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Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost

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Baroness
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
What's totally dick about the whole thing: Presidents are supposed to leave records of their day to day activities, and communications. A quaint notion: that sitting Presidents have nothing to hide, are there as public servants, acting openly and honestly. This idea of transparency was especially keen after Watergate- but ironically, Tricky Dick's surrepitous taping of every time he railed against some "Commie Jew cocksucker" probably served as a warning.

The fact that there's a gigantic black hole where George W Bush's administration's communications once presumably existed- dealing with 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, Gitmo, torture, detainess- well, it's a stinking travesty that they get to say, Oops! Must have erased them. The dog ate my homework.

It makes Rosemary Woods' "oops" about the missing 17 notorious minutes on the Watergate tapes seem like child's play.
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lobstr
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
He must have upgraded to AOL from his Juno account..
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lobstr
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
You know when GWB turned on his AOL and the lil guy goes "You've got mail!" he probably did that chuckle and goes "Hay, hay, the lil man talkt!! Lookit!"
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BxgrlJeri
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
If I had to choose being the president and using email, well buh bye to the presidency.
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BxgrlJeri
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
I can't believe GWB didn't use the nonsensical made-up word "conversating" that I hear so frigging often instead of conversing. I actually give the moron some props for that.
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gladys_kravitz
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
I do want my president to be doing something other than pissing away the work day on the internets like the rest of us.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
What is with these Republicans and their AOL addresses?
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registered
11/16/08

@Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith: Really! The only person I know who has an AOL address is properly mortified by it but afraid to change since it's his biz email. I've told him abt forwarding....
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PandoraSpocks
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
But how can Obama place his Harry and David's Christmas order now?
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Moff
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
Actually, this makes a lot of sense. Email leaves records that phone conversations and other forms of communication don't. Even though you hope the president's judgment is sound, he shouldn't be sending personal email, since something could accidentally slip in there if there was a security leak, and the fact is, he's essentially public property 24/7 for four to eight years.

I mean, there may not be a problem, but it's nice to see the Powers That Be taking it slow instead of assuming off the bat there are no unforeseeable consequences to using a new technology.
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MrInBetween
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
Email can be subpeoaned by pesky Congressional investigators. That's the main reason why both Bushes and Bill Clinton didn't use it, and why Bill and Monica found less technologically advanced ways of communicating.
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registered
11/16/08

@MrInBetween: Bill and Monica found less technolically advanced ways of communicating. I'll say! Also nominate you for a commie!
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jasonelias
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
No one misses G94B on the internets anyway. All he ever talked about was the Bikini Car Wash movies and Buddy Holly.
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BenjaminWright
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
Similar issues apply in state government. On account of Open Records Acts, state governments are wise to insist that employees (including governors) route all business e-mail through a central e-mail archive and to encourage employees to take all personal e-mail to personal accounts. --Ben
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SeaBassTian
11/16/08

@BenjaminWright: I assume that is why there was such a brouhaha about Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account. But perhaps there is a validity to this policy. If a random hacker was able to break the code and access private information. "Classified" information like her secret stash of Saks receipts.
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ronniedobbs
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
Well this does raise interesting questions:

How will he keep up with the latest trends in LOLcat discourse?

What's that desperate Nigerian prince gonna do with all those millions now?

How will he learn "15 fun facts" he never knew about all the people in his address book?
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Weegee's bored
11/16/08

@ronniedobbs: Right, and what will he do without all those emails with the word "bigger" in the subject line?
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Urbania
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
Oh and W. had an AOL ADDRESS. That kind of says it all right there, even if it was 2000.
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cellardoor
11/16/08

@Urbania: I recall a friend saying in the late 90's, "If you still use an AOL address, you basically are telling the world you are an asshole."
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JohnDoe
11/16/08

@cellardoor (quickly swingin' shut on Bush's term):
It's funny - I have a saying, too: "if you actually judge somone by their FUCKING EMAIL PROVIDER, you are douche."
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Urbania
11/16/08

@JohnDoe: I don't care if Obama makes mistakes or whatever. I will never be disappointed in the dream unless it turns out that he has been using hotmail all this time.
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Urbania
11/16/08

In reply to Presidents Gotta Give Up The E-Mail Ghost
I'm also in the confused column. There's a difference between having a blackberry and sending email. I get the blackberry part, it's a big gaping whole for someone to say something that should have been vetted. I am a professional and I own a business and emailing or even making a call from the street can lead to a mistake I wouldn't have made if I was just sitting down at a computer, able to triple check a small fact.

On the other hand, can he have a laptop and send emails that his chief of staff or somebody reviews, the way written correspondence would be reviewed? Surely the White House could have some sort of proprietary email system that would incorporate all the checks needed. So messages like "SOX!" could go out easily, but a quick reply to Sarzoky's request for us to back off of Iran would get kicked back?
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Lymed
11/16/08

@Urbania: The Bush administration wanted as closed a government as possible. Emails are records. They can end up being released to the public or used in litigation. The safest way to make sure something you don't want out there doesn't get out there is to not allow it to be written in the first place.
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Weegee's bored
11/16/08

@Lymed: Or do what I do -- unleash such a torrent of fabrication, bullshit and outright lies onto teh Internets that no future investigator will be able to pull out the really damaging shit.
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Trixie from Toronto
11/16/08

@Urbania: And haven't they heard of PINing? Surely he and that dreamy Rahm can PIN?
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