Posted on 12/26/2007 1:20:19 PM PST by BGHater
“a nonpartisan, liberal-leaning nonprofit organization”
Doesn’t the second half sorta negate the first half??
I agree with the judge on this one they are public records.
Had they asked for a list of visitors to the Crawford ranch I could see a different outcome.
I think that CREW wants to use the number of visits of people like Dobson and Bauer in campaign ads to scare people about the influence of “evil” evangelicals in the WH, and so to stop them from having any influence in the upcoming administration.
Think ... Scooter Libby.
Were the logs released?
The Bush administration cocks the pistol, preparing to shoot itself in the foot yet again.
Probably, but the way to defeat a witch hunt is to proclaim loudly that there are no such things as witches, not hide the fact that little old ladies are visiting your house.
Of course. Huckabee will be in the...pardon the pun...”cross”-hairs if he wins the primary and they plan on making that happen. Why do you think he is the media darling right now? Then they can proceed to scaremonger about a theocracy. That is only one reason why we need to knock Huckabee out of the race.
You think we're dealing with normal people here?
I truly believe FreeRepublic will be the historical archives to keep farhenheit 451 at bay.
If Secret Service logs do not fall under executive privilege, then neither do Secret Service memories.
Whatever an SS Agent overhears or sees while serving the president is subject to court order, if this is permitted to go forward.
Personally, I can see why the President would want confidentiality regarding visits as much as would a priest.
Carried out, of course, with a "little bit" of explanation, interpretation and dissemination help on the part of the media and unbiased organizations such as CREW.
Yeah. Just citizens trying to innocently find out who is visiting the White House. That's all.
By the way, if the logs were being requested during the Lewinsky affair, was it not because there was an actual SEXUAL HARASSMENT LAWSUIT going on, and that the comings and goings of a young female SUBORDINATE suspected of having a sexual relationship with a SUPERIOR was a COMPLETELY relevant subject?
People should not mix the two things up. This is a partisan fishing expedition, the other was a search for relevant information in a grand jury investigation.
I guess the Clinton case may have been slightly different.
The White House has declined to release what are called ‘’wave’’ records, which log the precise times when outsiders are granted clearance to visit the White House, despite repeated requests from news organizations. During the campaign finance investigations, the Clinton Administration frequently released wave records to the media that showed several White House visits made by fund-raisers and campaign donors. The records often were disclosed on the same day that aides turned them over to Congressional committees.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E3DE1F3AF930A35751C0A96E958260
I see no problem for them to posts the logs on the white house.gov site, if they don’t to it already.
What if a president needs a psychiatrist? (LBJ used one; as did Nixon).
What if a president wants prayer with a religious leader?
What if a president wants a medical opinion?
What if a president feels called upon to forgo these visits because they will be made public and can hurt his future campaigns, or his Party?
IOW, presidents need the option to meet with whomever they choose, while knowing they won’t have to publicize it.
And if presidents have to show their underwear in public,
then I want to know everyone whom Harry Reid meets with,
and for how long, and why.
I respect your opinion, but I disagree.
The business of government often involves discretion, not simply secrecy for the sake of secrecy. I believe that the Executive Branch should be able to meet with people without having trucks parked on the lawn and talking heads giving their version of the “facts” surrounding the meetings. Given that 90% of the media votes liberal, not too much imagination is needed to figure out what spin would come out of any meeting with anyone, the evil “Big Oil” corporations even less.
In this case, it is CLEAR that the organization is trying to get information to orchestrate a smear. They wanted it before the 2006 elections, and they want it now before the 2008 elections. I think that Bush, Cheney and the rest of the Executive Branch are right to stand their ground.
If it pisses off the liberals, even better. Not as if they would give the administration any credit for handing over the information they desire, no matter how innocuous.
Knowing who goes there, does not include what they talked about. It is our ‘Govt’ here.
The point of a Republic is openness and transparency. If the White House cannot provide us with something as simple as a sign in roster, and cannot trust us with that small bit of openness in a Republic. Then I question their future decisions and actions based on this flaw of secrecy.
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