. CBS heard about them and asked for them. The rest is his story.