Caferty File

Was this post just featured on CNN?

Yes - I didn't see it, but C&L has the video of it now (I'll add a link). Cafferty did a really good job with this post - basically took the best parts of every quote and showed the pattern of disappearing documents.

Congrats Glenn and to Digg User "yugandhar" who submitted this post, because it has hit the big time as far as Digg goes. Currently at 744 Diggs.

Actually, this post and the prior one (about the Weekly Standard and its fondness for "near dictator powers") both made it to the front page of Digg and stayed there a good part of the day.

Would you consider sharing some of the readership figures for this blog? Do things like Digg spikes show up noticably in the figures?

Can you give us some idea how much more readership you get at salon versus what you had at Unclaimed Territory?

Average daily readership pretty much doubled the first full month I was here (March) as compared to the last couple months at the old blog.

At this point, no one link can really noticeably spike traffic for a day. I'd say, in terms of sheer quantity, an Atrios link actually delivers more than even the Digg feature did today. But Digg traffic was substantial.

More than the numbers, though, having a post featured in a place like that brings new readers, which is more important. An Atrios or Kos links sends people here who already know the blog, but Digg and other non-blog sources that promote a post here generate new readers, which I think is more important than one-day traffic spikes (that was the primary anticipated benefit of moving the blog to Salon - the doubling of the traffic is all from Salon readers who don't read blogs and therefore weren't that familiar, or familiar at all, with what I was writing).

As it's turned out, the biggest benefit of moving -- which I anticipated somewhat but nowhere near to the extent it has happened -- is that people (especially media and political types) just take much more seriously what is written at a place they know than an independent blog they don't know. That's stupid, but that's how it is. And that is what has enabled much more visibility for these posts, totally independent of the traffic. I can write a post here that, had I written it before, the targets would feel comfortable ignoring it or not responding. Now, they feel compelled to respond, and that only feeds the visibility and impact of what gets written still further.

“…kind of like a compost heap, Wolf, the more stuff you pile on it the bigger the odor emanating from it.”

~ Jack Cafferty after citing Glenn’s post on CNN

What’s that smell?

Blatant disregard for the law.

They don’t even pretend to hide it anymore. The administration no longer cares whether anyone knows about their systemic lawbreaking – it’s what the base wanted, and what Karl wrought. This was the plan; it wasn’t a mistake. They are actually proud of it.

GG:

On CNN tonight, Jack Cafferty took this post and used it as the basis for his commentary

You're hitting the big time more and more often now, Glenn. Congratulations!

Cafferty:

"Kinda like a compost heap, Wolf, the more stuff you pile on it, the greater the odor that emanates from it."

Someone's not a gardener! Although, if what you're piling on is dead meat ...

Liberal blogs such as moveon.org could post a 100K reward for the recovery of these emails. Said emails would very quickly be found.

Fool me once . . . shame on . . . shame on you. Fool me . . . you can't get fooled again.

Aw, heck, what I mean to say is that, once someone has tricked you into supporting the illegal invasion and occupation of another country, you really shouldn't trust them. If you do, and they trick you again, well, like we used to say in back in Virginia: Tough titty!

The Bush administration continues to make "questionable" assertions relying upon the corporate media-supported notion that they are to be trusted unless someone proves the truth to be otherwise. I say, let's assume that Bush and Co. are prevaricating unless they prove otherwise. They did, after all, lie to get us into a war that has killed more than three thousand Americans (four thousand, if you count the deaths among private contractors) and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Would they hesitate to lie about e-mails that only cost eight people their jobs?

I say, if the Feds can read my private e-mails and tap my phone with impunity, it's perfectly reasonable for Congress to inspect the RNC's and Blackberry's e-mail backup systems. And the Bush administration, in the interest of proving their truthiness, should support Congress in obtaining such access.

CNN * 17:00 ET
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/13/sitroom.01.html
THE SITUATION ROOM
Why Good People Turn Evil; Controversial Aircraft to Iraq; Wanted: More Military Recruits

Aired April 13, 2007 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST: And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM . . .
. . . Let's go to New York and Jack Cafferty for The Cafferty File -- Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the Bush administration's terrible luck with finding documents is the title of a salon.com article written by Glenn Greenwald. He's a former litigator, author of the book, "How Would A Patriot Act?"

In light of the revelation that the White House may have lost thousands of e-mails sent out on the Republican National Committee e- mail account, some of which are thought to pertain to the firing of the eight federal prosecutors, Greenwald has ticked back through some other examples that tend to suggest a pattern.

So here we go, starting with this week.

"Some official e-mails have potentially been lost."

Then, "In Justice Department documents, there's a gap from mid- November to early December in e-mails and other memos."

And this: "What happened to a crucial video recording of al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla being interrogated in a U.S. military brig that has mysteriously disappeared?"

Or this: "The Pentagon sought to explain why some 2,000 pages were missing from a Congressional copy of a classified report detailing the alleged acts of abuse by soldiers against Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib Prison."

And then this: "Documents that should have been written to explain gaps in President Bush's Texas Air National Guard service are missing from the military records released about his service in 1972 and '73."

And there's this: "FEMA's Michael Brown's comments about the president surfaced in a transcript of an August 29th, 2005 video conference call produced by Bush administration officials today after they initially told Congress that no such document existed."

And, finally, this: "Concerning the trial of "Scooter" Libby, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had cautioned Libby's lawyers that some e-mails might be missing because the White House's archiving system had failed."

So here's the question -- when it comes to missing documents and e-mails and the Bush White House, do you see some sort of pattern here?
E-mail caffertyfile@cnn.com or go to cnn.com/caffertyfile.

Kind of like a compost heap, Wolf -- the more stuff you pile on it, the greater the odor that emanates from it.

BLITZER: OK. Jack, thank you for that.

CAFFERTY: You're welcome.

BLITZER: We'll get back to you soon. Up ahead, a comedian takes on a sitting U.S. senator. Former radio host Al Franken calls the Minnesota Republican incumbent, Norm Coleman, and I'm quoting now, "a cheerleader for President Bush." Franken is pondering a run for Coleman's seat. I'll ask Senator Coleman for his reaction . . .

** ** ** ** **

CNN * 18:00 ET
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/13/sitroom.02.html
THE SITUATION ROOM
Missing E-mails Scandal; Brazen Attack: Defiance After Iraq Parliament Building Bombing; Battle-Ready Aircraft?

Aired April 13, 2007 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Kitty. There already were sharp questions about whether or not top White House aides had misused Republican political e-mail for official business, whether those e-mails also went missing, but now new allegations that perhaps official White House e-mail was lost, which could ratchet the pressure on the administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

HENRY (voice-over): Even as Democrats have Karl Rove in their sights over Republican National Committee e-mail that may have disappeared, fresh signs there could be a much bigger problem -- missing e-mail from the White House itself. A new report by a liberal watchdog group charges that over a two year period, official White House e-mail traffic for hundreds of days have simply vanished, in possible violation of the federal Presidential Records Act.

MELANIE SLOAN, CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY & ETHICS: There were, between March of 2003 and October of 2005, apparently over five million e-mail that were not preserved. And these are e-mail on the regular White House server.

HENRY: White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino stressed there is no indication the e-mails were intentionally lost. But she was careful not to dispute the group's allegations.

DANA PERINO, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'm not taking issue with their conclusions at this point . . .

. . . (END VIDEO TAPE)