NBC's Mitchell Calls Smearing of Caroline Kennedy 'Inexcusable'

Acting like Caroline Kennedy's PR flack NBC's Andrea Mitchell, on Monday's "Today" show, first delivered the news that the Kennedy family was "furious," at the way her Senate bid was treated by New York Governor David Paterson, but then she quickly merged her own personal opinion into the story, calling the smearing of the former First Daughter, "inexcusable." Curiously Mitchell never revealed to viewers, what specifically Paterson or those close to Paterson had said of Kennedy, only vaguely mentioning "they went after her on personal issues."

The following exchange occurred on the January 26, edition of the "Today" show:

MATT LAUER: While Caroline Kennedy's Senate bid crashed and burned some Democrats are burning at the way New York's governor handled the whole affair. NBC's Andrea Mitchell is in Washington. Andrea, good morning to you.

ANDREA MITCHELL: Good morning.

LAUER: And we're basically talking about three dynasties here. And let's start with the first one. The Kennedys. How did they come out of this whole thing?

MITCHELL: They are furious, Matt. They are furious because basically people close to the governor are believed to have trashed Caroline Kennedy's reputation, even after she withdrew. And there's no excuse for that at all. There's no excuse in any case. But the fact that they went after her on personal issues and put it all out there for the tabloid press after she had withdrawn - inexcusable.