I see that TPMmuckraker is reporting yet another White House excuse for the missing emails:
Today, during the White House press gaggle, Dana Perino gave an explanation of sorts:
But there was a conversion sometime between 2002 and 2003 to convert people that were using Lotus Notes when we first arrived to Microsoft Outlook. And I know that the tech people worked to get us all transferred over. We had to save our Word documents and all to make sure that they weren't lost in that transition.
Blame the tech people. The dog ate my homework, indeed. Well, I have a theory -- I'll bet that many of the IT folks who have worked at the White House and RNC might not be your typical loyal Bushies. In fact, they just might not be willing to lie to Congress and risk having their lives destroyed in order to save Karl Rove's butt.
Seriously, let's bring some of these White House techies in to chat with the Senate Judiciary Committee. And I'm not just talking about the Director of IT. I want to see the real-life computer nerds who, for example, executed the epic Lotus Notes to MS Outlook conversion, hauled up to Capitol Hill. I mean, staff had to "save their Word documents" and all, so it must have been quite an operation. I want to hear from the guy who had to help Harriet Myers re-install her Texas Sunsets screensaver after the transition. Easy question: could two years worth of email have been erased during the MS Outlook conversion? No? Any idea what could have happened? What did your bosses tell you about saving or not saving emails? What was it like working with a bunch of religious fanatics who had no real-world work experience? Get comfortable, kid. Put your trusty IT person under the klieg lights and I bet we'll get some honest answers.
I'm actually not trying to be snarky. I just think there's a simple way to answer this particularly desperate Bushie defense. And it just so happens that the White House and RNC staffers who can provide the greatest expertise in this area are the least likely to be Bushbots from right-wing pseudo-schools.
Subpoena the Help Desk, Impeach a President!
Update: erratic also posted an interesting diary on the potential role IT people could play in getting at the truth in this scandal.