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Down Goes flag@whitehouse.com

By Joseph Lawler on 8.17.09 @ 2:00PM

...and not a moment too soon. Politico reports that the email address the White House had set up to collect "fishy" claims about Obamacare, for who knows what purpose, has been shut down.

Why is it shut down? Is it that they had collected enough "chain emails" and reports of "casual conversations" to go on? Or is it because of Camille Paglia's evisceration of the scheme:

The ethical collapse of the left was nowhere more evident than in the near total silence of liberal media and Web sites at the Obama administration's outrageous solicitation to private citizens to report unacceptable "casual conversations" to the White House. If Republicans had done this, there would have been an angry explosion by Democrats from coast to coast. I was stunned at the failure of liberals to see the blatant totalitarianism in this incident, which the president should have immediately denounced. His failure to do so implicates him in it.

I can easily imagine Robert Gibbs weeping inconsolably in a darkened White House press room after reading this. Maybe now that the email address is inoperative he and Obama can suppress the memory and pretend the whole disgraceful episode never happened.

View all comments (7) | Leave a comment

JJC| 8.17.09 @ 2:53PM

As long as there is a complicit mass media, he will get the cover needed to sweep this-and nearly every other mess- under the rug.

The only problem is that should this continue, the bulge of dirt will become too large for even the most slovenly journalist to ignore.

He came riding on the white horse of change, hope, and transformation.

The only thing that has changed is the amount of willful ignorance of the 4th estate to their own duties.

This will not end well for our republic.

Guliy| 12.13.09 @ 10:31PM

Wondering| 8.17.09 @ 3:18PM

If anyone has yet done an FOIA request to find out who was reported for what. I'm thinking lots of folks reported themselves, or the CBO, or credible sources with information about the bill's costs and myriad problems.

I sure would like to know what percentage of reports were "real" and bogus.

Warrior| 8.17.09 @ 3:25PM

After receiving a few thousand cheap Viagra and penis enlargement emails, they must have figured that our health care wasn't as broken as originally thought. Many workers were concerned about the African lottery winner of course responded to Bill Gates giving money away if you forward this email to 10 of your friends...

it hits the fan| 8.17.09 @ 9:15PM

A lot of folks are buying into this program being shut down. Not even close. It is the other less obvious actions of this administration that we should be paying attention to.

What follows is an examination of the federal government’s attempts to track the web habits of every single citizen in the United States that merely visits a government site for the purpose of gaining information from a government that is supposed to serve them. This current dust up about spammed emails and reporting on your neighbors is but a symptom of a much greater disease, intentionally transmitted by the federal government behind your back and without your best interests in mind. Big Brother IS Watching You

kate| 8.17.09 @ 11:26PM

Drop by. Nice Blog.

Albert Whipple| 8.30.09 @ 3:07PM

Dear President Obama, you are the only one with the ability to awaken America, the majority which is what counts. None of us are able to do everything, but each one of us was given to us by God certail talents. I am an 81 yr. old Democrat, and I tell you that your talent as an orator ranks with the best As a kid I heard Roosevelt on the radio; I still remember. Kenndy, John and Bob. Martin Luther King. You rank with them . i knew that from 2004. You can move America; do it please. Do not fold on this Health issue to the GOP. Beat them on this and then all the rest will be a walk in the park. Your best weapon is your words when delivered with the emotion i know in my heart you have. I will not stop praying for you and your family. We the people need you. God bless you.