[IamConservative]

I know I am late to this particualr party, but read some of the thread and wanted to add a couple of thoughts. Forgive me if they are redundant.

1) E-mails can potentially go through many different types of e-mail engines from point A to point B. Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes being two examples. As e-mails go from one engine type to the next, their appearance can be dramatically changed. They may be converted from HTML to RTF format. The actual text normally makes it through in tact, but the formatting of text, line breaks etc. usually get whacked.

2) As far as evidentiary value, the only way this e-mail and IM "evidence" holds up in court is if you have the actual electronic copy of the e-mail so it can be looked at in a hex dump. Programs used to create e-mails and other electronic documents all leave tracks in the file. E-mail engines add extensive headers that reveal routing information. A printed copy is worth bupkis. A fax copy is worth less, ala Rathergate.

3) As we have seen these communications reported, any moron, including most democrats, could have created the "evidence" using Notepad, which is what I think happened. Knowing someone is gay and proving it are two different things. Why not sit down at a computer and create a little evidence to prove it?

I suspect Foley was duped and because he was compromised - he knew he had been chicken hawking - he resigned without knowing he was duped. Blackmail at it's best.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for your input re emails and messages. I never message so I know nothing about it. It appears you have a good understanding about emails. It seems like it would be really easy to Rather/Mapes any email or message to make it say whatever you wanted it to say.