Costs Soar For Bush Administration's Secret Document Shredding

Radar:

Behold, the Bush Administration in chart form: Federal spending on paper shredding has increased more than 600 percent since George W. Bush took office. This chart, generated by usaspending.gov, the U.S. government's brand spanking new database of federal expenditures, shows spending on "contracts for paper shredding services" going back to 2000. Click here for the full, heartbreaking breakdown. In 2000, the feds spent $452,807 to make unpleasant truths go away; by 2006, the "Cheney Effect" had bumped that number up to $2.9 million. And by halfway through 2007, the feds almost matched that number, with $2.7 million and counting. Pretty much says it all.

Read the whole story: Radar

Comments

[MikeDu]

08:26 PM on 12/16/2007

It looks like the 'Bush Jr. presidential library' really is going to be something to see. Not one record from his term is office is going to survive his presidency, except maybe for the absurd "I'm just like Truman" crap he's been pedalling all year long.

[nightprowler]

06:33 PM on 12/16/2007

kinda makes you long for the good ole days of the liberal nixon admin. huh

[Grannysue]

06:29 PM on 12/16/2007

They must of ran out of scissors and matches.

[StillAmused]

01:43 PM on 12/16/2007

Gotta spend a buck to make a buck.

[stormkite]

10:20 AM on 12/16/2007

Rules for a successful coverup:

1. Destroy the evidence.

2. Eliminate the witnesses.

3. Buy the court.

[roncraw]

09:28 PM on 12/15/2007

It's getting to a point where Halliburten might have to step in.

[Qbear]

11:17 PM on 12/14/2007

There will be no reason for Dumbya to have a library.

[FogBelter]

10:19 PM on 12/14/2007

I'd bet that there are incriminating documents being shreded by this President all the way back to the FDR Administration.

There are probably huge gaps in information relating to Stimson, Casey, Lansdale, Santy Romana ... JFK ... After Negroponte got done as Intel Czar, I'm sure there is a lot of Black Ops information that just ... went ... POOF!

[ceasenake]

06:22 PM on 12/14/2007

Vince Foster is rolling over in his grave.

[zendem1]

05:04 PM on 12/14/2007

Let me guess:Halliburton has the contract to shred documents, and the taxpayer fits the bill.

[JimR]

02:54 PM on 12/14/2007

Damn Bush! Next he'll be trying to jam postings to The Huffington Post. It's true! He does it by asc;'wok snarf asdl;u[pzzz
.

[EyeWantOneNation]

02:10 PM on 12/14/2007

Rep. Robert Wexler has a blog post on Home page - SUPPORTING CHENEY IMPEACHMENT!!!

Let's get on it, people!!!

[ProfessorDuh]

01:39 PM on 12/14/2007

Here’s what Tony Snow had to say about executive privilege: “Evidently, Mr. Bush wants to shield virtually any communications that take place within the White House compound on the theory that all such talk contributes in some way, shape or form to the continuing success and harmony of an administration. Taken to its logical extreme, that position would make it impossible for citizens to hold a chief executive accountable for anything. He would have a constitutional right to cover up.
Chances are that the courts will hurl such a claim out, but it will take time.
One gets the impression that Team Bush values its survival more than most people want justice and thus will delay without qualm. But as the clock ticks, the public's faith in Mr. Bush will ebb away for a simple reason: Most of us want no part of a president who is cynical enough to use the majesty of his office to evade the one thing he is sworn to uphold the rule of law."
The quote is from an op-ed written by Snow and published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 29, 1998. I have taken the small liberty of changing the name “Clinton” to “Bush.” But that shouldn’t make any difference in Snow’s constitutional judgment, now should it?

[loki]

12:59 PM on 12/14/2007

If a democratic president was doing this, rethugs would be raising all kinds of hell. But Bush does it, and they praise him and kiss his ass

[mrJJ]

12:43 PM on 12/14/2007

Spooks must make a lot of $$$... The legal bill for this civil servant must be at least 500K

CIA's Rodriguez Lawyers Up
By Spencer Ackerman - December 14, 2007, 10:59AM
Blink and you'll miss it in today's New York Times piece on the House's torture ban. But Jose Rodriguez, the CIA's ex-operations director who ordered the interrogation tapes destroyed in late 2005, has hired one of Washington's most prominent criminal attorneys:

Mr. Rodriguez has hired Robert S. Bennett, a well-known Washington lawyer, to represent him in Congressional and Justice Department inquiries into his handling of the tapes.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004908.php