Right on, dude! In this way the facts are going to slowly evolve. Keep analyzing.

- Just watched Lockhart on FOX....In the words of another era "You could tell he was lying...His lips were moving..."

- Lockhart didn't see anything wrong with a major programing producer calling him and passing along the fact that there was... "a guy you should talk to that has some stuff that will help you "fight back" against the swiftboat thing"...

- The implecation was that this sort of thing goes on all the time... interesting.....

Geez, where is 'Deepthroat' when we need him?

- I guess we know who the point woman was in this whole messy epic. "Whats the thing about Mary". Well her father claims she got into broadcasting as a way to further her "extreme feminists" views and he's ashamed of the things she has done over the years. The bigger question is why CBS would put someone with such extreme left wing views in a high position of influence within its organization.

- Lockhart insists there was no Quid pro quo. He wants us to believe that as a high ranking member of a current candidates presidential campaign he is willing to make blind phone calls to anyone who is recommended by CBS. The rest of the MSM must be dripping with jeolousy.....

- But with all the contacts back and forth over a period of months coupled with the timing of the DNC "fortunate son" launch, which included references to the fake documents, and the coordinated timing of public statements by Dem senators doing the same, there is plenty of pizza sauce clinging to everyone.

- When you look back over the last 2 months at all of the maleprops that have been done in Kerry's name you almost have to say with supporters like this who needs an opponent...

Hmm. Could Mary have been the faxer? Do the dates work out?

Lockhart was only hired recently... how recently? Googling I got August 20 (or the week of Aug 31 - from a reporter's notebook brief). He was also on record (around the same time) defending Sandy Burg(l)er for stuffing his socks.

The timing of his hiring and the CBS story just seems waaaaaay odd.

Here's the timeline, focused on the few days where it all came together.

2 Aug: At least two, and probably only two of the documents are faxed from Kinko's Abilene. They will be used for authentication. Burkett claims he held back the remaining four

3 Aug: Mapes says "I've got them!" Will and James get copies of the faxed documents for their review. They are told more are to come.

4 Aug: In an internet posting, Burkett reveals foreknowledge of an upcoming CBS report on the TANG issue.

5 Aug: Rather and Mapes interview Burkett. Burkett says he wants to talk to Kerry campaign in return for the remaining documents.

5 Aug (still): Will expresses concern about the documents.

5 Aug (still): Mapes contacts Lockhart, asks him to contact Burkett

5 Aug (still): Burkett hands over the remaining 4 documents to CBS.

6 Aug or 7 Aug: Lockhart (according to his telling) calls Burkett.

This is the timeline, best I can recreate it. It all works, except for the last item. It sure seems to me that Lockhart is mistaken (or lying) about when he called Burkett back. His story that he put Mapes request aside only to recall it late Sunday or early Monday sounds phony, and doesn't fit into the timeline as its exists so far. If he called Burkett almost immediately, then everything fits.

There is a real problem with Lockhart's story, which is simply that Burkett was obsessed with getting Bush BASED ON HIS GUARD SERVICE. Can anyone imagine Burkett getting Lockhart on the phone and not mentioning it? On what internet post or in what op/ed did Burkett mention the Swifties? I may have missed it, but his threats against the president based on having "reassembled" W's guard files have been clearly documented.

There is a real problem with Lockhart's story, which is simply that Burkett was obsessed with getting Bush BASED ON HIS GUARD SERVICE. Can anyone imagine Burkett getting Lockhart on the phone and not mentioning it? On what internet post or in what op/ed did Burkett mention the Swifties? I may have missed it, but his threats against the president based on having "reassembled" W's guard files have been clearly documented.

1. By Burkett's own admission, the documents he gave CBS were not originals. He claims to have destroyed the originals.

2. Is it possible that Burkett and Mapes faxed some of the documents from Kinko's to one of the experts?

There was a report that one of the experts engaged by CBS stated to a reporter that he had been provided 'lots of documents', indicating many more than 4 or 6. I believe it was James J. Pierce, though not 100% if it was him as opposed to one of the other three. In any event, this information, if true, would complicate and compromise any explanation to date by CBS or the Kerry Campaign about their role in learning about, reviewing and otherwise participating with the presentation and defense of these materials.

Before getting ahead of the known facts like the MSM... The "lots of documents" could have included a bunch of legitimate documents Pierce had been given as references for his analysis.

My question: How did Mary Mapes get onto Burkett's documents? Burkett said that after he got the documents he treated them like TNT. Only later did he give them to Mapes because she was "persistent." Why was she so persistent? Why did she keep calling him? I assume that when Mapes first called Burkett he told her he didn't have anything beyond the "file cleansing story." Did she keep calling to ask if anything new had turned up? Do journalists keep going back to the same unhelpful sources like that?

Has anyone in the blogoshpere or msm spoken to anyone from that Kinkos in Abilene?? I check their websight and the Abilene Kinkos has computer workstations. We know Burkett faxed the docs from there...is it possible he was stupid enough to CREATE them at that same Kinkos??? If I was a carelessly stupid, vindictive nutjob I might think creating forged docs on a Kinkos computer is smarter than creating them on my home computer.

In answer to Michelle's question, Bill at indcjournal.com contacted the Abilene Kinkos and asked them not to wipe their in-store video tapes. I don't know if the request extended to computer hard drives - but just deleting files from a computer isn't enough to actually erase them, of course. Link:

"Lest any funny business happen, I'd like to publish that INDC has made sure that the Kinko's video tapes for the Abilene branch are pulled and saved from deletion in order to guarantee future scrutiny. Kinko's assures us that they will be saved from the erase button, which is typically pressed every thirty days.

(Thanks to Thad O. for the help)

To actually supeona the tapes we'll need a civil or criminal case or investigation, but that's not hard; initial research efforts reveal the following (thanks to Left Coast Winemaker):

Read More »"

Are Kinko's franchises? If not, one could probably just buy the tapes. Hell, you could buy the computer/computers that Burkett may have used or pay for time to examine them. I don't see the problem as long as professionals do the analysis and it's non-destructive.

Wait, my above comment should have read,

"Are Kinkos franchises? If so..."