Boortz thinks he knows. And so does WaPo as of early this morning. Boortz break it down thus:
So where did the now-discredited Bush National Guard forgeries come from? According to one source one of the documents has a header on it showing that it was faxed from a Kinko’s in Abeline, Texas. So what’s in Abilene, Texas, besides a Kinko’s? Who would go through all the trouble to anonymously fax the documents to CBS News?
That Kinko’s is 21 miles from Baird, Texas where Bill Burkett lives. Who is Bill Burkett? I told you about him yesterday. He is a retired Texas Air National Guard officer who is and has been hell bent on the political destruction of George W. Bush. In short, a partisan operator. This is the same character that made the allegation that he overheard a telephone conversation in 1997 in which then-Governor Bush’s aides tried to get the head of the Texas Air National Guard to sanitize his files. All involved have denied the allegation…in other words, it’s probably a lie. On top of that, Burkett has given conflicting, unsubstantiated accounts of just what Bush documents the Guard threw away while trying to clean up the president’s files.
This Burkett guy is also suspected by other news organizations of being the source for the forged documents. Of course, CBS won’t say if he is…but they also won’t say that he’s not. So what could this guy’s motivation be? Hatred of George Bush? An axe to grind? Well, it turns out there is one.
Burkett has been in a dispute with the Texas National Guard over medical benefits. Apparently he contracted some disease during an assignment in Panama. Since leaving the guard, he has suffered a nervous breakdown and been hospitalized for depression. Doesn’t exactly sound like a stable source to rely on when you’re trying to bring down a president.
Neal has more on this at the link. I’m mindful of Esmay’s admonition the other day about guesswork on this stuff, but I have to say this is starting to look like an interesting line of investigation. The question becomes, will anyone do so? I think they will, but you likely won’t hear about CBS News doing so.
And who would have thought a year ago we’d see any serious investigation of such a story from WaPo, eh?
Tags: BitsBlog
