Countless White House E-Mails Deleted

Gonyea: "If someone is found to have destroyed those e-mails willfully -- or in order to avoid turning them over to Congress, then that would indeed be a serious crime in itself. We just don't know for sure what the intent was yet."

In her New York Times story, Sheryl Gay Stolberg inaccurately reports that the RNC in 2004 "adopted a policy of preserving e-mail sent by White House officials using its accounts." What Stanzel actually said was that the RNC just stopped the automatic deletion of those e-mails. Individual staffers could still delete at will, and may very well have regularly cleared out their mailboxes on their own. "Preservation," in this context, means everything is automatically archived.

Voter Fraud Watch

Eric Lipton and Ian Urbina write in the New York Times: "Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews.

"Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year.

"Most of those charged have been Democrats, voting records show. Many of those charged by the Justice Department appear to have mistakenly filled out registration forms or misunderstood eligibility rules, a review of court records and interviews with prosecutors and defense lawyers show. . . .

"Voter fraud is a highly polarized issue, with Republicans asserting frequent abuses and Democrats contending that the problem has been greatly exaggerated to promote voter identification laws that could inhibit the turnout by poor voters."

Iraq Watch

Michael Abramowitz and Shailagh Murray write in The Washington Post: "The White House and Democratic congressional leaders agreed to meet next Wednesday to discuss the stalemated war funding bill -- but only after a day of dueling statements that left prospects for bipartisan cooperation remote. At one point, officials at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue could not even agree on whether they had agreed to have a meeting."

Ann Scott Tyson and Josh White write in The Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced yesterday that all active-duty soldiers currently deployed or going to Iraq and Afghanistan will see their one-year tours extended to 15 months, acknowledging that such a strain on the war-weary Army is necessary should the ongoing troop increase be prolonged well into next year."

David E. Sanger writes in the New York Times: "Four years after the fall of Baghdad, the White House is once again struggling to solve an old problem: Who is in charge of carrying out policy in Iraq?

"Once again President Bush and his top aides are searching for a high-level coordinator capable of cutting through military, political and reconstruction strategies that have never operated in sync, in Washington or in Baghdad.

"Once again Mr. Bush is publicly declaring that his administration has settled on a strategy for victory -- this time, a troop increase that is supposed to open political space for Sunnis and Shiites to live and govern together -- even while his top aides acknowledge that the White House has never gotten the execution right."

The New York Times editorial board writes: "Two months into the Baghdad security drive, the gains Mr. Bush is banking on have not materialized. More American soldiers continue to arrive, and their commanders are talking about extending the troop buildup through the fall or into early next year. After four years, the political trend is even more discouraging.

"There is no possible triumph in Iraq and very little hope left."

Novak's Confusion

Robert D. Novak, in his syndicated column, seems upset at CIA Director Michael Hayden for describing Valerie Plame as both "undercover" and "covert."

Cheney v. Pelosi, the Next Generation

Liz Cheney writes in a Washington Post op-ed: "Anyone familiar with the past two years of Lebanese politics would never claim, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did in Damascus last week, that 'the road to Damascus is a road to peace.' Her assertion must have seemed especially naive to the people of Lebanon, where the list of the slain reads like a 'Who's Who' of Syria's most vocal and effective opponents. . . .

"Talking to the Syrians emboldens and rewards them at the expense of America and our allies in the Middle East. It hasn't and won't change their behavior. They are an outlaw regime and should be isolated."

Cheney's Delusions

Senator Carl Levin writes in a Los Angeles Times op-ed: "On Rush Limbaugh's radio program last week, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke about Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi and stated: 'He went to Baghdad. He took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq, organized the Al Qaeda operations inside Iraq. . . . This is Al Qaeda operating in Iraq and, as I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq.'

"It is incredible that more than four years after the invasion, the vice president is still trying to convince the public that Saddam Hussein's regime was connected to Al Qaeda and that Zarqawi's presence in Iraq was evidence of a connection.

"While the vice president doesn't say directly that there was a tie between the two, his clear purpose is to blur the line between Al Qaeda -- the perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks -- and the Iraqi dictator in order to justify the war in Iraq.

"The problem is, that's simply not supported by the facts or by our intelligence community -- and everyone except the vice president acknowledges it. . . .

"By all accounts, Dick Cheney is one of the most powerful vice presidents in our history, if you define power as influence over policy. We need to ask ourselves: What does it mean for our country when the vice president's words lack credibility, but he still wields great power?"

Levin also notes: "The vice president has made so many outlandish statements that the country barely raised an eyebrow at his false statement last week."

For background, here's my raised eyebrow from last Friday: Cheney Sticks to His Delusions.

Iacocca Watch

Gordon Trowbridge writes in the Detroit News: "Lee Iacocca, author of the original business management best-seller, is giving President Bush an 'F' in leadership.

"In a book to be released Tuesday, the former Chrysler CEO -- who supported Bush's first campaign in 2000 but backed Sen. John Kerry four years later -- accused Bush of leading the nation to war 'on a pack of lies' and lacking the basic components of good leadership.

"'I think our current President should visit the real world once in a while,' Iacocca writes, according to excerpts from 'Where Have All the Leaders Gone?' released on the Web site of publisher Simon & Schuster. . . .

"'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?' Iacocca writes. 'Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder.'"