After Dennis's latest triumph in investigative reporting, I don't know how I could add anything relating to Ra^thergate.

But I've been puzzled over why -- if the forged military records did in fact come from Bill Burkett -- Dan Ra^ther is so stubbornly intransigent about admitting it, and I found some copies of emails at Ratherbiased.com which might shed some light.

Especially this one from one of Burkett's friends:

Please copy me on any emails in support of Bill that you send out so I can print and snail mail them to Bill, if you want him to see your public support. His computer was fried along with his fax machine. I know Bill will be most appreciative of all efforts on his behalf. This brave patriotic solider needs to know we are behind him and will not allow him to be trashed by a paid WH Nazi hack.

Are we going to allow them to do to Bill Burkett what they did to Bill White, Jim Hatfield, and Margie Schoedinger by trashing them without objection? Two of these people are dead, allegedly by their own hand. Jim was driven to it. I don't know enough about Margie shooting herself in the head. Who will be next? What anti-Bush websites might be in their sites? Bill has been repeatedly threatened, bullets have been fired through his window, his name written on a bullet placed in his mailbox, and the telephone pole to his home knocked down trying to prevent his talking to reporters this past week. Why are they so desperate to silence him if he's wrong or just disgruntled over a promotion? They are using malicious lies to smear one of the finest people I've ever known, just so media won't listen to Bill, or publicize his accusations.

Bill Burkett put it ALL on the line for his country, and us, in reporting criminal acts of GWB & Daniel James in falsifying personnel readiness reports to the Pentagon, carrying 1700 ghost soliders on payrolls to defraud the DoD out of MILLIONS of taxpayer money. Show me the money Dumbya! Where did all that money go, if not in the pockets of Bush family cronies? Now I ask, what are YOU willing to do to support Bill when he needs us to stand with him and deflect vicious attacks by the Nazis in power? What was their SOLE defense in lawsuits for retaliation against a federally protected whistleblower? Not their innocence, but hiding behind the Feres Doctrine - that military are not subject to civilian authority.

It's PAST time Americans DEMAND a Special Prosecutor to investigate a host of criminal acts commited by GWB under RICO. I dare anyone to disprove these accusations against GWB and his cronies. See reports below.

I don't have time to explore each and every conspiracy theory, but for today I decided to check out the case of alleged Bush victim Margie Schoedinger. In 2002 she filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against President Bush:

According to her account, which was confusing, rambling and incomplete, she also alleged that she has been harassed and threatened by federal agents, her bank accounts looted, her husband fired from his job, and that she had a miscarriage after being beaten. In court papers, she intimated that Bush "might have been the father of the child that was lost."

Also, she claimed that when she went to a hospital for treatment she was further threatened by federal agents "on behalf of the Defendant [Bush]."

Additionally, Schoedinger claims she has been placed on a "watch list" for AIDS and is being monitored by the National Security Agency, Secret Service and CIA. She said her home is under surveillance as well.

"Defendant [Bush] took personal responsibility for these decisions," the court papers say, "explaining to Plaintiff [Schoedinger] that committing suicide would be her best option in his opinion. "

"Plaintiff is essentially dead in any case," the filing said.

She said throughout a conversation she had with Bush - for which she gave no time frame - he allegedly never "stopped watching" her, "nor did he stop having sex" with her while she was under the influence.

"The sole concern of the Defendant and his representatives was whether Plaintiff could actually recall the individual sex crimes committed against Plaintiff and Plaintiff's husband, utilizing drugs," said the court papers. "Whether or not Plaintiff's husband was raped remains in question, as Plaintiff was drugged after she was raped and her husband was drugged before her rape."

While a few bloggers (and some leftist sites) have taken the matter seriously, in general it seems to have been ignored. I seriously doubt this is because of any conspiracy to protect the president. Here's an assessment by an anti-Bush blogger who (by way of background) says he seldom disagrees with Noam Chomsky:

I don't like Bush, but this story fails the "smell test" before you even pop the top on it, and the closer you look, the more it becomes apparent that the fascinating part of this story is the shape of Schoedinger's psychosis.

It may be reasonable to question why this story was ignored by newspapers worldwide (other than Pravda and New Nation, a tabloid serving London's urban black population). But if you know the story, it seems more likely that it was ignored to avoid exploiting the tragedy of a sick, sad woman, not out of deference to Dubya.

Margie Schoedinger's complaint is indeed remarkable; the original court file may be read here. (You'll have to click "Retrieve as PDF" or "TIFF.")

[NOTE: The above may not work. If not, then starting from the court's search engine, under "Case Type" you'll have to select "Injury or damage other than a motor vehicle," then (under "Name Type") select "PLAINTIFF," then under "Name" type "Schoedinger," then hit SEARCH. This will bring up two cases, and Ms. Schoedinger's 2002 filing, number 22127. Click "PETITION."]

If such allegations are the kind of stuff Burkett and his friends believe in, I am beginning to understand why Dan Ra^ther might not want to admit Burkett or anyone working with him is behind the forgeries.

Sheesh!

MORE: Buzzflash, while calling the rape lawsuit "ludicrous," nevertheless speculated that the hidden hand of Karl Rove might be at work "inoculating" the public -- so that such complaints would not be taken seriously in the future. (In light of the plaintiff's death, I think that theory fails.)

No time to check out the mysterious Jim Hatfield, although from the looks of this WaPo article, it looks like another loser -- even as a conspiracy theory.

So I can't blame Dan Ra^ther for his selective reporting.

UPDATE: Link to court file corrected and supplemented.

UPDATE: Paul at Wizbang links to Allah's post about a new phenomenon -- the red truth versus the blue truth!

I just got a press release from Time magazine describing the cover package of its new issue. The online version of the article is subscription-only but the press release makes clear that it's all about Rathergate and how the left and right see the story completely differently. Time calls it "Blue Truth Vs. Red Truth".

Still, I must ask: what color is the truth about Margie Schoedinger?

MORE: Hindrocket at Power Line asks a related question to the one occasioning this post:

How could the source be more incriminating than the forgery? The only way I can think of is if the source is the John Kerry campaign. It's one thing to fall for a forgery; it's something worse to participate in a fraud for the sake of trying to help a Presidential candidate. But it increasingly appears that that is exactly what CBS did. (Via Glenn Reynolds.)

STILL MORE: Via Glenn Reynolds, I see AllahPundit offering substantial evidence that Burkett: a) is having trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy, and b) suffers from seizures when stressed.

I think it's more and more clear why Dan Rather would go to great lengths to avoid being tied to such a source.