The "Rose Mary Stretch"

By Libby

Nixon must be rolling in his grave wondering why he didn't think of this ploy. Of course, lost emails are more easily spun as 'inadvertent.' But then again, even Nixon had more respect for the rule of law than the thugs that currently occupy the White House.

After promising last year to search its computers for tens of thousands of e-mails sent by White House officials, the Republican National Committee has informed a House committee that it no longer plans to retrieve the communications by restoring computer backup tapes, the panel's chairman said yesterday.

The move increases the likelihood that an untold number of RNC e-mails dealing with official White House business during the first term of the Bush administration -- including many sent or received by former presidential adviser Karl Rove -- will never be recovered, said House Democrats and public records advocates.

I'd love for someone to explain to me why this isn't a clear violation of the Presidential Records Act and why no one will be indicted for breaking it.

[* Note: For the those too young to get the reference in the title, Rose Mary Woods was Nixon's secretary who famously 'inadvertently' erased a crucial portion of the Nixon tapes using what came to be known as the "Rose Mary Stretch."]