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John Solomon's "Scoop"

Greg Sargent pointed us to John Solomon doing his thing, spewing GOP talking points, in a WaPo chat, but he missed the "best" one:

Woonsocket, R.I.: Am I mistaken, or is the White House's claim of an overriding "executive interest" in the RNC e-mails a huge step towards a constitutional crisis? . . .
John Solomon: I think it is too early to say where this will end up. Dan Eggen and I at the Post were the first to notice the RNC email accounts and to write about them. It turns out both Democrats and Republicans since the 1990s have set up separate accounts for their political staffs at the White House to avoid Hatch Act violations. So this issue isn't unique to the Bush administration. . . . If the emails that weren't archived are simply lost, there won't be any constitutional issues. You can't fight over emails that can't be retrieved. For the emails that do exist, or can be retrieved, the White House will have to decide whether to invoke executive privilege or turn them over. That decision will be the tipping point, and we don't know yet how that will shake out. There are also some middle ground solutions that could emerge ... like allowing Congress to read or review the emails in private but not keep copies and make them public.

Wow! So much just, WRONG! Not just wrong, so Roland Hedley, Jr. (See Doonesbury).

I love this part for its sheer vacuousness - "the White House will have to decide whether to invoke executive privilege or turn them over. That decision will be the tipping point." The tipping point? That would spark the crisis! Time will tell. My gawd, what a doofus.

But the "scoop" Solomon is reporting is that Clinton Administration officiials claimed executive privilege for non-White House account e-mails! This is a bombshell! "This issue isn't unique to the White House," said Solomon. Really? NO, not really. Solomon equates HAVING a non-White House e-mail account with conducting White House business on that account and/or claiming executive privilege on the non-WH account.

Actually, NO ONE has ever done that. But don't tell our real life Roland Hedley, Jr., John Solomon.

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  • Display: Sort:
    provoking the constitutional crisis (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by profmarcus on Thu Apr 19, 2007 at 10:40:54 AM EST
    ok, so let's get the party started... the constitution (just "that piece of paper") has been trampled on for 6+ years and it's finally nearing the point where a constitutional crisis can no longer be avoided... congress and the white house are dancing around it, congress holding off issuing subpoenas or declaring contempt of congress, and the white house holding off on responding to requests, claiming lost emails, and hinting at but not yet demanding executive privilege... it's time to get off the dime... given how long this crisis has been building, a tremendous amount of damage has already been done... had some of the more egregious constitutional violations not been perpetrated in the context of 9/11, there would have been a much more immediate confrontation... and, of course, the 9/11 card has been played time and again to justify greater and greater constitutional nullification... we can't afford to wait any longer...

    And, yes, I DO take it personally

    Roland (none / 0) (#1)
    by TexDem on Thu Apr 19, 2007 at 09:14:10 AM EST