Did Bush Spy On The Kerry Campaign?

Yesterday, AmericaBlog posted a disturbing MSNBC transcript, in which Mrs. Alan Greenspan (née Andrea Mitchell) asked author James Risen if Bush had spied on journalists-- namely, CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

Mitchell: Do you have any information about reporters being swept up in this net?

Risen: No, I don't. It's not clear to me. That's one of the questions we'll have to look into the future. Were there abuses of this program or not? I don't know the answer to that

Mitchell: You don't have any information, for instance, that a very prominent journalist, Christiane Amanpour, might have been eavesdropped upon?

Risen: No, no I hadn't heard that.

2 hours later, the transcript was edited:

Mitchell: Do you have any information about reporters being swept up in this net?

Risen: No, I don't. It's not clear to me. That's one of the questions we'll have to look into the future. Were there abuses of this program or not? I don't know the answer to that

Mitchell: You are very, very tough on the CIA and the administration in general in both the war on terror and the run up to the war and the war itself?

NBC now claims:

Unfortunately this transcript was released prematurely. It was a topic on which we had not completed our reporting, and it was not broadcast on 'NBC Nightly News' nor on any other NBC News program. We removed that section of the transcript so that we may further continue our inquiry.

So that we may further continue our inquiry?

Which brings us to the Kerry campaign...

Now why would Bush want to bug Christiane Amanpour's phones and email correspondence?

Christiane Amanpour is the best connected foreign correspondent we've got. she's interviewed everyone who's anyone. (I'm sure she's never asked about Bush administration shenanigans by any of her contacts, aren't you?)

Amanpour is married to former Clinton administration State Department spokesman, Jamie Rubin. (I'm sure he never talks to or emails any of his administration colleagues, aren't you?)

Amanpour was also one of John John Kennedy's closest friends. (I'm sure no one in that social circle ever emails or calls, aren't you?)

Amanpour's husband was chief foreign policy adviser to General Wesley Clark's presidential campaign during the 2004 presidential primary. Later, he worked as a senior national security adviser to John Kerry's presidential campaign. (But I'm sure no one involved with either presidential campaign had anything interesting to say on the phone or in an email, aren't you?)

Anyone who talked to or emailed the Amanpour-Rubin household, Blackberries, or cell phones could have been bugged during the last 4 years-- all in the name of national security.

Get the picture?

Why did Andrea Mitchell ask this particular question?

Did she jump the gun?

Or did she light a fire under NBC's corporate ass in order to keep the investigation going?

Either way, it's out there now.


File this under: You, too, should be mad as hell about this, damn it!

NSA graphic by Doug D.