Dear Mary Mapes


The red dot is now on your head. From Howard Kurtz's article this morning (the suits always use Howie to get their messages across):

The most vulnerable employee at CBS would seem to be Rather's producer, Mary Mapes, who not only obtained the discredited documents but also put her source, former National Guardsman Bill Burkett, in touch with Joe Lockhart, senior adviser to John Kerry's presidential campaign.

Note the linkage.

P.S.: Just in case you didn't get the message, the suits were kind enough to leave one on your mobile. You can read the text of that message here.

P.P.S. And they sent you an e-mail via Bill Carter, their water-boy at The New York Times. It reads, in part:

Mr. Rather and CBS executives said Mr. Bush's Guard records had been intensely important to (Mapes), a subject she had been chasing with Mr. Rather off and on for five years.

Several people at the news division, who insisted on anonymity because they had been told not to talk to reporters, said one important line of inquiry in the internal inquiry would be whether Ms. Mapes's zeal clouded her judgment.

Some colleagues and associates questioned whether her politics could have interfered.

P.P.P.S.: One more thing. Today is "tone shift day," the day when the tone of voice of your CBS colleagues (especially your "superiors") changes dramatically. There's a distinct chill in the air, so to speak. Because today is the day that they begin in earnest to try to ruin the rest of your life.