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I didn't accuse the Post of committing of crime. The person, if any, who illegally obtained the email committed the crime, not a Post reporter receiving the email and having a First Amendment defense.

About ten years back, a staffer for Senator Chuck Robb (D-VA) received a tape from an illegal intercept of Virginia Governor Doug Wilder (D). He passed the tape onto the Post. He committed the crime, not the Post when they printed a transcript.

And the more I think about, the more I'm convinced that the rumors are another case of Dem-on-Dem dirty tricks. A Dem or Dems backing one of O'Malley's rivals for the Dem Gov nomination (maybe someone backing Montgomery County Exec Douglas Duncan?) probably started the rumor.

A Montgomery County Delegate or State Senator, Peter Franchot (sp?), was just on DC Channel 5 News saying that the Governor must have known and must be involved. It wouldn't surprise me if he knows who is behind the rumors and wants to falsely blame the Governor.

NCPAC, contrary to the report just on channel 5, did not fan the flames of the rumor. He just commented on it and did not give the rumor any credence whatsoever. Indeed, NCPAC praised a post that shredded the rumor, but he has fallen on his sword for his superior.

I didn't accuse the Post of committing a crime. I accused them of lying about who posted the thread at FreeRepublic and implying that anything NCPAC said on that thread supported the rumor or helped to spread it in any way.

I suggested that a crime may have been committed by intercepting a private email. Whether it was done by keystroking, hacking, or a mole, I don't know, because the Post doesn't really bother to say what kind of an email it was or who it was sent to.

For that matter, after having read the thread at FR closely, I would need to see the email to confirm that there was anything harmful or malicious in it. I am inclined to doubt it until I learn otherwise, because the "investigative" reporters at the Post have often proven themselves to be liars, and at least part of this article can already be seen to be a lie--the false allegations concerning the post at FR.

I didn't mean to imply that either of you (or any other FReepers) were accusing the Washington Post of committing a crime. I was just trying to say that there may be an innocent explanation for the Washington Post getting its hands on NCPAC's e-mails - where no one committed any crime whatsoever.

As a New Yorker, I'm not qualified to guess who spread what rumors about a Baltimore mayor or whether the rumors are true. I do find the timing of the NCPAC story a bit suspicious, given that the story about O'Malley's bonehead Bush budget cuts=9/11 comments appeared in the Washington Post the same day. But I have no proof of any link between the timing of the two articles. And timing doesn't excuse the fact that political operatives ought to think twice before posting (or bolstering) rumors on the Internet. Not only because of the consequences of getting caught, but also because spreading rumors just isn't nice - especially if they turn out to be false.