We're as tired of the Dan Rather Fake Documents scandal as everybody else (except Dan Rather ), so let's sum up and let it go:

This USA Today story makes clear -- more by describing him than by anything he says -- that the ex-National Guard official that concocted (as he did, cover stories to the contrary) the Fake Documents is is an emotionally damaged, raving anti-Bush loony.

Dan Rather, himself admittedly odd at times, is a veteran journalist of long standing. Mr. Rather originally said the source of his Fake Documents was credible and unimpeachable. The first instinct of a professional journalist is (allegedly) to make sure their sources are trustworthy. Are we supposed to believe that a journalist with such experience would be taken in by someone with such an obvious ax to grind?

No, that is absurd.

Mr. Rather, it is obvious now, knowingly publicized Fake Documents in an attempt to bring down George Bush "for our own good." It is conceivable (to put the best face on it) that he may have just plunged ahead "for the good of the country," aware of the doubts expressed by forensic specialists and the documents' dubious provenance, but hoping that they were genuine. And even if they weren't real, surely they must be correct. There is a higher truth than mere accuracy, after all.

If that is what happened, he will no doubt have many fellow anti-Bush cultists that applaud him for his patriotic intentions. Michael Moore will be first among them, followed by Terry McAuliffe.

Frankly though, The Gnomon believes Mr. Rather was fully aware that his documents were fake -- and used them anyway. Why? Perhaps because behind the mask of journalistic objectivity, he too is a raving anti-Bush partisan, cut from the same cloth as Bill Burkett, Michael Moore, and MoveOn.org. Perhaps also, he hoped to cap his long and declining career by taking down a President and saving the country.

Stonewalling Nixon-like against revealing who gave him the papers, he may have thought that the inertia of CBS credibility alone would convince (or silence) all doubters -- as it was in the old days.

Well, these are not the old days.