Push Back Poll

I said it was a push poll, and I was right.

From a Newsweek poll, released one day after the Washington Post Push Poll:

As you may know, there are reports that the NSA, a government intelligence agency, has been collecting the phone call records of Americans. The agency doesn't actually listen to the calls but logs in nearly every phone number to create a database of calls made within the United States. Which of the following comes CLOSER to your own view of this domestic surveillance program:

It is a necessary tool to combat terrorism -- 41

It goes too far in invading people’s privacy -- 53

Don’t know -- 6

Note that the question doesn't read like a apologia for data mining - as the Washington Post poll did.

But why was the Washington Post so anxious to release a poll that backed up the Bush administration's wishes on the same day that the news broke?