TV news anchor Katie Couric has asked whether America is ready to elect Sen. Barack Obama as president even though he “grew up praying in a mosque.”      

But she or CBS then took down her video link and changed the text of her comments on CBS News’ website for no apparent reason. Ms. Couric’s comments were posted in her “Notebook” section at www.cbsnews.com. They were heavily edited after The Drudge Report on Friday linked to her blog site, which had the original video posting and comments, under the headline “Obama’s Background.” 

Fortunately, Insight made a transcript of her video while it was live online. That transcript follows: 

“Hi everyone. 

Is America ready to elect a president who grew up praying in a mosque? 

Barack Obama has arguably the most diverse religious background of any candidate, ever. He was raised in Indonesia by a Christian mother and Muslim stepfather and attended a Catholic school, but while growing up, also studied Islam. 

That background sparked rumors that he had studied in a radical madrassa or Koranic school—rumors his campaign denied, declaring that Obama is now a practicing Christian. Last month, the Los Angeles Times interviewed people who grew up with Obama. ‘We prayed in the mosque,’ one of them said, ‘but not seriously,’ noting that Obama also prayed with his Catholic schoolmates. 

It's too soon to know what America will decide about Barack Obama or his background, but it's not too soon to wonder if America will see that as an assset or a liability. 

That's a page from my notebook. I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.” 

Her original words could be heard in a video posting. But the video link was erased from the site, and her original comments were substantially modified after they were linked to by the popular news site, The Drudge Report. The video was also removed from YouTube, which said it was now “private.” The Notebook’s lead sentence now reads: “Is America ready to elect a President whose connections with Islam were the subject of rumor and innuendo?” 

No one at CBS News was available to answer questions about why Ms. Couric’s blog had been heavily edited. 

Stories by the Associated Press and The Los Angeles Times have shown that Mr. Obama did attend a predominantly Muslim school as a young boy in Indonesia, was registered as a Muslim while attending Catholic school for two years, and regularly went to pray at a local mosque. 

Insight originally broke the story that Hillary Clinton’s campaign had been conducting research into Mr. Obama’s Muslim background. Contrary to false and misleading reports by CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, Insight never—not once—in its story claimed that Mr. Obama had attended a “radical madrassa.” What Insight did report, and which we stand fully behind, is that political operatives close to Ms. Clinton’s campaign were unearthing information about Mr. Obama’s Muslim background in the hopes of using it against him before the 2008 Democratic primaries.