It looks like Tim McMahon of the DNC continues to ride the wave of “this tape is the smoking gun” nonsense. He just emailed a letter to supporters which included the following text:

The tapes directly contradict Bush’s now infamous claim after Katrina, “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”

…

This is a story NO American can afford to miss.

Also in that email he said:

Even though the Republicans have consistently stonewalled Democrat’s efforts for a thorough investigation of Hurricane Katrina, to find out what they knew and when they knew it, the facts are getting out. It is vital that everyone read the AP story and see the tapes for themselves.

As he must know, this conference call was open to the press and released to the public last fall. According to Trent Duffy:

The President’s participation in the August 28 videoconference was open to the press, and the full transcript of this videoconference was released to Congress and the public in the fall of 2005.

And Kevin has done some detective work. Turns ou the author of the AP videoconference article was a producer at 60 Minutes II during Rathergate.

What are the odds that there are two people with that name, one an AP writer and one a CBS News producer? I’m guessing they’re minuscule. The odds are that it’s the same person in a new job.

Given the tatters the story has been shredded into by the blogosphere, it’s hardly surprising that it comes from an alum of 60 Minutes II…