Fenwick vs. Felicity
Students earn scholarships
Minster vs. Southeastern
Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2007 > April > 13 > Entry
the eMAILgate scandal
The New York Times has a front page story today about the expanding scandal that may go down in history as eMAILgate.
The widening scandal that has engulfed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales since the firing of a number of U.S. Attorneys last December has spread like a computer virus to some key offices in the White House. The problem involves e-mails, or the lack thereof. It seems that some e-mails that are key to the investigation have vanished.
These e-mails were sent on various e-mail accounts. A number were sent through the e-mail server of the Republican National Commitee by individuals in extremely sensitive positions, people like the influential presidential advisor,Karl Rove.
The Times article reveals: “It also exposed the dual electronic lives led by Mr. Rove and 21 other White House officials who maintain separate e-mail accounts for government business and work on political campaigns; and raised serious questions, in the eyes of Democrats, about whether political accounts were used to conduct official work without leaving a paper trail.”
Are we seeing the final days of Karl Rove’s influence? The Times piece indicates that his e-mails are of particular interest: “Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who is chairman of a House committee looking into the use of political e-mail accounts, wrote a letter to the attorney general on Thursday saying he had particular concerns about Karl Rove”
Rove might have saved himself a lot of trouble if he had been able to read a book that just came out. “SEND—The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home” (Knopf) by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe provides readers with some valuable information on how to Email safely.
A chapter that might have been of particular interest is: “The Email That Can Land You in Jail.” The authors point out some E-mail phrases that have landed the senders in court; phrases like: “DELETE THIS EMAIL!” and “Do NOT tell Joe.” My favorites are: “Can we get away with it?” and “They’ll never find out.” Time will tell, won’t it?
I found it ironic that Richard M. Nixon insisted on tape recording all those Oval Office conversations, discussions that came back to haunt him as the Watergate Scandal swept him out of office.
Today we have a different irony. Since 9/11, Karl Rove and the gang have stepped up domestic surveillance. Phones are being tapped. Emails are being monitored. That’s right, those missing Emails are out there somewhere and we can only imagine the potential damage to the Bush White House that could occur if, and when the “missing” Emails are found and revealed.
How ironic it would be if the stepped up Email surveillance that has come from this administration and laws like the USA Patriot Act ended up being the factor that allowed these smoking Emails to finally see the light of day.
Ah, eMAILgate! I can hardly wait. What a country!
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: politicked
Comments
By Mark from St. Paul
April 13, 2007 3:02 PM | Link to this
I wonder how many of those missing emails will end up in tell all memoirs published later?