Ouch: Vox comes out against government transparency with see-through results

Hillary Clinton’s email scandal didn’t vanish like it was supposed to after FBI director James Comey recommended that Clinton not be indicted, and her poll numbers have taken a hit in the interim.

Vox to the rescue? Matt Yglesias on Tuesday took one for Team Hillary and published a piece entitled “Against Transparency,” but it seems he left a lot of holes in his argument that government officials’ emails should be private.

Open government laws treat emails like formal memos https://t.co/2La3O4Ht5z

— Vox (@voxdotcom) September 6, 2016

“Because they are written down,” he writes, “emails are treated like formal memos rather than like informal conversations. They are archived, and if journalists or ideologically motivated activists want to get their hands on them, they can.”

Points for still splitting “journalists” and “ideologically motivated activists” into two groups, but it really wasn’t necessary. A fact check, though?

.@voxdotcom got this dead wrong. Among other things,not 1 mention of existing #FOIA exemptions that protect privacy and deliberative procoss

— Lauren Harper (@LaurenLeHarper) September 6, 2016

Contrary to @mattyglesias, agencies don't treat email as public by default. Often exempt as inter-agency comms pic.twitter.com/dzNKBa6QQu

— Andrew Perez (@andrewperezdc) September 6, 2016

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Should govt employees' emails w/ lobbyists & industries they regulate should be accessible thru FOIA? @mattyglesias pic.twitter.com/dRT8Csvl8y

— Andrew Perez (@andrewperezdc) September 6, 2016

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/773185945717858304

I'm not making a case for stronger FOIA laws. I'm trying to make sense of your case for gutting them

— Andrew Perez (@andrewperezdc) September 6, 2016

A challenger approaches: Steve Reilly, investigative reporter for USA Today.

https://twitter.com/BySteveReilly/status/773187634961211392

https://twitter.com/BySteveReilly/status/773188168074072064

https://twitter.com/BySteveReilly/status/773188387364831233

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/773188452921794560

That sounds like a no.

https://twitter.com/BySteveReilly/status/773189888330137601

Time to reset the “days without an accident” counter at Vox HQ.

Daaaaaaaaaaaamn @BySteveReilly @mattyglesias pic.twitter.com/sgbTdbGXOe

— (Topical Name, Mexified by 10%) (@XicanoBrownDude) September 6, 2016

@mtracey @mattyglesias that was brutal.

— Rick Eyi (@eyi_rick) September 6, 2016

@See_Em_Play @mattyglesias I broke my thumb liking this

— I'm actually at capacity (@jbphebus) September 6, 2016

@jtLOL @mattyglesias I'm going to start a second Twitter acct to like this 2 times.

— Steven Polanco (@sjp2010) September 6, 2016

https://twitter.com/x05_org/status/773242273454821376

https://twitter.com/Coondawg68/status/773244037331640320

Seriously, though: did Yglesias feel compelled to play defense for Hillary Clinton knowing “Against Transparency” would lead to ridicule, or did he really mean what he wrote?

Biggest troll article ever? No he means every single part of it.

— ₮ⱧɆ ₩₳₮₵ⱧɆⱤ #NotMeUs (@Franklin_So_Cal) September 6, 2016