If John Fund is just citing Jim Pinkerton, who has an unnamed source, that's no closer to a primary source.
1.The story is apocryphal, and I tend to doubt that Fund would repeat a story that he knew beforehand to be false.
2. The story is a verifiable fact.
To be honest, I'm not even certain that the people who were a party to that conversation-if it is in fact genuine-would be willing to disclose their identities, seeing as how eager the Bush administration has been in the past to exact revenge upon conservatives who are courageous enough to part company with it as a matter of principle.
Either all of these anecdotes are incorrect or wild embellishments, e.g. the disdain for her counterparts in the administration with Fed. Soc. affiliations, her refusal to join that organization, her attempt to dodge important policy debates during her professional career, or they are true.
In terms of conservative credentials, John Fund-whatever his liabilities as a human being-has earned my trust, whereas President Bush has done everything within his capacity to erode it.