Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Watch The Other Hand

[fanfare] flag@whitehouse.gov has been shut down. [/fanfare!]

People can still submit "fishy" information about health care reform through the "reality check" Web site, set up by the White House last week to rebut health care rumors.

Phillips said the e-mail account was closed and the public was redirected to the "reality check" site to "consolidate the process."
Oh.

Macon Phillips is Obama's "media director".

Update: The "reality check" website says: "Please refrain from submitting any individual's personal information, including their email address, without their permission." -- So ... off the hook, I suppose.

He also said in the same blog post:
Email updates from the White House have played a central role in our effort to push back on misinformation and get the facts out about health insurance reform. These updates will continue to be an important source of information about the President, his priorities and opportunities for public participation.

It has come to our attention that some people may have been subscribed to our email lists without their knowledge –- likely as a result of efforts by outside groups of all political stripes -– and we regret any inconvenience caused by receiving an unexpected message. We’re certainly not interested in anyone receiving emails from the White House who don’t want them. That’s one reason why we have never -- and will never -- add names from a commercial or political list to the White House list.

At the bottom of every message is a link to unsubscribe from emails that anyone can use to avoid this in the future. We have also implemented measures on WhiteHouse.gov to boost the security of the mailing list and we will carefully evaluate signups already received to work toward preventing this problem in the future.
In other words, Major Garrett was not a crazy "Fox News Liar™" nut in his questioning of Gibbs last week. Yes, the White House is carefully confirming, between the lines and with much spin, that unsolicited "push back" using the addresses gathered was in fact, being done.

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