Ladies And Gentlemen, Meet Randall Flagg

In a really stunning development, Bill Burkett, the source of the Kinko's document dump that cBS based their latest anti-Bush hit piece on, has a long-standing axe to grind with George Bush. Some of what the man has said in the past is enough to make me wonder if he suffers from a malady similar to Alonzo Spellman's and needs to renew his prescription for the Lithium Carbonate.

Burkett's accusations have run from the hyperbolic to the merely laughable. He has been called before for blatantly lying. He calls this exaggerating. Here's an example of what causes people to question his credibility.

Burkett wrote a long indictment against Bush for a Web site in 2003 in which he said he personally was ordered to "alter personnel records of George W. Bush." In that article, Burkett said that when he refused he was sent to Panama as punishment, where he contracted a disabling disease.

Prior to that he wrote articles against Bush for politically 'progressive' internet sites. One include the following overblown screed.

In an article Burkett wrote for the Internet last year he compared Bush to Hitler and Napoleon as one of "the three small men" who sought to rule through tyranny. "Three small men who wanted to conquer and vanquish," Burkett wrote. Burkett confirmed authorship of that article in the February Chronicle interview.

He also became active against Bush in Election 2000. He made the following debunked accusation back then.

During Bush's first White House run in 2000, Burkett told reporters he overheard both ends of a phone conversation between former Texas Guard commander Gen. Daniel James III and Bush's one-time Texas chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh, that he said occurred in the summer of 1997. That was similar to what he told Hunter's committee, the lawmaker recalled.

But that claim changed earlier this year.

In February, Burkett said he witnessed documents from Bush's records in a garbage can at a Guard base in Austin.

The only question I still have is who called who first. Dan Rather of Randall Flagg wannabe, Bill Burkett.

Update I: Michelle Malkin describes some of the other despicable things whacked-out leftists have perpetrated lately.

Update II: Wizbang notes the disparity in reliability between the sources Rather used those he chose to ignore.

Update III: Captain's Quarters notes the The NYT has been forced to eat crow when using Burkett as a source in the past.

Update IV: Powerline also berates The NYT for failing to fact-check before slamming anti-Bush propaganda onto page 1.