09/20/2004: "The career dissipation light just went on"

Okay, I have to admit that I'm baffled. Why exactly would a CBS news producer�no, make that the CBS news producer, you know, Dan Rather's on 60 Minutes II�be giving out tips to a guy like this:

At the behest of CBS, an adviser to John Kerry said he talked to a central figure in the controversy over President Bush's National Guard service shortly before disputed documents were released.

Joe Lockhart denied any connection between the presidential campaign and the papers. 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.

Lockhart said Mapes asked him the weekend before the story broke to call Burkett. "She basically said there's a guy who is being helpful on the story who wants to talk to you," Lockhart said, adding that it was common knowledge that CBS was working on a story raising questions about Bush's Guard service. Mapes told him there were some records "that might move the story forward. She didn't tell me what they said."

Is there any angle from which this isn't a total disaster for CBS? Mapes comes across as a hired hand of the Kerry campaign, and the 60 Minutes broadcast looks like an illegal campaign advertisement. There can only be one explanation for such a completely moronic breach of both journalistic ethics and common sense: Mapes must be a Republican plant.

Yeah, that's the ticket.