[Osx-nutters] Rove pal purges smelly data?

[Patrick Coskren]

On Dec 3, 2007, at 5:35 AM, Jared Earle wrote:

> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/01/ 
> official_purges_agency_computers/

Other way 'round.  This was the guy investigating Rove, and who is  
the subject of a counterinvestigation.  He erased his own computers.

What this means is hard to say.  Considering the Bush  
administration's repeatedly demonstrated willingness to misuse power,  
it's entirely possible that the counterinvestigation is there to  
intimidate or dissuade the investigator: he's claiming it's a fishing  
expedition.  There may have been something embarrassing on his  
computer (pr0n?), so he erased it.  At this point, it's still a win  
for the White House: they accuse him of hiding data, turn it into a  
he-said she-said back-and-forth accusation, and effectively muddy the  
issue, neutralizing it politically.  It's one of their standard  
plays.  You can expect the right wing to begin crowing loudly how  
this shows that, once again, the Left has been unfairly hounding this  
President and just digging for dirt to embarrass him.

On the other hand, it's entirely possible that this investigator  
really is just as corrupt as the people he's investigating, and that  
the counterinvestigation is legit.  If this proves to be the case,  
expect the Right to howl about how clearly this means the original  
charge leveled against Rove was bogus, even though it obviously  
proves no such thing.

Considering the known history of the White House, my initial  
presumption is that this is abuse of power on their part, but there's  
really no way to know at this point.

-Patrick