http://www.fair.org/activism/white-house-vandalism.html

Remember those news reports about Bill Clinton and his staff trashing the White House and Air Force One just before they left office? Turns out it was completely made up. But at least people thought it was true long enough to decry Clinton's departure and laud Bush's (by comparison) dignified arrival.


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"Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them"
Martin Luther King Jr.

[This message has been edited by freedom (edited 05-23-2001).]

Just to set the record straight...Everyone reported that story...Nobody knows who leaked it...
And I, for one, when this story first came out said "If this is true, this is sad"
That is my exact quote.
The whole thing about this is...that with Clinton one could say.."Yeah this may very well be true"..unlike any other President in history

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Man — every man — is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
Ayn Rand

So is it actually false? Or do we have another flase reprt?

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Manu Narayan

from what I understand the GAO did an investigation and only found "minor" things...what ever that may be.

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Man — every man — is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
Ayn Rand

Manu, this is most of the above link:

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During the White House transition in January, one story proved irresistible to many conservative pundits: Departing Clinton staffers had gone on a wild rampage and "trashed" or "vandalized" the White House, even looting Air Force One. Allegations of the Clinton aides' reckless destruction of public property swept through the media. For some, the story symbolized the difference between a morally compromised Clinton presidency and a more dignified, honorable Bush administration.

An official government investigation, however, reveals one major problem with these stories: They apparently never happened. According to statements from the General Services Administration that were reported on May 17, little if anything out of the ordinary occurred during the transition, and "the condition of the real property was consistent with what we would expect to encounter when tenants vacate office space after an extended occupancy."

Ironically, the investigation came in response to a request from Rep. Bob Barr (R.-Ga.), and many conservatives who had assumed that the wild rumors would be confirmed by an official inquiry. That wasn't the case. (The "looting" of Air Force One had also been denied months ago by officials at Andrews Air Force base -- Kansas City Star, 2/9/01).

Leading the cry against the trashing of the White House was the Fox News Channel. Virtually every major Fox personality reported it as fact, often expressing their own personal outrage. Guests on the channel chimed in, condemning the Clintons and their staffers. Consider the following reports:

--Brit Hume (1/25/01): "By the way, the reported vandalism in those White House offices now includes power and phone cords cut... trash dumped on floors, desk drawers emptied onto floors, pornographic pictures left in computer printers, scatological messages left on voice mail, and cabinets and drawers glued shut. And the Washington Times reports that the presidential 747 that flew Bill and Hillary Clinton to New York on inauguration day was stripped bare. The plane's porcelain, china... and silverware, and salt and pepper shakers, blankets and pillow cases, nearly all items bearing the presidential seal, were taken by Clinton staffers who went along for the ride. The Washington Times quoted a military steward as saying that even a supply of toothpaste was stolen from a compartment under a sink."

--Sean Hannity (1/26/01): "Look, we've had these reports, very disturbing reports -- and I have actually spoken to people that have confirmed a lot of the reports -- about the trashing of the White House. Pornographic materials left in the printers. They cut the phone lines. Lewd and crude messages on phone machines. Stripping of anything that was not bolted down on Air Force One. $200,000 in furniture taken out."

--Fred Barnes (1/27/01): "Now, you know what else helped Bush have such a good week? It was the contrast with the Clintons' sleazy departure from the White House, which is a hot story in itself.... You had the trashing of the White House itself. We don't know how much, but the typewriters, the voicemail, the graffiti on the walls and so on, reflecting, I think, a real bitterness that they should not have reflected, at least in that."

--Bill O'Reilly (1/26/01): "I mean, the price tag right now is about $200,000, so that's a felony right there."

--Oliver North, radio host (1/26/01, "Hannity & Colmes"): "There's an awful lot about this whole administration that never looked right to many of us. And of course, their closing act in this whole thing, which was basically trashing the White House, you know, pillaging what was available on Air Force One.... We should expect from white trash what they did at the White House."

--Tom Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste ("O'Reilly Factor," 1/26/01): "They turned it into Animal House."

--Paula Zahn (1/26/01): "All right, but this is the White House, for God's sakes. We're not talking about people living in a fraternity."

--Sean Hannity on the Clintons (2/6/01): "I'd be more willing to cut them some slack and say it was an honest mistake and they weren't involved in the moving if Air Force One wasn't stripped, if they didn't trash the White House, if they didn't set up this -- the equivalent of a bridal registry, if he wasn't taking advantage of the taxpayers."

--Tony Snow (1/28/01): "When I first heard about reported vandalism by disgruntled Clinton-Gore staffers, I got a little bit steamed. I've got a certain affection for the White House, due in no small part to my own service there during the first Bush administration. So, inspired by my experience and fond memories, I dashed off an angry newspaper column about the incident. But then the Bush team did something very wise. It did nothing, and that was the right choice. Sometimes you have to look past little idiocies and outbursts, understanding that life's just too short to fret over such things."
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-Curt

"Can you hear the violins playing your song?"

http://home.earthlink.net/~fiveofanatic/exmo.jpg

What I dont get is the targeting here of Fox News. This was reported all over the place, on every network.
I think the left doesnt like Fox News, because they present BOTH sides of an issue and most often dont let the spinners spin. And just like we see here, whenever a mistake is made, some left leaning outlets will do anything they can to try to discredit them even though this happened on every network. Tony Snow made an on air apology..many of the others had the guts to correct the wrongs that were reported. And many, if you read closely, did not state it as fact. They said "reports of" and "it is being reported" and "we are being told that". They unlike the Dan Rathers did not report it as FACT. Did anyone see Dan Rather correct his mistake when he blamed the Republicans, for something about Clinton, the night of Algores acceptance speech, when it turned out to be a liberal judge who told the press?
Nope!
Yes sir ree, Fox is kicking CNN, PMSNBC, and everyone elses butt. Its for good reason. People are sick and tired of blatant bias from the likes of CNN and PMSNBC.
And yes, oh my god, they have more than a token conservative on their network...How appalling!!!

What I really would like to know is who did leak the story...The Bushies? What gain?
They publicly kept their mouths shut. They knew it would come out to be untrue?
The Clintons? Maybe, you never know, they always leaked falsies. The reason being is most people would immediatly point the finger at the Bushies and be mad that they were lied to by them...then making the Clintons look better (if that is possible).
Also, the pardon scandal was going on and the heisting of White House furnature by Hillary, maybe they just wanted some distraction.

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Man — every man — is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
Ayn Rand

"People are sick and tired of blatant bias from the likes of CNN and PMSNBC."

...and they prefer the blatant bias from the likes of Faux News instead?

People choose whichever biased reporting they prefer, I suppose.

"And many, if you read closely, did not state it as fact. They said "reports of" and "it is being reported" and "we are being told that"."

That's about as truthful as saying that fellatio doesn't equal sexual relations.

"--Brit Hume (1/25/01): "By the way, the reported vandalism in those White House offices now includes power and phone cords cut... trash dumped on floors, desk drawers emptied onto floors, pornographic pictures left in computer printers, scatological messages left on voice mail, and cabinets and drawers glued shut. And the Washington Times reports that the presidential 747 that flew Bill and Hillary Clinton to New York on inauguration day was stripped bare. The plane's porcelain, china... and silverware, and salt and pepper shakers, blankets and pillow cases, nearly all items bearing the presidential seal, were taken by Clinton staffers who went along for the ride. The Washington Times quoted a military steward as saying that even a supply of toothpaste was stolen from a compartment under a sink.""

LOL, they report this garbage as truth, but put their little disclaimers in saying that they're only reporting what somebody else reported. So, if they're only regurtitating what some other news source says is true as truth, it's OK. How Clintonesque.

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-Curt

"Can you hear the violins playing your song?"

http://home.earthlink.net/~fiveofanatic/exmo.jpg

No one covered the story or made more of it than Fox, point blank. They were eating it up and making a big deal of it. Other news agencies did report it but with no where near the zeal.

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"Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them"
Martin Luther King Jr.

Well Curt, what do you want them to say?

The bigger question is, Should media outlets be reporting stories that are not confirmed?

The problem with that is how and what is confirmed?
Obviously there was more than one person talking about this to the press.

And again "Faux" news is cleaning up in the ratings. It has nothing to do with right wing agendas or Faux.
It has to do with some decent reporting and investigating.
Why are they the only network to investigate the shady financial schemes of the Reverend Jackson?
Why were they the only network to give Chinagate any airtime?
Why does Jenna Bush get more coverage on the other networks, than Juanita Broaddarricks rape charge against Bill Clinton?
The questions like that are endless.

Thats why they are kicking butt in the ratings. They dare go after people on the left for a change, and people on the right.
You just dont like your guys being exposed for the frauds they are so there is this vast left wing conspiracy to "discredit" them. The lefts comfty position of completely controlling the media is over.

OReilly rocks.

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Man — every man — is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
Ayn Rand

Well, well, well.
This is interesting.
I really like the part about possibly releasing photos. But I guess that would all be staged right?

Washington Compost article,

Bush Aide Details Alleged Clinton Staff Vandalism
List Is Response to Credibility Questions

White House officials yesterday released a list of damage they say was done by outgoing staffers of President Bill Clinton, including obscene graffiti in six offices, a 20-inch-wide presidential seal ripped off a wall, 10 sliced telephone lines and 100 inoperable computer keyboards.

For months, Democrats had questioned the administration's credibility because officials refused to document allegations of vandalism they made in the week after President Bush's inauguration. In April, the General Accounting Office said it was unable to confirm damage, in part because of what it called a "lack of records" from the White House.

Most of the incidents described yesterday by White House press secretary Ari Fleischer were said to have occurred in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House. Pornographic or obscene greetings were left on 15 telephone lines in the offices of the vice president and White House counsel and in the scheduling and advance offices, Fleischer said. As a precaution, all phones were disabled and reprogrammed, he said.

The details were provided to The Washington Post after several days of inquiries about the degree of White House cooperation with the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress. The GAO said in April that it "found no damage" to White House real estate. The GAO did not prepare a report but said in a three-paragraph letter that it could reach no further conclusions because the White House said it had no written record of damage. The letter did not mention the Eisenhower building, where most of the damage had been reported.

White House officials had said they did not release the information sooner because of Bush's desire to "move forward and not live in the past."

The vandalism brouhaha started the day after Bush was inaugurated with boasts by Clinton staffers that they had removed the "W" key caps from their computers, and it escalated with televised allegations by Fleischer on Jan. 25 that departing aides had "cut wires" and performed other acts that the administration was "cataloguing."

The episode seemed to deflate on Jan. 26, when Bush said the only damage was that there "might have been a prank or two" and Fleischer said the catalogue consisted of mental notes, kept by one aide.

Fleischer said yesterday the written list was prepared Friday, based on the recollections of officials and career government employees, in response to Democrats' "suggestion that the Bush White House made things up."

"The White House will defend itself and the career employees," Fleischer said. "We tried to be gracious, but the last administration would not take graciousness. By getting the information out, we hope to put an end to this, so everyone can go on with the policy and business of the government."

Clinton administration officials said the size of the list did not measure up to the luridness of the allegations. Former presidential press secretary Joe Lockhart said the vandalism allegations were part of a failed Bush strategy to "make the new administration look good by comparison to the last one."

"If anyone did anything that harmed government property, that's wrong," Lockhart said yesterday. "But to have suggested there was an organized effort that ran into hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage is grossly wrong and misleading."

The only incident Fleischer described in the White House itself was a photocopier in the West Wing that had pictures of naked people interspersed with blank photocopy paper so deep in the tray that they were still popping out weeks after the inauguration.

Fleischer said that workers were able to affix new "W" caps to many computers but that 100 keyboards had to be replaced. Fleischer also said five brass nameplates bearing the presidential seal were missing in the Eisenhower building.

Fleischer said 75 phones had been "tampered with," which he described as having the number plates removed and the lines plugged into the wrong wall outlet. "Nobody knew their number, and nobody could call in," he said. Six fax machines were moved around in a similar fashion, he said.

Fleischer said that two historic doorknobs were missing and that desks and furniture were overturned in many of the Eisenhower offices. He said six to eight 14-foot loads of usable office supplies, including 6,000 binders, were recovered from the trash and are being used. He said no estimate had been made of the dollar value of the damage.

Initially, the allegations of vandalism at the White House were relished by Bush supporters as symbols of the immaturity and recklessness of the Clinton administration. Four months later, with the White House still refusing to substantiate the allegations, there had been a stark turnabout: The episode was being invoked by Democrats to question the new administration's tactics and veracity.

On Friday, Rep. Anthony D. Weiner (D-N.Y.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, stood in the rain outside the White House complex with four low-level Clinton administration workers and called for Bush to apologize. Weiner, who attracted five television cameras to his news conference, asserted in a letter to Bush that the new administration "deliberately misled the American people and smeared the names of public servants who were guilty of nothing."

Democratic sources said the Bush administration has recently threatened, through a private conversation with a Clinton official, to release photographs of damaged property. The White House released two snapshots yesterday of the White House counsel's office that showed a lot of trash but no discernible damage.

The vandalism allegations proved to be a political tale that would not die, despite the absence of any nourishment in the form of new facts. On Jan. 29, Rep. Robert L. Barr Jr. (R-Ga.), one of the first House members to push for Clinton's impeachment, asked the GAO to look into the matter. The GAO's first stop was the General Services Administration, which manages government property. The GSA said in a letter to Barr on March 2 that "the condition of the real property was consistent with what we would expect to encounter when tenants vacate office space after an extended occupancy."

In a letter to Barr on April 27, the GAO said the White House had said there was "no record of damage that may have been deliberately caused by the Clinton administration."

Bernard L. Ungar, the agency's director of physical infrastructure issues, said in an interview that White House officials had told him some items "had to be repaired, such as telephones and computer keyboards, but that there was no record of damages."

Fleischer said the agency had only "asked us if we had anything in writing to provide."

"The answer is 'no' because we did not keep track in writing -- consciously so, because the president wanted to look forward and not look backward," Fleischer said.

After news accounts last month about the GAO's findings, Clinton administration alumni used television and newspaper commentaries to denounce the news media for having trumpeted the allegations. One of the participants in Weiner's news conference, Matthew P. Donoghue, 38, who formerly worked at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, recalled the "slight digs at parties" and accusatory questions from relatives that haunted him after the vandalism allegations.

Fleischer, whose comments about "cut wires" had stoked the reports, said Thursday, "I stand by that statement."

"Sometimes, stories just are like water running downhill and you can try to slow down the press, but you can't stop them," Fleischer said. "All the White House comments were aimed at moving forward. It was all in the context of drawing reporters back from the story, because that's what the president wanted."



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Man — every man — is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
Ayn Rand

Heh, this one came out the day earlier.
I would advise them to leave it alone...heh.
This may bite Mr Weiner in the *** .

Friday June 1 8:37 PM ET

White House Won't Issue Apology

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's spokesman said Friday there will be no apology to former Clinton administration aides for allegations of pranks and vandalism as the White House changed hands.

Asked about a letter signed by former Clinton aides seeking an apology, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: ``No apology is merited. They are well-advised to leave it alone.''

Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., scheduled a news conference at the White House gate Friday to deliver the letter, which follows an investigation of the matter by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm.

The GAO concluded that ``there was no proof of anything matching the allegations'' by identified White House officials who said they were greeted by damaged offices and equipment. Former Clinton aides said the GAO's findings vindicated them.



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Man — every man — is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
Ayn Rand

I wasn't aware that fair or accurate reporting belonged to either the right or the left.

And again "Faux" news is cleaning up in the ratings. It has nothing to do with right wing agendas or Faux.
It has to do with some decent reporting and investigating.

Yes, yes, it has nothing to do with the truth, but instead the ratings... follow the money trail.

As far as the last statement goes, if this story is indeed a hoax, obviously the reporters in question failed to report or investigate this story "decently". Wouldn't that make the rest of what they report suspect?

Well Curt, what do you want them to say?

Well. i can't speak for Curt, but for myself, the truth would be nice...



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Artist formerly known as Reindeer

Yes, the truth would be nice.
Although even if it did come out, one side will say BS, NO matter what the evidence is or isnt.


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Man — every man — is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.
Ayn Rand

Remember those news reports about Bill Clinton and his staff trashing the White House and Air Force One just before they left office? Turns out it was completely made up. But at least people thought it was true long enough to decry Clinton's departure and laud Bush's (by comparison) dignified arrival.



Statement by the White House Press Secretary

"MR. FLEISCHER: Good morning. Thank you for joining me. As you know, since the day President Bush took custody of the White House, there has been some debate over the condition it was left in by its previous liberal, slacks-wearing, semen-spouting occupants. Where some saw harmless pranks and normal Executive Mansion wear and tear, others saw criminal vandalism resulting in upwards of $47,00 in damage."



"A U.S. Congressional investigation prompted by Bush administration charged that aides to President Bill Clinton vandalized as they left, found at least 19,000 dollars in damage but concluded it may have been typical of recent outgoing administration.

"Damage, theft, vandalism, and pranks occurred in the White House complex during the 2001 presidential transition," said a General Accounting Office (GAO) report, which was published here on Wednesday.

GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, based its damage on thefunds needed to repair or replace 62 computer keyboards, 26 cellular phones, 15 television remote controls, nine historic doorknobs, two chairs with broken arms and one presidential seal.

Bush aides told GAO investigators that outgoing Clinton staffers tucked pictures depicting Bush as a chimpanzee, glued desk drawers shut, ripped phone lines from the walls, left messy offices and removed the "W" keys from numerous computer keyboards.A 350 dollars presidential seal was stolen.

"Incidents such as the removal of keys from computer keyboards;the theft of various items; the leaving of certain voice mail messages, signs, and written messages; and the placing of glue on desk drawers clearly were intentional acts," the 215-page report concluded.

"With regard to stolen items, such as the presidential seal, because no one witnessed the thefts and many people were in the White House complex during the transition, it was not known who was responsible for taking them," the report said.

The GAO report said allegations of vandalism also surfaced whenthe Clinton administration took over the White House in 1993 from President Bush's father.

The GAO recommended a "check-out" process for departing White House staff and an inspection for the condition of office space, furniture and equipment. "

The money to pay for the damage should be taken out of Hillary's salary. Let's hope those disgusting bums don't get into the White House again.

Hillary won't, but unfortunately some scummy democrat will get into office again.

Since algore invented the internet, he is brilliant.

So sooner or later he will invent a better election stealing machine than the Florida Supreme Court and therefore a Democrat will get elected!!!!

And all these figure don't account for the amount of money that was stolen in household furnishings by the Clintoons.