Here's MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, interviewing Time's Karen Tumulty moments ago:

Karen, let me ask you one other thing. There was an event with doctors at the White House at the Rose Garden yesterday. And I have to pursue this more, in more depth, but do you know anything about this photo opportunity when they were told to bring their white lab coats, and those who forgot and came in, in business attire were handed lab coats by White House staff members so they would look like doctors for the photo op?

After Tumulty noted that this is “not such a huge deal” because the people were in fact doctors and do in fact “support the basic bill,” Mitchell haltingly replied:

Well, again, it is an interest group, Doctors for America, but it was certainly, uh, assisted by White House staff. It just seems like a lot of choreography for a White House which claims to be doing things authentically. [Smirking, shaking head] It just, you know.

It just, you know.

Well, no, I don't.

Here's a free tip: When you're unable to articulate what's wrong with an action more eloquently than saying “It just, you know” while scrunching up your nose and shaking your head, its probably because there's nothing wrong with it.

Look: These were actual doctors. If they were not doctors, and the White House dressed them up to look like they were, that would be problematic.

But that isn't what happened. They were doctors. There was nothing misleading about asking them to wear lab coats so people would know they were doctors rather than, say, insurance company executives.

(By the way: handing someone a lab coat is not “a lot of choreography.” It takes about two seconds.)

Now, why did Mitchell feel she had to ask Tumulty about this? Why does she think she has to “pursue this more, in depth”? How much “depth” is there to pursue?

Right-wing bloggers have been yelling about it, that's why.

Mitchell can't articulate a reason why it matters, but the right-wing is up in arms, so she thinks she has to “pursue” the Great Doctors Wearing Lab Coats Scandal of Ought-Nine in more depth.

UPDATE: According to Tommy Christopher at Mediaite, the controversy is not only dumb -- it isn't true. Under the header “Why Was The NY Post Alone in Reporting 'White Coat-gate? Because It's Not True,” Christopher writes:

The picture bothered me, because I didn't recognize the staffer who was handing out the white coats.

I checked on it, and a White House source told me that the White house did not provide the extra lab coats. Doctors for America paid for and brought the extras. OOPS!

I wonder if Mitchell's in-depth pursuit of this crucial story has turned up that little detail yet.