Once again, the conspiracy theorists are right about this administration:
The White House said Wednesday it had mishandled Republican Party-sponsored e-mail accounts used by nearly two dozen presidential aides, resulting in the loss of an undetermined number of e-mails concerning official White House business.
Congressional investigators looking into the administration’s firing of eight federal prosecutors already had the nongovernmental e-mail accounts in their sights because some White House aides used them to help plan the U.S. attorneys’ ouster. Democrats were questioning whether the use of the GOP-provided e-mail accounts was proof that the firings were political.
Democrats also have been asking if White House officials are purposely conducting sensitive official presidential business via nongovernmental accounts to get around a law requiring preservation – and eventual disclosure – of presidential records. The announcement of the lost e-mails – a rare admission of error from the Bush White House at a delicate time for the administration’s relations with Democratically controlled Capitol Hill – gave new fodder for inquiry on this front.
The most corrupt administration in my lifetime. Hell, the most willfully and knowingly corrupt. Losing emails from non-official servers run by the Republican party is not a bug, it is a feature. This wasn’t a mistake- it was a plan. It is only more amusing that this administration has advanced the notion that all of us should be perfectly content to have our emails monitored.
*** Update ***
And the funniest thing about all this is what if it honestly was an accident? I doubt there is anyone out there who actually believes it was an honest mistake, but what if it was? because they chose to use non-official email accounts, even if they come back having found the e-mails, will anyone believe them?
Maybe Dan Riehl.
It is amazing the ways this administration finds to break laws and screw themselves.
cleek
the RNC is a criminal organization
stickler
“Losing” the emails was neither a plan nor a mistake. It’s a fumbling, last-minute, desperate trial balloon. These chumps simply don’t know how to play defense and Karl Rove’s reputation far outstrips his real cleverness. I’d bet dollars to donuts that these fools never thought there’d be any serious investigation — and moreover, that they never understood the laws regarding Presidential communications. Just the idea of putting all this stuff on RNC servers is absurd, since it screwed their ability to claim “executive privilege.” Whoops.
That’s what you get when you hire loyalists, yes-men, and cronies. The same high standards of the CPA were also being applied to the White House. With similar results.
Dreggas
They knew when they dumped those documents that contained outside email addresses they were hosed. The end result? They just went through and purged almost everything on those servers that contained that email. Unfucking believable.
Of course this is where congress should get feds or other authorities involved who have the ability to recover deleted data. It’s not a hard thing to do and you’d be surprised just how much shit lives on your computer unless you do an extremely high level format or have a program that deletes what you thought was deleted.
Rome Again
Yup!
No evidence means no crime, right? Except when it doesn’t!
Rome Again
Has anyone checked to see if the shredders came by for an extra requested visit recently?
Paul L.
Remember no controlling legal authority?
Missing Gore e-mails contain information on Buddhist temple event, donor’s offer
Jimmmm
Every Republican tree investigators have barked up while the 110th Congress has been in session has had a cat in it.
No matter how bad one thinks the GOP is, they’re worse.
Dreggas
It’s not that easy, you can shred hard copy but Data on disk is harder to get rid of, because nothing is ever “deleted” from a disk, fragmented to oblivion, yes but not really deleted. It’s pretty technical but there are a myriad number of ways the data can be recovered.
Dreggas
Deflecting so early? This must really be a silver bullet.
Zifnab
I fail to see how you need to be a conspiracy theorist to suggest that this administration is obstructing justice. I think Libby even got convicted of it.
At this point, you’d have to be a conspiracy theorist – with some pretty crazy theories – to suggest that the RNC didn’t deliberately delete or “lose” every incriminating document they had their hands on.
Jimmmm
Traces of RNC-domain emails will be found. And since they’re not pertinent to official WH bid-ness, no claim of “executive privilege” will apply.
So, in essence, Bush’s gang that couldn’t shoot straight has heightened public awareness that party business was being done on the public’s dime, that they’re covering up that fact, and that what’s in the emails becomes subject to the public’s “right to know,” whatever that means.
Nicely played, Karl! (polite golf clap.)
Rome Again
Yes, I knew that Dreggas, but thank you. So, are they going to get away with saying the emails are forever lost? How stupid do they think we are?
Zifnab
You can completely format a disk and destroy all existing data. In fact, if you’ve ever filled up your hard drive, then tossed a few files, then filled it up again, those files you dumped would be completely unrecoverable. It’s just a matter of 1s and 0s. Set all the digits on your disk to 0 and whatever was there is gone forever.
Paul L.
Just using the same standard with Gore who is a member of
Richard 23
This was probably an honest mistake. Computer glitches happen all the time. Just because some emails are missing doesn’t mean they contain any “smoking guns.”
Only delusional and dishonest people would assume that.
Dreggas
Sorry, barely awake here. Actually most people don’t realize how these things work so they would probably buy it. Hopefully Congress doesn’t just bend over for it. At this point lost emails do, I believe, count as obstruction.
demimondian
So, Paul, you’re alleging that the destruction of RNC emails is probably a fumbling attempt to conceal a crime? That’s a pretty strong statement from you.
grumpy realist
They’re doing this because up to now they have gotten away with it.
We keep nattering on about the lack of spine of the Democratic congresscritters–why hasn’t similar amounts of ink been spent on how the Republicans did nothing but carry water for GWB for the last 6 years?
Some oversight!
John D.
This actually is not true. Since the data is stored via magnetic imprinting, forensic analysis can often recover a lot of data by looking at residual magnetism on a bit-by-bit basis. Even with a “shred” (writing all 1s, all 0s, and random patterns) some of the data can sometimes be recovered by looking at the relative strengths of the magnetic fields.
Jake
Stupider than they are, which would leave us too stupid to work a voting machine, much less find our way to the polls. Oh well.
I’ve commented before on the fact this mAdministration strikes me as baffled by the workings of the intertubes. For example, it seems that to be permanent this “destruction” would have to occur in at least three places:
1. The mainframe of the company hosting (or whatever the word is) GWB43.com.
2. The computer of the person who sent the e-mail.
3. The computer of the person(s) who recevied the e-mail.
It seems to me destruction on this scale would require an act of terrorism.
Lee
I thought I was the only one that saw Paul L as asserting that the RNC committed a crime.
It must be bad if the apologists are not refuting that a crime occurred but only pointing out that other crimes occurred as well.
It seems to me to be the same thing as saying “Look over there, a bunny!”
Paul L.
Sure, investigate both Karl Rove and Al Gore.
Lee
Jake,
Not to mention that depending their network security (which I would think would be pretty high) they probably log all network traffic.
Which means the emails would be in the network logs.
So the emails are not gone by any stretch of the imagination. They just are refusing to turn them over.
Jill
What if a terrorist cell was discovered and their emails were deleted…does anyone think the FBI would say, oh well, I guess those emails can never by retrieved. I don’t think so. I’m sure those emails can be forensically found, but will they?
Ellison, Ellensburg, Ellers, and Lambchop
No fair citing “history.” “History” only started in Florida 2000. There was nothing before, it was a void, so we need never admit to any hypocrisy.
Love,
Liberals
Rome Again
It seems like we’re getting the excuses administration here:
My dog pee’d on it.
My dog buried it in the yard
My dog dug it up but then ate it
All occurring within just a few days of each other.
So tell me, was the Patriot Act created for prosecuting them too?
p.s. – if that link didn’t work, google :WAPO, SEC, Patriot Act, Brokerage Firm
Lee
Sure I’ll swap you every administration official/lackey that uses an RNC email account for Al “I think I’ll have another twinkie” Gore.
Not sure what the statute (sp?) of limitations is on Gore’s crime but it is probably reaching the end.
demimondian
But Al Gore *was* investigated, Paul, and cleared — and not for lack of evidence, but because there was clear evidence that he did not know of any misdeeds.
Teh Google is my friend. It can be your friend, too.
John D.
Hey, Paul? Do you even read your links?
The information behind that one was contained in emails that were turned over to Congress. You know, exactly unlike the situation here. They weren’t turned over with the first batch due to misuse of the system (a problem), but once found they WERE turned over.
This time, once found, they were DESTROYED. Somewhat different. I leave it to you to attempt to defend this.
Rome Again
If you guys had email fraud, why did you pin your hopes to a blue dress and a blowjob?
BFR
You can completely format a disk and destroy all existing data. In fact, if you’ve ever filled up your hard drive, then tossed a few files, then filled it up again, those files you dumped would be completely unrecoverable. It’s just a matter of 1s and 0s. Set all the digits on your disk to 0 and whatever was there is gone forever.
You could also throw the drive into a landfill. These are emails however, with multiple recipients some of whom probably forwarded them on to others, some of whom again probably stored the emails on a .pst. It would take a really cracker-jack organization to even figure out what needed to be deleted, how many copies exist, who has them and whether they were actually deleted or just moved to the ‘deleted’ folder. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
demimondian
Sorry, eEel, you’re late to the party. Paul’s jackalope has already been debunked.
But I’m glad to see that you also believe Rove is guilty of obstruction.
canuckistani
If their data centre is being run with any level of competence whatsoever, there are backups, off-site copies and disaster recovery plans. You can’t just “lose” a few emails unless ou think the RNC mail servers are run by some grade 6 kids with a PIII in their basement.
What’s your call? Criminal behaviour, or criminal incompetence?
mrmobi
I too, am delighted that Paul L has asserted that the administration has most likely committed a crime in this case.
Good to have you aboard, Paul! Of course, we know that Gore did it first, so all is excused, right?
Lee
Can we still give up Al Gore?
John D.
Mac, how is this hypocrisy?
Those emails were turned over and investigated by the Legislative branch. They were turned over later than originally requested, tis true, but they WERE given to Congress.
The current ones were “mishandled and lost” once the Legislative branch asked for them.
If you honestly think the two situations are equivalent, you’re insane. In a very literal sense — reality is not congruent with your worldview. Seek help.
mrmobi
As someone in the move “Groundhog Day” said, “I think, both.”
sjrx0213
There’s no such thing as “completely unrecoverable” if you’ve got the resources — like, for instance the FBI. There’s off-track residual magnetic pattern data that remains even after formatting or overwriting data. You just need hardcore tools and techniques to detect it.
If you really want to make sure your hard disk data is gone for good, crack open the HDA and smash the platters (they’re usually just glass) or wipe out the magnetic deposition with sand paper or steel wool.
Richard 23
The “Al Gore Support Center” is an impartial source of information. Case closed!
Lee
or FEMA
/snark off
Looking at the competence versus political purity ratio of past appointments of this administration, I would not put it past them to have the entire RNC IT department staffed with political pure but imcompetent workers.
mrmobi
How about that Paul L? Got any more lies you want to spread?
Lee
my spelling is the s0xx04rs today.
Chad N. Freude
What I like about this one is the equating of a single violation of a campaign financing rule with the rapidly-approaching-infinity number of misdeeds of the Bush administration. The scales of Justice are balanced at last.
Decided FenceSitter
Actually here’s the amusing thing. At least the underlings there were not told to do it. I know one of the SysAds at the RNC, and he’s been in a crucible this week. So if someone did dump it deliberately they weren’t in the RNC IT department.
Dreggas
Yep, or demagentize it. Of course tech may have evolved beyond that being a concern, after all they have terabyte HDD’s for sale to the public for about 500 now (gotsta get me one of them).
mrmobi
Ummm, actually it was, and not by the Al Gore Support Center, but by the Justice Department, you know, back when it wasn’t staffed with 20- and 30-somethings educated at the University of Fuck The Government.
BFR
again in terms of stuff being ‘lost’ it would get even harder with a blackberry since those emails get routed over a 3rd party wireless network, all of whom have their own retention policies.
This just isn’t the same thing as having incriminating data on your hard drive. If some of these lost emails contain incriminating data, they will come out. It’s just a matter of time.
cleek
if the RNC was running an SMTP server where emails are deleted off the server once they’ve been relayed to the user’s box, there’s a good chance they really are gone for good. it’d be strange for an organization like that to use SMTP, IMO. but if they’re running something like Notes or Exchange, the emails are still around, somewhere – unless they purged all their backups, too.
mrmobi
Please don’t give them ideas.
Chad N. Freude
It’s hard for me to reconcile this obvious parody with the other posts of yours that I’ve seen. Are you tired of being a spoof and tipping your hand? Is this an error of overreaching, like 28%’s complaint that nobody got his “satire”? Tell us, please!
scarshapedstar
Here’s the fun part: if they attempt a low-level IO wipe, their best-case scenario is a digital 18-minute gap.
Tim F.
Tim F’s Second Law, baby. I’m nostra-f*cking-damus.
scarshapedstar
“if the RNC was running an SMTP server where emails are deleted off the server once they’ve been relayed to the user’s box, there’s a good chance they really are gone for good. it’d be strange for an organization like that to use SMTP, IMO.”
Don’t you mean POP? SMTP is all server-side.
Rome Again
It’s Nixon all over again. Hmmmmm!
Jake
Thanks Lee, I know even for our company it would take a series of disasters to eradicate information that is younger than 24 hours old. I also suspect a number of security agencies monitor any information that is transmitted by people with personal access to the President.
What would really make my day though is if their security turned out to be crap and a bunch of hackers produced the “destroyed” e-mails. In the mean time I’ll look forward to the increasingly frantic spin as people begin to ask techincal questions.
sjrx0213
I’ll second that. Gotta rip down my DVD collection!
Back on topic: I sure as hell hope there’s at least one “smoking gun” email that’s not “missing” that gives Waxman, et al, probable cause to subpoena all of the RNC servers.
Bastards must pay.
Chad N. Freude
The FBI is well-versed in the tools and techniques of computer forensics. Just turn the Bureau loose on this and … Oh, wait, never mind.
mrmobi
Yep, like clockwork, Paul L. got in here and yelled, “look, a PONY!”
Liberals in here get a lot of shit from righties about BDS, but “methinks the lady doth protest too much.” I can imagine Paul L. having a database of all the Clenis and Clagina “crimes” like killing Vince Foster, etc. All that’s missing is the goddamn tin-foil hat.
Let it go, Paul, it’s over, you lost, and you’re going to lose even bigger in ’08. Enjoy being in the minority, it’s going to be that way for a while.
Jake
Leahy is not amused.
More popcorn anyone?
sjrx0213
Game on.
Lee
If/when Congress decides to get serious about this, what would be their recourse to get the RNC laptops? Warrents ?
If warrents, could the Justice Dept just say no?
mrmobi
Lucy, you got some ‘splainin to do!
Sounds to me like Leahy has just strapped on a pair.
SheRa
Surely there’s a way to recover these emails. This is just shameful.
Baby Jane
KillDisk Pro
mrmobi
These idiots don’t do shame. Never heard of it.
Rome Again
Oh YES!
Rome Again
BabyJane, KillDiscPro would be obstruction, wouldn’t it?
ThymeZone
Yes, we have known this literally for years.
This latest thing is hardly a surprise, is it?
Baby Jane
Every time I use blockquote my friggin comment hugs the date. Ugh.
jg
Nixon’s dead, long live Nixon!
Lee
Baby Jane,
While that will make it much harder to recover, it still can still be recovered.
That tech cable show did a bit on recovering data. The only way is to destory the actual disk in the hard drive.
Baby Jane
I would like to think so. But since the RNC isn’t an office of the gov, I don’t know where that falls.
Dreggas
I believe they’d appoint a special prosecutor/investigator and get the warrants from a court, not main justice. It would probably come out of the DC court (federal). If justice denied it, or if the FBI didn’t execute it then things would look even worse than they do now.
Rome Again
::sings::
“And the walls came tumbling down, and the walls came tumbling rumbling, and the walls (and the walls) came tumbing tumbling, rumbling rumbling, D-O-W-N!”
Rome Again
Creative obstruction, using a non-official office (RNC) to hide official business?
Dreggas
That is an image I don’t need in my head thank you very much.
Fecapult
I’d like to add that large organizations like the RNC almost certainly have offsite data backup which could be used to recall these emails without too much fuss. I’d find it hard believe that the RNC wasn’t keeping backups in cold storage offsite in case of a catastrophic failure.
Baby Jane
I would be very interested in seeing evidence of data being recovered from a drive after it’s been killdisk’d.
Dreggas
It would be obstruction if the RNC didn’t comply with subpoenas which I believe the House committee has approved for this data.
Zifnab
Oh ho ho, I never once suggested that they did this by accident, or that those emails aren’t still out there. I’m confident if we search through the “series of tubes” long enough, we’ll get some mighty tasty tidbit. I just pray at some point Bush emailed Mark Foley. Cause… I totally want to see what’s in his inbox. … … Cause I’m a pervert.
But seriously, the RNC is totally boned if they get actual tech people investigating them. With the iron-clad understanding of technology that the RNC has exhibited, I don’t doubt for a second they’ll get completely steamrolled by all the filth pouring out of their closets.
mrmobi
Perhaps we’re headed for the 2007 version of the Saturday Night Massacre?
Ummmm, no. Sorry, that would require an Attorney General with professional ethics.
mrmobi
I was sorry the very moment I pressed “submit comment.”
John D.
While this does a very good job at securely wiping data, it’s not perfect.
The relevant standard is the DoD 5220.22-M, which allows for a “character, complement, random character, verify” overwrite method for magnetic media. This is deemed insufficient for Top Secret and above simply because it is still possible to recover data after this method is used. Degaussing and/or destruction are the only approved methods for a true wipe.
Baby Jane
I suppose that would cover the missing email shenanigans, but not the crime that may be evidenced within the email itself.
John S.
Good luck trying to find this story on any major media website.
It doesn’t exist.
It’s all about the bombing this morning in the super-safe Green Zone and Don Imus.
mrmobi
As someone who was of voting age during the Saturday Night Massacre, this is all very, very worrisome to me. I remember there being speculation in the press about Nixon declaring martial law, etc. Even then, at that young age, I couldn’t see Nixon going that far, and, happily, I was right.
This bunch, not so much. Clearly, they don’t believe in our system of government.
Dreggas
LOL…welcome to the club.
Rome Again
Should our government be relying on a “true wipe” of any of it’s documents? What ever happened to transparency?
Rome Again
mrmobi, I fear both sides are going to be armed to the teeth and ready for major battle when this entire thing comes to a head… but I don’t see how they can get away with the constant excuses of “the dog ate my homework” and survive to tell about it. That’s why I’m excited.
Do I fear that they’ll up the ante? You betcha!
John D.
There are many, many circumstances that require a wipe:
* Disposition of surplus equipment
* Accidental release of secured materials onto unsecured computers
* User change for a machine
etc.
Rome Again
Well, http://www.gwb43.com is now being wiped. Hmmm… why hide the site if they got NOTHING TO HIDE?
pacified
Republicans are the biggest traitors. The Biggest SCUM. They are Killing Amerca.
All you Republicans should go kill yourselves and do America and the world a favor.
BUSH and the REPUBLICANS are FUCKING MORONS!
Rome Again
John D. would that include official business of a nature that would need to be retrieved in the future? equipment and securing computers is one thing. What tehy seemed to do was hide official documentation and use unsecured computers on purpose.
The government itself is supposed to be transparent, how can we take them seriously if they hide things on purpose?
Lee
Rome Again,
He updated the post to indicate that he thinks it is a snipe hunt.
I’m not so sure….
Can’t put a finger on it.
One of those nagging little voices in my head is getting drowned out by the louder ones and I can’t really make out what it is saying ;)
John D.
Perhaps you misunderstood me. I’m certainly not defending the loss of emails, nor the actions I’ve seen about this matter. I was merely explaining *why* the DoD has a standard for wiping electronic media. There are a lot of times — for security reasons, usually — that a full wipe is mandated. This is not one of those times, unless “security” means “cover one’s ass”.
Bubblegum Tate
I can guaran-fucking-tee you without even looking that Mark Noonan not only believes it’s an honest mistake, but that he’s blaming the damn dirty hate-filled Democrats for deliberately using this trumped-up charge as a means of pushing their all-hate, all-the-time agenda in a shameless attempt to bring down Bush. And then he’ll cap it off by saying that historians will marvel at how Bush was able to be so awesome a president while having to deal with such a hate-filled Congress.
You know, standard wingnut stuff.
Rome Again
Ah, thanks Lee, I see that now.
John Cole
Blogs for Bush is too busy blaming future Mideast problems on Nancy Pelosi to notice this scandal.
Tony J
So, correct me if I’m wrong, there’s only three ways this can go.
1) Congress subpoenas the e-mails, the White House suddenly “discovers” that they had them on multiple back-ups all along and hands them over.
2) Congress subpoenas the e-mails, the White House insists that they can’t find what isn’t there, but a cursory investigation quickly finds the back-up copies.
3) Congress subpoenas the e-mails, the White House insists that they can’t find what isn’t there, and it turns out that every copy has somehow been “lost”, which leads to difficult questions about how this could have happened short of a deliberate effort to purge the information by someone who knew exactly where all of the e-mails were.
This pooch had best be lathered up and highly sexed to the Nth degree, because I’m not sure how much more screwing it can take before PETA has to send in the extraction team.
Richard 23
Pretty exciting Daily Kos story there Rome. Doop-de-doo. Huh? What’s this?
What? Is Daily Kos going to scrub their story? What have they got to hide? Call the feds!
Rome Again
Can a lack of information point to a deliberate purging of info and can that put the onus on the administration to prove there was nothing fraudulent about what they did?
Rome Again
Sorry Richard, when I saw it the update was not there. Furthermore, as a diary written by someone AT Kos, Kos itself is not responsible for any claims the diary makes. You should know that.
mrmobi
Looks to me like this pooch has been rode hard and put away wet!
Rome Again
You lose Richard!
Baby Jane
BTW: As superduper as KillDisk Pro(or any tool) may be, the notion that a successful wipe of all hard drives containing these emails seems preposterous considering the admin’s track record of success on anything.
mrmobi
You know, Dick, it would probably take me all of ten minutes to find some righty proposing forced labor camps for illegals, and probably just a few minutes more to find someone proposing extermination. Try to control your faux outrage, it’s not flattering to one so hypocritical.
By the way, your buddy 28 Percent seems to have lost her enthusiasm for posting lately, after she acknowledged her spoofiness recently. Isn’t it about time for you to do the same?
Lee
Things are really starting to unwind for this Administration.
It seems people are coming across government documents that have people send email to [email protected] instead of their whitehouse.gov address. Not CCing, but Send To:
Baby Jane
I Heart DickyNumbers!
John D.
Well, even logged into the authoritative nameservers NSLOOKUP brings up no information.
And yet, looking up the domain that the nameserver resides on gives an IP.
WHOIS claims that 11-Oct-2006 was the last modification of the DNS entries, but there is literally no way for the authoritative nameserver to return a blank IP (i.e., no “A” record) unless it has been deleted — even if the NS was down, there should be a cached “A” record sent from my local DNS server. The secondary authoritative nameserver, A.NS.TRESPASSERS-W.NET, exhibits the same behavior. *Something* is not right here.
Jake
Sure, but timing can be an issue. If I’m being investigated and I just happen to build a bonfire with a lot of records related to the case (oopsie!), I’d be in big trouble. If I do it before the investigation begins…it looks funny but I might be able to get away with it.
This is the problem with claiming they “mishandled” some undetermined e-mails and the reason Leahy is pissed. (Cue Republican whining about the scary unhinged loony Leahy.)
If they deleted or destroyed data in one or two locations before this current round of Republican Scandal began I might buy that. But if every single place the data passed through just happened to scrub and the exact same data just happened to get scrubbed in the process, “mishandled” begins to look like “intentionally destroyed.” If the scrub happened after the investigation began, they’re fucked.
Of course if these cretins could catch on to the fact that they can no longer scream “Terrorist Huggers!” to scare off people who ask questions, they might come up with better lies.
ThymeZone
We are shocked …. SHOCKED … to find out that spoofery is being practiced here.
{ Your winnings, inspector. }
mobi, old pal, Richard is brazen. He has actually pulled off spoof under the same handle he previously used to do non-spoof. Now THAT is some cracker-ass spoofing!
I mean … some righteous spoofing! Heh.
Rome Again
Let’s be thankful that they’ve been moronic up to this point, or it might have been even MORE difficult to make headway against them.
John D.
Ah, and answering my own question: WHOIS lies like a rug.
From DNS Report, the SOA serial section says:
Rome Again
Gee, what a coincidence, that’s TODAY!
Lee
This is what I love about the internet.
All the time people (not just republicans) make the mistake of thinking it is not permanent. That it is just ‘cyber space’. They can delete or change and no record will ever exist otherwise.
Can we call this one ‘GeekGate’?
Lee
Remember how the Republicans kick the shit out of Democrats on targeted mailings, massive email lists and eventually fund raising?
I think the Democrats caught up and have actually won this technology battle.
Tony J
That would depend on how the e-mails were rendered ‘lost’. If investigators find that they were deleted as soon as they’d been read, that begs the question of whether that was general policy or something applied only to certain White House e-mails, and would look like a purge.
If they were deleted at various times, maybe in bulk along with non-WH connected e-mails, and usually when the mailbox was looking fullish, that wouldn’t look so bad.
If they were deleted in bulk within the last few months, independent of other non-WH connected e-mails, that would certainly point to a deliberate decision to purge triggered by the realisation that they were in trouble.
I’m wondering how long it will be before some Loyal Bushie is asked to “put their career on hold” for a few years so that El Res turn them into My Pet Scapegoat. Either they were acting independently and during a moment of madness, or they were tricked into handing over their log-on details to an agent of the DhimmiRat Par-Tay, who then hacked into the RNC network and deleted e-mails detailing the terrorist sympathies of certain USAs just to make the GOP look bad and embolden their JihadiLib allies… or something.
Or to badly quote a master in the art of sounding smart through a verbal brainfart, “Absence of evidence is not, necessarily, evidence of absence”.
There’s no way this ends in kisses and hugs, I can tell you.
Rome Again
That’s what I was thinking. Thanks.
Can we start calling righties conspiro-whackos at that point?
Dreggas
This will be like watergate as soon as we get the equivalent of the reporters in the 70’s in the form of the Geek Squad on the case, of course this will probably involved some gray hats as well.
Rome Again
Yes, where is our Woodward and Bernstein?
mrmobi
Wasn’t it Woodstein and Bernward?
Lee
Someone needs to walk by those email servers with several thumb drives….
MNPundit
I think Sen. Leahy’s point is a good one. In this day and age there is no way to permanently “delete” emails. They are SOMEWHERE on SOME SERVER. The only way I think would be massive reformatting and wiping of discs and even then you could probably piece together a few things.
Those emails are still out there.
Dreggas
This message will self-destruct in 10…
Tony J
I’ve had a good long think, and I simply can’t come up with an analogy quite anatomically grotesque enough to fully capture the degree of wide-eyed stupid abandon with which this White House has performed acts of bestial carnality in respect to this female canine.
The only explanation is that El Residente wants to make it so completely impossible for the GOP to get anyone elected in 2008 that they’ll have no rational option but to support him when he declares martial-law and has himself crowned Rex Mundi.
Alright, not the only explanation. He could also be scared stupid and surrounded by people hired for their willingness to break the law, but I think there’s always room for hyperbole when discussing this shower of chancers.
Dreggas
those were the names *smacks forehead*. Probably sitting behind a computer screen, pale from lack of sunlight and drinking highly caffeinated beverages. Given the total incompetence of this admin it may even be a script kiddie since I doubt they even have a honey pot.
As an aside looking at the formatting on what was released, Outlook was used for sending and receiving as well as blackberry’s. That means Exchange was involved and as with anything microsoft related…All your Email R belong to Us!
VidaLoca
Dead, along with the Washington Post.
The good news is they’ve been replaced. Check Josh Marshall and emptywheel.
What’s really missing at the moment is Deep Throat.
cleek
i meant SMTP, but i guess i mixed in a few bits of the POP functionality, too (since that’s a common way for people to receive email from SMTP servers).
Dreggas
Deep Throat….mmmmmmm
{ back to reality }
sorry couldn’t resist, again deepthroat will be the one sitting at said computer terminal.
Punchy
Holy NO SHIT dept:
“It can’t be ruled out” means it most certainly happened. This is unfuckingbelevable. I’m guessin this will be their standard M.O. for every investigation…
Punchy
Oh. My. God.
Iceberg, meet tip.
Tony J
You said “start”, right? 8-)
Dreggas
More like Ice Cap…
Tony J
I hope they did install something like that. Evidence of a deliberate (and successful) effort to destroy incriminating e-mails would be equivalent to finding the suspect covered in greasy soot after burning the body.
Habeus Corpus for the Internet Age. God Bless Al Gore for inventing it.
RSA
I’m late to the party, but Paul L.’s link on Gore’s gaffe included this:
My reading of this is that the 100K missing messages were addressed to the White House, whereas what we’re mainly interested in is messages written by people in the White House. I’d say that’s a big difference.
Also, how long will it take someone from Congress to suggest that the NSA might ride in to save the day? Or have I already missed that?
Bruce Moomaw
Larry Johnson, over at “TPM Cafe”, points out that this could reopen the Plame case — Fitzgerald’s subpoenas were for “…ALL emails relating to the Valerie Plame case, not just White House emails. Just when you thought the Plame case was at a dead end, it looks like the hubris of the Republicans have given it new life. Karl Rove may get frog-marched yet.” (He suggests that Fitzgerald didn’t even know about these additional E-mails — until now.
Baby Jane
The Commissar has a good post on the missing email.
tBone
Outlook can be used as a straight POP/IMAP client, no Exchange needed.
I’m sure there are some pesky .pst/.ost files floating around that may be of interest, though.
Rome Again
Yeah, yeah.. the kind that are buried five levels deep and not easily accessible except by a pro (something this adminstration seems to have been lacking all along in every department).
Punchy
$50 bucks says 5 minutes after reopening Fitz gets 86’ed.
RSA
I liked this line from the Commissar: