Mother Jones Publishes Nothingburger Recording of Mitch McConnell Oppo Session About Ashley Judd, Revealing That He's Anti-Ashley Judd;
Asks FBI to Investigate for Wiretapping

image from ABCNews;
Ashley Judd with her "Psychological Support Dog,"
which keeps her from going batty over her Puffy Face

There is a real question about Watergate-style illegal wiretapping here. It's possible that one of McConnell's top people is a mole, and leaked a recording to Mother Jones. (But note, Kentucky law seems to make this a crime.)

However, it's also possible that someone illegally recorded a conference call.

A mole is something we'd get angry about and may in fact be illegal. Intercepting a wire communication is definitely illegal.

Here's Democratic Communications Director Brad Woodhouse thoughtfully considering this latter possibility:

He's now settled on a cover story as to Why This Nothingburger Leak is So Damaging to McConnell, to wit, how awful it is that McConnell could possibly consider making Ashley Judd's previous struggles with mental wellness a campaign issue:

As Brad Woodhouse would say: "LOL!"

Surreptitious recordings are illegal under Kentucky law.

Here's what Mother Jones has to say about the possibility that this was an illegal, Watergate-style bugging:

Mother Jones said the recording was provided to them last week "by a source who requested anonymity." In a statement they said they "were not involved in the making of the tape, but we published a story on the tape due to its obvious newsworthiness."

"It is our understanding that the tape was not the product of a Watergate-style bugging operation," the statement reads.

Ah, it's your "understanding."

I do not believe this statement can be counted as vouching for the legality of the tape. I believe it's the opposite: Claiming that as a legal matter Mother Jones is itself not guilty of any illegality, because of their "understanding," which may or may not be accurate.

After all, it's just an "understanding."

Note what they didn't say: They did not say something like, "We have investigated the provenance of the tape and have determined it was created in a fully lawful manner."

I believe "it's our understanding" means only this: We knew we could get in trouble if we published an illegal recording so we asked our source to say it wasn't illegal and he did. After we asked him to.

Nope! They're not getting out on the branch on this.

By the Way: There's no mystery about Ashley Judd's shaky grasp on sanity. She speaks openly about it, and her "Psychological Support Dog," whose name, I believe, is "Make the Bad Thoughts Go Away."

This last part via @nkronos.

posted by Ace at 03:02 PM

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