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.
Cicero, I agree with everything that you say in this post, but wonder if you didn't mean to address the reply to conservative in nyc. I say that because your first sentence is the same as mine was, denying that you charged that the Post committed a crime.
Cicero, you have well stated the case against the Post for false reporting. A simply review shows that NCPAC's public posts did NOT "fan the flames" of the rumor, using the quoted phrase from the equally false or misleading DC TV Channel 5 WTTG news report of an hour ago.
The email quoted in the Post article does not indicate any fanning of the flames, but NCPAC simply says that someone is floating the story. (That someone could easily be supporters of potential Dem Gov primary rivals to O'Malley or non-ideological non-party corporate interests angry at O'M over some decision of his.)
The Post report is overhyped in the extreme (front page) on the same day as the "O'Malley says Bush is like 9/11 hijackers" is relegated to page A5. As both conservative in nyc and I have noted, this may not be a coincidence.
Either the Post, as a willing accomplice to the 'Rats, or the O'M people may have fed or pushed the story to eclipse the simultaneous story on O'M's outrageous charges against Bush.
Think about this in regard to Post reporting. Remember the GOPer who leaked the Dems' "Estrada must be opposed because he is Hispanic" (paraphrase) Senate memo? The leaker of the memo was fired, even though it was on an unsecured server, i.e., open to anyone in the office. The guy who wrote the memo was not fired. In that case, the Post story was "there's a terrible leak," not "here's what the memo says."
In that Senate memo case, there was no crime. With NCPAC's email being obtained, it is possible (likely IMHO) that the leaking of NCPAC's email was a crime (keystroke logging, spyware, illegal logging at an IT central office).
The GOPer always gets the axe and always is the villain to the press.