Remember the vandalism to the White House by outgoing Clinton Administration staffers, that was later denied (and basically ignored by the Bush Administration, which wanted to "set a new tone")?

Well, the GAO has confirmed that it was true.

Those who have seen the GAO report, a preliminary document, say as many as 75 computer keyboards had to be replaced -- at a cost of more than $5,000 -- because Clinton staffers had broken off the W keys, a jab at George W. Bush, the winner of the bitterly contested 2000 presidential election, who was often referred to during the campaign as W.

I wonder if those are special keyboards of some kind? Seventy bucks for a keyboard seems kind of pricy, but I tend to go for the five-dollar specials at Fry's.

Two historic doorknobs were stolen from the Old Executive Office Building along with a presidential seal, valued at $350, said the sources, who could not detail how the rest of the damages were inflicted.

Chairs and telephone tables were broken, desks were overturned, garbage was strewn in offices and telephone lines were cut, the GAO report says, but does not, in each case, attribute the acts to vandalism.

OK, now let's pull the string on the top, and let the spinning begin...

Democrats dismissed the findings of the investigation ? which they say cost about $200,000 to conduct just to find $14,000 in damages.

So, generously assuming that those numbers aren't lies, let me make sure I have this right. No one should have to be held accountable for their actions if the cost of identifying misbehavior exceeds the cost of the actual damages. Is that the argument here?

So, if someone is burgling, and they only steal a couple hundred bucks worth of stuff, but holding a trial might cost many hundreds, or thousands, of dollars, we should just ignore it?

In what moral swamp do these people reside?

And now that the truth is out, it also demonstrates just what kind of juveniles were running the country for eight years.

that administration was scum from the top down :[ I say this with no vitriol, no rightous self-indignation, and no joy... It's just sad. Those guys were scoundrels from the first to the very last moment.

"In what moral swamp do these people reside?" Why, the Democratic Party, of course! What a silly question...

The keyboards may have cost only $5. It was the time it takes to fill out the purchase order that accounts for the other $70.

I haven't priced them recently, but when I ran a computer store in the late 90's, some of the nicer ergonomic keyboards were in the high two figures, and given the emphasis on workplace ergonomics by the Clintonistas, I could see where they would spring for them.

Just remember that line of argument (that $14K in losses don't justify $200K in investigations) the next time someone accuses the DoD of buying $5K coffee-pots. Never mind that Delta and American airlines pay about the same for such coffeepots (because boiling water at 33 thousand feet is actually not that easy). 'cuz it's just not worth investigating, right?

CLINTON....need we say anymore:P