Bushies used White House phone logs to help attack Clark

[gulliver]

Josh Marshall says that the White House searched their phone logs to help attack Clark:

"Almost immediately, the conservative Weekly Standard picked up the ball and got an unprecedented bit of assistance from the White House. At the Standard's request, the White House completed a quick audit of Rove's phone logs for the last two years and found that Clark had never placed any calls to Rove's White House office."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/la-op-marshall28sep28,1,7865792.story?coll=la-home2-utilities

Is that allowed? Does this mean that any time a citizen or group calls the White House they need to assume that the information will be reported to conservative media?

This seems like an issue to me!

[release the dogs]

1. This is crazy stuff.

[Kahuna]

17. Welcome to DU, THD!

:hi:

[Pepperbelly]

2. What is really interesting is that ...

their own search and subsequent lack of findings substantiated Clark's characterization of the remarks as a joke.

Now, THAT'S comedy.

:crazy:

[Eloriel]

8. Assuming they were telling the truth, which would be a first,

wouldn't it? I've never known them to tell the truth about anything.

Eloriel

[retyred]

15. "Assuming they were telling the truth, which would be a first,"

Would you still hold that view and post it if they had confirmed that Clark did call?

Thought so!



CLARK FOR PRESIDENT
"I'm going to give them the TRUTH and they'll THINK it's hell."
Retyred IN FLA.

[Kahuna]

18. The glass is always half empty, isn't it?

Can you ever find anything nice to say about a Democrat?

[LittleApple81]

3. Good one.

[dsc]

4. I don't see the problem here

Clinton did this when Wiley told tales she liked (they released letters she wrote to Clinton) and this White House did so here. As pointed out it actually substantiates Clark in this case.

[Imajika]

6. Yup

That was my first reaction to it.

All White Houses do shady things from time to time. Just because they are rotten doesn't make them illegal or unusual.

Imajika

[dsc]

7. I don't think it is rotten to defend yourself

which is clearly what Clinton did and arguably (if they didn't know Clark was joking) what this White House did. I don't think the WH should just sit back and be lied about.

[Imajika]

12. dsc

I agree with your point here.

"and arguably (if they didn't know Clark was joking) what this White House did"

I didn't know Clark was joking about this.

Imajika

[gulliver]

21. It does substantiate Clark, but that doesn't mean

... they weren't trying. Had there been a phone call, we would have heard "Clark did call Rove!!!" Since there wasn't a phone call (as Josh Marshall points out) we hear "Clark didn't call Rove!!!"

Nevertheless, as others have posted here, I don't think it is cool that government information (the phone logs) is made available to a conservative news outlet upon request. Phone logs are either available to all or available to none.

[grasswire]

5. time to see who leaked to Novakula

It's time for the dates of all phone calls to Robert Novak from the WH phones (including cell phones) to be released.

[SoCalDem]

23. They probably buy "prepaid cell phones" by the pallet

for "those" kinds of calls.. Or is there a way to trace the prepaid cell phone calls too??

[stickdog]

9. The attack makes no sense because it's Repukes who claimed Clark

called Rove.

[Donna Zen]

11. It makes sense from their pov

They are/have been setting up the "Clark's crazy" meme for weeks now. They have plenty of time to add to the bag of shit they're working on.

Think of it as the 2004 version of "serial liar." Really. That is why running around the net spreading this junk is soooooo bad.

[VolcanoJen]

13. Agreed, DonnaZen!

Spreading the "Clark is a nutjob" meme plays right into the hands of the Rovians. I don't think it will stick, despite the best efforts of DUers to spread Rovian nonsense from here to Gibraltar...

[Cocoa]

10. ok, so how does this compare to Cheney's defense

re: Energy Task Force?

I thought that giving out such info had a chilling effect on giving impartial advice to the White House?

[DrBB]

14. Let's see if they're equally open-handed with those logs

...in the matter of the investigation into the "outing" of Amb. Wilson's wife as a CIA agent.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Maybe the courts should ask the Weekly Standard to ask Cheney for

the energy meeting papers? In this business, it's not what you know, but who you know. (Boy, is that ever becoming apparent.)

[LittleApple81]

19. kick n/t

[FauxNewsBlues]

20. Rove's records should be checked again

any incoming or outgoing calls to Robert Nofacts?

[dfong63]

22. why shouldn't logs be used to expose a liar?

Is that allowed? Does this mean that any time a citizen or group calls the White House they need to assume that the information will be reported to conservative media?

so the WH used their logs to prove that Clark lied. got a problem with that? you're really asking the wrong question. it's not that Clark called and the content of his call was revealed; it's that Clark claimed he called when he didn't. and yes, you can assume if you lie about having called the WH, your lies will be exposed.

oh yeah, Clark now says he was "joking". great sense of humor, just like Arnie Schwarzenegger in Oui magazine.

[DrBB]

24. Let's see

A repuke quotes another repuke about what Clark said. Clark says he was joking, a position SUPPORTED by the lack of any phone record. But now the repukes say that absence somehow proves Clark was "lying" when somebody said somebody else said he said this. And you go with the Repuke interpretation. Tell me again who's the (witting or unwitting) crypto Repuke here?