Six Degrees of Dan Rather

Ever play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? It's a little parlor game where one person names an actor and the other has to connect them to Kevin Bacon in six steps or less. I've always been a whiz at this one, and that skill has come in handy: I believe I've found the smoking gun connecting Rather to the Democrats and the Democrats to Burkett. If this proves to be correct, it will provide the breadcrumb trail of just how Memogate was perpetrated.

Let's start here: Dan Rather participated in a fundraiser for Travis County Democrats, partly on behalf of his daughter who hoped to have a future in Travis County politics. This isn't new, he did this in 2001 and has a long history of involvement with Travis County/Austin Texas politics as a Democrat.

Now, we have Bill Burkett, disgruntled former National Guardsman from Texas who is the likely source of the forged memos. They have been tracked to a Kinko's in the Abilene area, very close to Burkett's residence.

Note in that last story the name of Burkett's lawyer: David Van Os. Van Os is a candidate for Texas State Supreme Court and a longtime Democratic Party operator. This, in and of itself, is a big issue. We've effectively tracked a link between the docs and a Democratic Party operative. Here's where it gets interesting, and we complete the loop right back to Dan Rather's door.

This is the resume of David Van Os, from his campaign site. Notice down in the 'Political & Community Activities, Positions, & Honors' section, there's an entry that should look a little familiar. While he now operates out of the Abilene area, he got his start in Travis County. For over 20 years he held leadership positions in the Democratic Party of Travis County...the very same county and party where Rather broke his network's rules and did a fundraiser, the very same county and party where Dan's daughter, Robin, has political aspirations.

There you have it. A major power player in Texas Democratic politics who has ties to Rather and Burkett and certainly has a motive to strike a blow to the Bush campaign. Motive, opportunity, evidence. If it were a criminal case, I'd be ready for a jury. Hell...it didn't even take me six steps.