Who provided the docs: Burkett's latest

Are we facing story numero three from Bill Burkett regarding the origin of the controversial docs?

Story number 1, which he originally told to CBS, held that the documents game from a man named George Conn. Re-interviewed, Burkett then changed this tale, claiming that he lied to protect his real source. This led to...

Story number 2: The documents came a woman named Lucy Ramirez, who handed them to him at a livestock show in Houston.

And now we have (courtesy of Burkett's lawyer) story number 3, which may or may not be congruent with the second story. (Or perhaps the second story was a tad garbled by the reporters involved.) Judge for yourself. These excerpts come from PalmBeachPost.com:

Burkett got a call "out of the blue" from someone who had seen him MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" in February discussing his longstanding allegation that Bush aides ordered the destruction of the then-governor's National Guard records in Austin. There are some old National Guard records that Burkett needs to see, he was told.

The caller suggested a meeting in Houston. Van Os said Burkett, not awash in money, was not interested in making the trip. But, Burkett told the caller, maybe they could get together in March when Burkett would be at the Houston rodeo in his capacity as a trustee of the Texas Simmental Association, a group that promotes a cattle breed.

And so it came to be, according to Van Os, that a man unknown to Burkett walked up to the Simmental Association booth at the Astrodome and said, "Are you Bill Burkett?"

"The man gave Bill a sealed manila envelope," Van Os said, adding that it remained unopened until Burkett was in his car in the parking lot.

"He looked at the documents and said to himself, 'Oh my God,'" Van Os said. "It scared him. The documents scared him."

For years, Burkett, who blames Bush for denying him medical care after he contracted a serious infection while serving in Panama, has been a high-volume Bush critic.

Despite that history, Burkett planned to do nothing with the documents, according to his lawyer. The papers were stashed in a cold storage locker and Burkett did a minimal amount of checking on the person who provided them, but nothing by way of trying to determine the documents' authenticity.

Van Os said Burkett determined that the man who provided them was using the name of somebody who once held a National Guard position that would make him privy to the documents. But Burkett had no way of knowing if the man was who he said he was.

"No evidence has been represented to Bill suggesting that the person that called him was using a false name. He doesn't have proof one way or another," Van Os said.

By August, reporters somehow knew about the documents and started calling Burkett, who, according to Van Os, had no intention of getting involved. Burkett told some reporters he had no documents.

But he decided to to cooperate with CBS.

First question: How does "Lucy Ramirez" -- whoever the hell she turns out to be -- fit into this tale? Or is it possible that a newsperson mis-heard Burkett's reference to a "Lou Ramirez"? (Such things happen!)

At any rate, this latest tale -- if it is true -- adds clues to our congealing thesis that the documents were a Rovian "Reichstag" trick. Consider:

1. The choice of Burkett as a patsy (if patsy he was) works perfectly to remove a stone in Bush's shoe, to use old-fashioned mobster terminology.

2. Just who were these journalists who called up Burkett at a time when no-one knew that he had documents in storage? How would they have known of their existence?

Burkett should provide names -- not just the names of said journalists, but of anyone with whom he might have discussed any of these matters before the contact with CBS.