I've seen 2 national news stories saying the "w" keys were taken when Bush took office.

[Swede]

This was debunked years ago,I thought.

[Left Is Write]

1. It was. I've seen that rumor resurfacing everywhere.

I have a conservative acquaintance who says that Bush will be far more dignified and gracious to his successor than his predecessor was to him.

[DBoon]

3. instead of trashing the oval office like the Clintons

the bush administration has trashed the entire country

With the state of our foreign policy, economy and civil rights, who cares if Bush leaves the letter "O" intact on keyboards

[Whoa20]

19. the Clintons never trashed the Oval Office,

they used it as a place to put people first, unlike their predecessors and successor.

[LynnTheDem]

20. "instead of trashing the oval office like the Clintons"???

Huh???

You know the Clintons in fact did not "trash the Oval office"?

[DBoon]

24. yes I do - I've referenced the GOA report - even if they did

I would be grateful for an adminstration that only rouined one office in DC instead of a whole country

And I would be grateful for a new media that would report truthfully about the state of teh country instead of speculating on removed typewriter keys

[Enthusiast]

30. Even Barbara Wawa thinks the same.

Once and for all this should be exposed as Republican dirty tricks. The motive was to continue to discredit the Clintons by portraying them as crude hillbillies.

[quiet.american]

5. Conservatives are still determined to drink as much Kool-Aid as possible I see. nt

[Fridays Child]

7. He'll leave the White House intact because he's too busy wrecking the country.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=237060&mesg_id=237060

[opihimoimoi]

2. It was....no truth to it....they bring it up for nefarious reasons....the GOP is Evil

[DBoon]

6. There was a GAO report that debunked this early on 2001

of course the media never bothered to cover those findings

[Common Sense Party]

16. Here:

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jun/12/nation/na-clinton12

[opihimoimoi]

25. The cost of the investigation was much hugher than 15 K

This was Bull shit

[Cleita]

4. It was debunked but the freepers love their favorite lies and

will recycle them ad infinitum.

[PBS Poll-435]

8. This year...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7812500&mesg_id=7812500

[Iggo]

17. I looked at those pics a loooong time...

...before I finally got it.

Dang, I smart.

[PBS Poll-435]

22. LOL

I can't believe that *I* was the first to think of this...

:D

[Catherine Vincent]

27. Okay, I don't get it.

I guess I'm not so smart. :)

[PBS Poll-435]

28. Look at the Bees

The Killer Bees!

[Skittles]

9. even if it WAS true

boo fucking hoo

[Bozita]

10. Barbara Walters started recycling this debunked shit on "The View" on Thursday. -- VIDEO link

She starts at about 4:15 into the clip.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x235625

[cameozalaznick]

32. Yes, and I sent an email to ABC. Everyone needs to do this.

Whenever one of these lies is brought up, 1000 of us needs to pounce to knock it back down. Trust me, if Baba Wawa got 1000 or 2000 letters about this, she wouldn't bring it up again.

http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html?lid=ABCCOMGlobalFooter&lpos=CONTACT

Just because we won does not mean we shouldn't stay vigilant. Check into Media Matters often and take action.

[Metta]

11. Yes, the GAO and the FBI said there was no damage.

Here's a link to on story. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/05/19/MN169709.DTL

[Lord Helmet]

12. It got debunked? Too bad, it was a funny story.

[NV Whino]

13. Newsweek resurrected it in there 7-part story, too.

[Common Sense Party]

14. Bush even said there were a couple of "pranks," but no big deal.

The GAO said the "damage" left by the outgoing administration amounted to $15,000 but that it was mostly office furniture that needed replacing due to wear and tear:

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jun/12/nation/na-clinton12

[Bozita]

15. READ THIS! ... "The White House vandal scandal that wasn't" -- so says the GAO

http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/05/23/va...


The White House vandal scandal that wasn't
How the incoming Bush team nudge-nudged a credulous press corps into swallowing a trashy Clinton story.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Kerry Lauerman and Alicia Montgomery

May 23, 2001 | WASHINGTON -- The "scandal" broke benignly enough, with an item in Lloyd Grove's dishy Reliable Source column in the Jan. 23 Washington Post, three days after the inauguration of George W. Bush.

"Incoming staffers of the Bush White House," Grove wrote, were "apparently victims of a practical joke." Bush aides in the Old Executive Office Building (EOB), adjacent to the White House, discovered that "many computer keyboards in their work spaces are missing the W key -- as in President Bush's middle initial."

Some W keys were discovered "taped on top of the doorways," while others were broken.

The report was more cute than cutting, with Grove quoting former Al Gore spokesman Chris Lehane, who quipped: "I think the missing W's can be explained by the vast left-wing conspiracy now at work."

But within two days, Grove's playful item had morphed into one more full-blown Clinton scandal. Suddenly newspapers and TV news shows were featuring extensive reports of Clinton administration "vandalism," stretching from the EOB offices of former Vice President Gore to the West Wing. Reports alleged expletive-ridden graffiti, sliced computer and telephone wires, file cabinets glued shut, presidential seals steamed off doors, stolen pictures and so-called porn bombs, which were never exactly described.

The technological problems the vandals wrought were so severe that, according to a report in the New York Daily News, "a telecommunications staffer with more than a quarter-century of service was seen sobbing."

"Phone lines cut, drawers filled with glue, door locks jimmied so that arriving Bush staff got locked inside their new offices," a disapproving Andrea Mitchell reported on NBC News. The message seemed clear: The trailer-trash Clintons and their staff had enjoyed one last bacchanal at taxpayer expense.

Now it seems those closely detailed stories were largely bunk. Last week it was revealed that a formal review by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative agency, "had found no damage to the offices of the White House's East or West Wings or EOB" and that Bush's own representatives had reported "there is no record of damage that may have been deliberately caused by the employees of the Clinton administration."

While cautious GSA staffers won't issue a blanket exoneration of the Clinton team, Bernard Ungar, the agency's director of physical infrastructure, told Salon the media clearly exaggerated the extent of the damage. According to the terse GSA statement that formed the basis of Ungar's conclusion, "the condition of the real property was consistent with what we would expect to encounter when tenants vacate office space after an extended occupancy."

Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., the ardent Clinton foe who requested the GAO review, has tried to interpret the agency's findings to mean no "record of damage" had been compiled, not that no damage had occurred. But the lack of records "cataloging" any damages -- which Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer promised in January the White House would compile -- would seem to suggest one thing: Widespread acts of vandalism never occurred.

more...

[LynnTheDem]

18. It's amazing how long myths and lies live in America.

Amazing.

[JI7]

21. it was lies to distract from the fact that he had actually not been elected

[NYC Liberal]

23. delete

.

[Hekate]

26. Check with Snopes.com. I think it's a debunked story. nt

[Historic NY]

29. They still use typewriters?

[jmowreader]

31. Oh come on...if the Clintons were out to trash the Bushes...

they would have collected up all the computers, put them in closets, and just left a box of these...



on everyone's desk.