This is bullshit, man. Bullshit.

[JMDEM]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090221/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_e_mail


Obama administration tries to kill e-mail case

The Obama administration, siding with former President George W. Bush, is trying to kill a lawsuit that seeks to recover what could be millions of missing White House e-mails.

Two advocacy groups suing the Executive Office of the President say that large amounts of White House e-mail documenting Bush's eight years in office may still be missing, and that the government must undertake an extensive recovery effort. They expressed disappointment that Obama's Justice Department is continuing the Bush administration's bid to get the lawsuits dismissed.

During its first term, the Bush White House failed to install electronic record-keeping for e-mail when it switched to a new system, resulting in millions of messages that could not be found.

The Bush White House discovered the problem in 2005 and rejected a proposed solution.

Recently, the Bush White House said it had located 14 million e-mails that were misplaced and that the White House had restored hundreds of thousands of other e-mails from computer backup tapes.

...

[fascisthunter]

1. Moral of the Story... it's ok to break laws

and make deals with the administration in power so there will be no accountability.

Oh and laws are for little people.

[snappyturtle]

5. Bingo. eom

[JMDEM]

2. So much for "open and transparent" government. nt

[hwmnbn]

3. whoa, this is not good news...

I don't see any reason for dismissing the case. Could it be that some loyal bushies are still in positions of power at the DOJ and are the ones making these calls?

This needs to be answered.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

4. The AP's not the best source of unbiased Obama-related news...

So who did they contact at the DOJ to confirm the story? I'm not sure because they failed to mention having even attempted it.

I'm assuming these lawsuits were initially filed during the Bush Administration, since he's the culprit. Hasn't Obama only been on the job for all of 30 days? Not really fair blaming him for it.

As other posters have pointed out in similar threads, there sure seem to be a lot of negative articles about the Obama Administration's Bush-loving actions lately. I wonder who could possibly benefit from Obama losing our support because of reports like these?

[babylonsister]

6. You are right. I just googled for a valid source for this

story and could not find one. What a surprise.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

8. The whole article kind of reads funny...

Like they wrote a story about the Bush Administration refusing to search for these e-mails and release them, and then tacked on the word "Obama" at the beginning and end to implicate him.

Two advocacy groups suing the Executive Office of the President say that large amounts of White House e-mail documenting Bush's eight years in office may still be missing, and that the government must undertake an extensive recovery effort. They expressed disappointment that Obama's Justice Department is continuing the Bush administration's bid to get the lawsuits dismissed.

Ah, "continuing"? He's been in office 30 days. Holder for even less.

The steps the White House took are inadequate, one of the two groups, the National Security Archive, told a federal judge in court papers filed Friday.

Um, "the steps the White House took"? Whose White House? The people being quoted are conflating the Bush White House and the Obama White House by way of the fact that they are both technically the "White House".

"We do not know how many more e-mails could be restored but have not been, because defendants have not looked," the National Security Archive said in the court papers.

Uh, 30 days anyone? Sounds like they're talking about the Bush Administration here. Surely they know the Obama Administration is just getting started and has Great Depression II to work on.

"The new administration seems no more eager than the last" to deal with the issue, said Anne Weismann, chief counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the other group that sued the EOP.

Well then why don't you give the new administration more than 5 minutes to get to work on this for you before suing the pants off them?

My meter's going off the charts. They're kicking their attempt to divide Obama's support into overdrive...

[Political Tiger]

12. Yeah, this AP hit piece offers no proof of its claim.

I read it three times yet could not find one fact to back up the claim "The Obama administration, siding with former President George W. Bush, is trying to kill a lawsuit that seeks to recover what could be millions of missing White House e-mails."

People are so anxious to get outraged that all they need to see is a headline to become outraged!

[jtrockville]

17. Here's the plantiff's opposition (filed Feb 20, 2009)

(Link redirects to the PDF): http://citizensforethics.org/node/37372

From the filing:

...One day after the Bush administration ended, defendants filed a motion to dismiss that reflects an incredibly cynical and narrow view of defendants’ obligations under the Federal Records Act ("FRA")....

CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) is a very credible source. As much as we may wish it weren't so, I'm afraid it is.

Shame on the Obama Administration for this one.

[napi21]

7. I'd like to see them recovered too, but do you suppose it might have

something to do with us not having any money left to persue cases like that?

I honestly can see the majority of Americans balking at spending millions on persuing old emails!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

9. Before everyone gets their procreative nodules in a knot...

How long has Obama been on the job? A month.

How long has Holder been on the job? 2 weeks?

How long have those Bush moles that are buried in at the DoJ been on the job? Years?

How long has AP sucked donkey dick? Certainly since Ron Fournier took over.

Just sayin...

[JeffreyWilliamson]

11. That's pretty much it in a nutshell. n/t

[progressoid]

10. I'm not surprised.

We'll see more of this kind of caving into the status quo in DC. The pressures to "avoid conflict" are great.

[Are_grits_groceries]

13. Something we can't see is going on here. IMHO

I really don't believe Obama and friends would just up and become Bush II. I think there are some cases that aren't over yet, ie Bagram. Soemthing has to be going on there (or went on there) to make it much harder to just close up shop. There was a deadline so they sided with Bushco until the mess can be untangled.

Why would they just up and jump on the bandwagon about these emails?? There is something we don't know that is tying their hands for now or for good. In some areas, I believe you are right, and they are trying to retain some powers. However, there are too many ways that evil Cheney could have probably tied up everything.

No. I don't know what, and I will get my tinfoil hat. However, Cheney, and his minions with cloven feet, knew every corner of government. They should because they cut most of them. They are also smart. It's like people got strapped with a bomb we can't see. They have to disarm it the right way or too much gets destroyed.

I also don't necessarily believe all the smoke about Cheney and Bush over Scooter. That could be some ploy. He's probably protected in some way we can't see and didn't need a pardon. He might want his law license back, but he isn't going to hurt for money.:tinfoilhat:

[lebkuchen]

15. There'd better be

or dem funding is going to dry up due to lackluster results.

[TheWraith]

14. Hasn't anyone learned to take these unsourced "news" reports with a grain of salt?

Remember the ones talking about how Obama was delating the repeal of DADT until 2011? Proven false. Remember the one about how Obama was supporting the Bush position on national security suits? The truth was no changes pending a FULL REVIEW. And more, and more...

Learn from history, people.

[JMDEM]

16. So I guess it boils down to two things (?)

Either a semi-hostile press is trying to divide Obama from his core supporters, or Obama and Co. are falling prey to the allure of an all-powerful executive branch, and are therefore becoming somewhat like BushCo.

What we want to believe may or may not have much to do with the truth of the situation.

[defendandprotect]

18. Agree . . . !!!

[GeorgeGist]

19. Can you smell ...

COVER UP

Why do you think Bush agreed to no pardons? Because Obama assured him they wouldn't be needed.