Jack Douglas Jr. of Kinght-Ridder reports:

During a single phone conversation with Lockhart, Burkett said he suggested a “couple of concepts on what I thought (Kerry) had to do” to beat Bush. In return, he said, Lockhart tried to “convince me as to why I should give them the documents.”

As sharp-eyed reader Mark Landers notes, Lockhart maintains that he and Burkett did not speak about the documents.

More from Bill at INDC Journal, who notes:

Who to believe?

Grab a seat, get comfortable, whip up some popcorn and savor the delicious irony as the Dems, CBS and the larger media descend like flesh-eating locusts on the reputation of this “well-regarded Texan.”

UPDATE: Let me explain my read on why Burkett said something that contradicts Lockhart:

First of all, he’s clearly incompetent (look at the forgeries) and probably unstable, and he probably never saw or perhaps absorbed Lockhart’s quote. In his clumsy read of the situation, he thinks that he’s protecting Lockhart by implying that he wouldn’t give them the documents. This does two things:

1. Enhances Burkett’s sense of self-importance in the narrative; the Kerry campaign wanted his help.
2. In Burkett’s mind, it insulates the Dems from the charge of forgery.

If the Dems couldn’t get their hands on the documents, then they have no responsibility for awareness that they were forgeries; but what Burkett may not realize is the fact that Cleland and Lockhart already went on the record with a denial about any knowledge of or conversation about the documents.

We all knew that the denial of any conversation about the documents was [b.s], of course, but now we have one of the parties, no matter how incredible, on record to back up part of the suspicion.

Captain Ed shares his skeptical thoughts here: Didn’t We Just Laugh CBS Off The Air For Using Burkett?

Cassandra at I Love Jet Noise is amused:

The worm has turned…

This is almost as good as Survivor: Vanuatu. Bill Burkett, Official Unimpeachable Source to the StarsTM, is dishing on Dapper Dan. He now maintains he warned Rather the memos would be challenged, advising they be validated by experts. Uh-huh. And oh…by the way… ‘that creep Lockhart’ tried to get his mitts on the memos, putting poor Joe in the running to be voted off the island. And thus the back-stabbing begins…

SlantPoint pronounces “Dog Bites Man.”

And Jeff G. at Protein Wisdom theorizes:

Based on some identical content found in both the CBS docs and a few postings on Kerry’s website dating back to April (among them, a potentially misused AFM number), I suspect that someone in the DNC either 1) got hold of 2) took a peek at, or 3) themselves created the documents that eventually made their way to Bill Burkett and CBS News. I’m no longer convinced Burkett was the forger. He (like Mary Mapes) is simply an overzealous ideologue and patsy.

Let’s backtrack. Bill Burkett, you’ll recall, had been peddling his story of a TxANG document dump since at least February, but his own internet postings suggest he doesn’t have the documents in his possession until sometime near the end of August / early September. So. Is it possible the Dems orchestrated this entire document caper to ensure that the phony documents wound up with a receptive Bill Burkett (via “Lucy Ramirez”)? And if so, is it further possible that someone within the Democratic party then tipped CBS to Burkett and the documents?

Max Cleland, we know, had contact with Burkett, but the real wildcard here (in my opinion) is Ben Barnes, who has already been interviewed by CBS at around the time Burkett claims he received the documents (this, even though CBS tells the WaPo that the interview happened later, on September 7).

Now, CBS is on record as saying that they went to Burkett for the documents. Okay, fine. But the question then becomes, who told CBS about Burkett? Max Cleland, having had that brief conversation with Mr Burkett, is a possibility. But Ben Barnes is a big shot Texas Democrat with ties to the Kerry campaign, and he would almost certainly be in a position to know all about Bill Burkett and his obsession with Bush and the TxANG.

The reason I suspect Barnes, then, is that Barnes meets with Dan Rather at around the same time Burkett gets the documents. He could easily have tipped CBS to Burkett, and his Texas ties would be reason enough for them to take his word. From the DNC’s perspective, if the story flies, fantastic. And if not, who makes a better patsy than Burkett—a known Bush-obsessed loon?

Ultimately, though, the whole plan hinges on Burkett getting the documents to a credulous media source, because it gives the DNC deniability. Deniability, that is, unless it comes out that somebody in the DNC tried to convince Burkett to give the docs to CBS…

Anyway, wild speculation. So take it with a grain of salt. Could be the whole tale begins and ends with Burkett and Mapes.

Update: According to the Washington Post, Burkett now says he was misquoted:

In an e-mail message yesterday evening, Burkett, who runs a cattle ranch in western Texas, said that he was not “making comments of any kind.” He complained through his lawyer that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had misquoted him as saying that he had discussed the documents with Kerry campaign spokesman Joe Lockhart. Burkett told the newspaper that CBS had set him up as a “fall guy” to cover up its mistakes.