Lloyd Grove: Don't mess with Andrea Mitchell.

[Snellius]

Last Monday afternoon, the State Department's public affairs shop e-mailed beat reporters that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had agreed to appear that very night on Greta Van Susteren's Fox News Channel show, "On the Record."

Mitchell went ballistic.

"This is OUTRAGEOUS," NBC's foreign policy correspondent scorched the State Department flacks in an e-mail. "He can't answer telephone calls or REPEATED requests for backgrounders or an on-camera interview from the correspondent representing the most widely watched NETWORK newscast . . . and he's doing a FOX talk show that has no relationship to foreign policy?"

Mitchell vented: "I don't get it but it is very upsetting. It also defies any understanding of the difference between the NBC Nightly News, TODAY program, CNBC and MSNBC PLUS the nation's biggest Web site. Is the administration that desperate to appeal to a niche audience? If I sound upset, it's because I am."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17303-2003Jul19.html

[sfecap]

1. Andrea doesn't get it?

Really, Andrea....think about it for just a couple of minutes and I think you'll get it....

[clarkbarr]

2. You forget how stupid she is

Andrea, do try and buy a vowel to figure this out:

B _ S H

_ S

_

F_ C K _ N G

L _ _ R

[KG]

3. oh, come on, andrea, we know you would toss the same softball

questions as faux news.

your outrage belongs in the pages of 'national enquirer', not the WP. it's got the about the same level of sincerity.

[grasswire]

4. I disagree

Andrea Mitchell is useful to us. She has been obviously infuriated by Bushco's move on Iraq, and her deep sources in the State Department have been feeding her a lot of stuff. I can see why she's miffed that Armitage has jumped protocol.