The 'W' factor and other hijinks: White House assigns transition team to help next president

Remember all that chatter eight years ago when the letter "W" went missing from computer keyboards, and the other reports of transition shenanigans, when the Clintonistas turned over the White House to the Bushies?

By one government account, they did $15,000 in damage and left some quarters resembling a fraternity house as the sun came up.

With eight days to go until election day, President Bush's White House has reached out to representatives of John McCain and Barack Obama to begin working on the transition to a new administration.

If anyone is being assigned keyboard duty, they're keeping it quiet.

"We have a very aggressive and thought-out transition plan that we are already working through," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said today.

She added:

We have been in contact with both of the major party candidates, identified people who would get security clearances, so that on Nov. 5, they can hit the ground running and make sure that they get all the information that they need.

"We pledge to have the most professional and robust transition that we possibly can have for the safety of all of us," she said.

— James Gerstenzang

Photo: Ron Edmonds / Associated Press

Comments

[Angelou]

COULD SOMEONE PLEASE, PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH MCCAINS ARMS? They look as if the elbows are glued to the ribs or if there is no joint movement between arm and shoulder, does he have paralysis of the shoulder girdle muscles? Also why is the sclera of his eyes yellow, I suspect a liver problem.

[Joe]

Senator McCain has a restricted range of motion in his upper body because he was beaten as a POW by the North

[phil]

DISINFORMATION. There never was $15000 in damage, in fact it's not clear whether the W thing actually happened.

" On April 27, the GAO's Bernard Ungar finally informed Rep. Barr's office that there wasn't any damage to the White House, or, to be precise, there were "no records of damage." It took three more weeks for Barr to finally respond, citing his dissatisfaction with the investigation but, ultimately, giving up. According to Ungar, an inspection of the White House by the General Services Administration, the federal government's property managers, did find "that there were papers all over the place, and that it was really messy." But there was scant proof of active mischief.

In an interview with Salon, Ungar stopped short of claiming that all the vandalism rumors had been proven false. "There was a sign or two here or there that had been altered," he said, declining to detail the alterations, "but that type of thing was not extensive." In any event, Ungar said, there was not enough information to justify a continued probe.

[Mark]

I'm a Democrat, I voted for Obama, and I confess, I did laugh when I first heard about the letter W disappearing from the White House keyboards before Bush moved in. So yeah, I'd laugh if the letter O disappears from the White House keyboards before Obama moves in. :)