[SPasse]

Hi All,

I was listening to Air America a couple of days ago and I heard a sound clip from Bush where I think he said. "I don't send e-mail because I don't want someone else (as in a third party) reading them". Did he really say that?

Regards,

Scott

[schrocat]

And it's that judgment about what would put somebody's life at risk, and what doesn't, is where there's tension. And to answer your question, I believe in open government. I've always believed in open government. Rich is right. You know, I don't email, however. And there's a reason. I don't want you reading my personal stuff. There has got to be a certain sense of privacy. You know, you're entitled to how I make decisions. And you're entitled to ask questions, which I answer. I don't think you're entitled to be able to read my mail between my daughters and me.
And so I've made -- I've made an easy decision there. I just don't do it. Which is said, really, when you think about it. Everything is investigated in Washington. And that's just the nature of the way here right now. And so we're losing a lot of history, not just with me, but with other Presidents, as well. And so there's a balance to all this. And I hope it's said -- when it's all said and done that we were fair to the press corps and the American people.



http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2005/04/wh041405.html

It's one of my rambling favorites...



"I prefer not to leave a paper trail...and so there is a balance to all this...where's the bar"

[SPasse]

Schrocat,

Well I guess that I feel a little better…

The way it came across to me (at least as I was fighting Dallas traffic) is that you should have no expectation that your e-mails are not being read. (as in by the government)

Now I don't want to start a discussion about the technical possibilities of the government doing so at their discretion…

As far as I am concerned, e-mail should be subject to the same legal protections as postal correspondences. Alas that is not the case. (At least not in practice)

You were not kidding about rambling… I do not think I get that bad, even when I have not slept for a few days…

Regards,

Scott

[schrocat]

I was floored by the admission that, like any white collar criminal, he doesn't want a paper trail...he clumsily slides from a family privacy issue, to "everything is investigated in Washington"

Another brick in the Bush wall of honor.

Including signatures on laws, I would imagine 8 years of Bush's presidential documentation would fit in one manila folder.

The good news is the GOP will make a windfall by skimming rubes who donate to the Bush Presidential Library, since it could conceivably be a kiosk towed from State Fair to State Fair with a rental truck.

[romunov]

I finally get to use this one.

[schrocat]

Nice.

[almostdiva]

Didn't this whole thing come about because all of Bill Clinton's email got siezed in something -- either Whitewater or the Lewinsky investigation? (including his personal email to his family, etc)????

I am thinking I remember this, but I'm now really fuzzy on the details.

Rebecca