Another Rathergate Kerry Connection...

...this time to Joe Lockhart...

From the AP:

Lockhart, the second Kerry ally to confirm contact with retired Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, said he made the call at the suggestion of CBS producer Mary Mapes.

Let's look at the two possibilities:

1) Lockhart is telling the truth entirely:

Lockhart, the mouthpiece for a White House whose standard method of defense involved hiring private detectives to dig up dirt on their opponents makes a claim:

Lockhart said he does not recall talking to Burkett about Bush's Guard records.

(Note the use of the weasel words "does not recall" as opposed to the more direct denial phrasing: "did not.")

Yet later in the article, we learn:

Mapes told him there were some records "that might move the story forward. She didn't tell me what they said."

So what are the odds that Lockhart called Burkett yet didn't discuss the precise subject that Mapes talked to him about? How stupid are we supposed to be here?

What are the odds that the DNC's "Fortunate Son" campaign designed around Bush's National Guard service was just coincidentally timed with the "scoop" if the Kerry campaign did nothing with Burkett's information?

After watching the ineptitude rife on the Democratic side of the aisle thus far this year, are we supposed to believe that they "just got lucky"?

2) Lockhart is telling part of the truth:

a) He knows that it will come out that he talked to Burkett before the story aired.
b) Mapes has already been set up as the sacrificial lamb by CBS in order to take the heat off Rather.
c) He claims that Mapes told him to call Burkett so that it looks like some renegade producer at CBS was responsible for the conversation.

What are the odds that Lockhart first heard about Burkett from Mapes after Max Cleland admits that he directed Burkett to the Kerry campaign?

What are the odds that the Kerry campaign would dismiss out of hand the possibility of "smoking gun" memos that make Bush look bad?

Hmmm...

Let's just say the odds aren't exactly in favor of Joe Lockhart, Max Cleland, OR John Kerry...

UPDATE: Ace has Bill Burkett's side of the story...Amazingly and coincidentally enough it coincides with Joe Lockhart's story that completely exonerates the Kerry campaign of any wrongdoing while laying the blame at the feet of the notoriously evil Mary Mapes...

And in late breaking news: gravity-defying pigs with small white wings spotted flying overhead by residents of small Texas town...stay tuned to CBS for further details...