Comey's testimony of his hospital run:

The next day was Wednesday, March the 10th, the night of the hospital incident. And I was headed home at about 8 o'clock that evening, my security detail was driving me. And I remember exactly where I was -- on Constitution Avenue [irony is not dead] -- and got a call from Attorney General Ashcroft's chief of staff telling me that he had gotten a call...from Mrs. Ashcroft from the hospital. She had banned all visitors and all phone calls. So I hadn't seen him or talked to him because he was very ill. And Mrs. Ashcroft reported that a call had come through, and that as a result of that call Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to the hospital to see Mr. Ashcroft.

So, who made the call? Who had the mojo to get through the hospital switchboard when the patient's wife had banned all calls?

Was it Bush?

Inquiring minds want to know:

And, mirabile dictu, a reporter actually did inquire. From the vid, the transcript, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell:

[CNN] ... Did you send your then chief of staff and White House counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program... ?

[BUSH] ... I’m not going to move the issue forward by talking about something as highly classified subject.

[CNN] Was it on your order, sir?

[BUSH] As I said, the program is a necessary program [yadda yadda yadda].

Bush may or not not be The Decider, and He may or may not be The Commander Guy, but He certainly is the Non-Answerer!

But look, it's hopeless getting a straight answer out of any of those guys anyhow. They're all as twisty as corkscrews.

So why not ask Mrs. Ashcroft who made the call? If it was Bush, we have our answer.

NOTE We could, of course, get the switchboard records as well. If they haven't been destroyed already, of course. Or we could talk to the switchboard operator.