What were you trying to hide, Karl?

Front paged at Booman Tribune, ePluribus Media and My Left Wing. Recommended at Daily Kos.

The news about Rove deleting emails from the RNC server into 2005 clearly is not breaking anymore to those of us who follow politics with the, um, fervor that we do. But pretty soon, it will be breaking news to just about everyone who will be watching the news today (except maybe those watching Katie Couric..)

And while everyone else is hopefully going to be hearing about this over the next couple of days (that is if the news reporters actually do their jobs), the obvious question should be asked. Why did Karl Rove delete all of those emails from the RNC server during that time period? What was Karl Rove trying to hide or cover up when he was deleting all of those emails?

Waxman’s letter specifically talked about information already reported, as well as the RNC’s council himself indicating:

• Rove had the ability to delete his emails from the RNC server;


• Rove used the RNC server for around 95% of his communication;


• Even after the hold in August 2004 (for Fitz’s investigation), there are no emails from Rove on the RNC server;


• The RNC council says that one of the reasons for the lack of emails is that Rove deleted them from the RNC server, even after the hold);


• Rove’s emails were treated with greater care than any other employee – automatically archiving them so he couldn’t delete them anymore.

What was going on during in this time period?

Criminal investigation that involved Rove? Check.
Criminal lobbyist investigation that had ties to Rove? Check.
Election season for an increasingly unpopular president? Check.
An increasingly unpopular war? Check.
A hotly contested election, with questionable results and exit polls? Check.

So which one is it, Karl? Did it have anything to do with your buddy Tim Griffin’s caging schemes during the 2004 election that served to purge the voting rolls of minority voters who were stationed in Iraq? Was that why you wanted to replace the very capable US Attorney Bud Cummins with Griffin?

Did it have to do with the RNC hiring a consulting firm to do voter registrations in six states but they also shredded Democratic registrations?

Did it have anything to do with Ohio, a state that was predicted to be a problem nearly a year before the election? The same state that Diebold Chief Executive and Chairman of the Board Walden O’Dell – the company whose highly insecure and very hackable voting machines were used for the election – not only gave around $100,000 to the Bush campaign but said that he was “committed to delivering Ohio’s electoral votes to Bush”? The same state whose recount could be described, at best as highly flawed and more likely fixed?

Could it have had anything to do with disgraced male prostitute and non-reporter Jeff Gannon who had carte blanche in the White House during this time period, despite having false identification, no credentials, was not signed in or out of the White House on many of his visits and certainly could be classified as a “national security risk” if he wasn’t connected to the administration through various ways and people, including many levels within the Republican party.

Was it involving any coordination with the lying liars of the Swift Boaters? There was little connection between the chief financer and chief accuser except for their relationship with Rove.

Or were you just destroying evidence and obstructing justice in the Plame investigation – destroying emails that you may have sent in order to get your stories straight with the reporters you leaked classified information to and discussed with other administration officials?

Was it about the widening investigation into republican felon Jack Abramoff? After all, it was one of your top aides that was forced to resign because she was linked to Abramoff.

Honestly, it could be any or all of these, and could just as likely be something else that I didn’t think of off the top of my head. But no matter what dirty tricks are going on, no matter what scandals hit this administration, no matter what information “goes missing” or is “misplaced” – somehow it comes back to Rove in some way, shape or form. OK – maybe not Mark Foley, but just about everything else.

One thing is certain – those emails didn’t just “disappear”. They were willfully destroyed. And with all of the questionable (and questionably legal) things that Rove was involved with - especially during that time period, this country demands to know why they were destroyed.

So, which one is it, Karl? Tell us. Why did you destroy them?