The American Spectator

We’re hearing from some sources on Capitol Hill that the AP’s big story this morning on President Bush’s pre-Katrina briefing (with both a video of the conference call, as well as documents that were leaked to the AP), was pulled together and leaked by Democratic staff on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which has been holding hearings on the matter.

In speaking with White House sources, they say the video of the conference call between the President (who was at his ranch in Texas) and FEMA and Homeland Security officials was made available to Government Accountability Office investigators for their report, which was made public earlier this year. The White House believes GAO officials shared the video with Democratic staff.

As seems to be an almost weekly occurrence, the fellows over at Powerline take apart the so-called “explosive” report about the videotape and the leaked materials. Basically, the AP reporters have taken apples and oranges and attempted to make lemonade.

That’s what happens when reporters who know little about a subject beforehand, and have no real interest in getting down to the nitty gritty, sit down with sources with axes to grind, who spin them for all they’re worth. The result? A highly inaccurate story. The only upside is that perhaps this takes the Dubai port story down a couple notches.