The Russert Transcript

Here's the transcript from Meet the Press, of the Bootz letter that Tim Russert just happened to see:

MR. RUSSERT: When I was in Iowa, I read a letter to the editor in The Des Moines Register, which caught my attention. And this is what it says. "Now, I know how Howard Dean gets his exercise while he's on the campaign trail. He drops to his knees to beg 'Washington insiders' to endorse him, and then he jumps up to insult them. I'm guessing he does about 20 repetitions of that a day."

In retrospect, you embrace Al Gore, you embrace Tom Harkin, a U.S. senator for 20 years, you fly down to meet with Jimmy Carter. Did an outside insurgent campaign get too close to the Washington establishment?

It's a fair question, but if Russert is carrying water for the Kerry campaign, that's not a particularly fair way to go about it.

You can send your opinion about this to Russert (or to his flunkies) at MTP@NBC.com. As I intend to do.