It appears that the sequence of events was rather different from what I had originally thought. Spefically, it appears that the Canadian consulate contacted Goolsbee and asked him questions, to which he responded.

They apparently did the same with Clinton’s and McCain’s economics gurus, and then they wrote up the responses and forwarded them upstairs, but once they reached the political levels of government *cough* right winger Canadian PM Steven Harper *cough*, they were leaked to do damage, because Harper Bush’s other poodle.

Goolsbee is largely blameless in this, though I’m not sure how much that means in presidential politics in the US. He still needs to stay away from the media for a few weeks.