Slog - Comments on Hillary's Passport Breached

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:04:55 -0800

always playing catch up ECB. Hillary is such a "me too, me too!" candidate.

Comment by jayme

jayme — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:07:35 -0800

and mccain, says nyt.

Comment by tsm

tsm — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:09:57 -0800

Find your own scandal, Clinton!

Comment by Banna

Banna — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:11:19 -0800

Bellevue Ave already said it, but I'll repeat because I want to.

"I'm a victim too! Look at me! I've been breached!"

Thanks for ignoring the McCain victimhood.

Comment by Julie

Julie — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:15:25 -0800

Erica, why are all your posts such pro-Clinton feminazi screeds? Can't you see that Clinton is destroying America? I mean, just with that one word, "Also", you have completely enraged me, for some reason. I think you need to get laid. Yes, if only you had more sex, then I would agree with you more often.

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:16:58 -0800

Wow Julie, you totally lampooned a strawman! Nice!

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:20:10 -0800

My guess is, these contractors have access to this database, and one guy says "hey, everybody in the whole country is in here" and the other guy says "really? look up me" and the first guy says "yeah, you're in there" and the other guy says "look up obama" and the first guy says "yeah, he's in there too, look!" and the other guy says [etc.]

So: not really a scandal. Just sloppy data protection -- but if you protect the data too well you make it impossible for passport clerks to do their job.

On the other hand, maybe it's evil Clinton operatives searching Obama's records for...uh, something... and then searching for Clinton and McCain too to throw off the scent. Passport records? Who cares? Have any of these people been anyplace recently without cameras on them the whole time anyways?

Comment by Gomez

Gomez — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:35:04 -0800

1. No, more like ECB is a "Hillary too! Hillary too!" blogger.

Given I was a bit out of the loop when Passportgate broke... how hard is it exactly to breach a Passport? Is it as much as flipping it open and peeking inside? If so, I think I've breached a couple of passports in my lifetime.

Comment by mistermix

mistermix — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:37:11 -0800

Clinton's was breached by a trainee in training class who was told by the instructor to practice with random names.

No details released on Obama's breach:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184817.php

Comment by SeMe

SeMe — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:39:30 -0800

man, it would be cool if this was a huge watergate type thing and it brought down condi, but i'm afraid that old goat FNARF is right. it was probably some dudes who got tired of slogging.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:42:44 -0800

Um, Gomez, this is a database, not a physical passport. What they're seeing is a record of all of their passport scans, meaning every entry into and exit from the country.

Comment by Julie

Julie — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:43:30 -0800

@6. "Lampooning a strawman" implies I was trying to argue for Clinton in some way. I wasn't. Just some good old-fashioned asshole mockery.

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:52:32 -0800

The asshole who didn't exist?

Comment by Andy Niable

Andy Niable — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:57:33 -0800

While we're in "me too" mode, ECB, let's also talk about why Hillary has been so quiet about Wright--because she has her own religious skeleton in her closet.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer.html

Comment by NapoleonXIV

NapoleonXIV — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:08:32 -0800

Of course Hillary's passport was looked at too.

It's all part of the cover-up.

Comment by w7ngman

w7ngman — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:13:38 -0800

#14, this is balance a la Fox News, not real balance.

Comment by midnight rider

midnight rider — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:44:47 -0800

E.C.B.

Two words... Who cares! Why don't you go volunteer for Hil's campaign. Seriously, you are ruining any credibility you might have after this campaign is over.

Comment by ecce homo

ecce homo — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:52:02 -0800

ECB,

Honey,

I know the clitoralectamy was painful and all, but you really should take your percecet.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:11:08 -0800

@9: see how that works? The training process BY DEFINITION "breaches" files. Mr. Random Name is theoretically just as protected from having people poke around in his file as the candidates are.

Anyone who has ever worked on or in a database with even remotely sensitive information in it has faced this problem. Solving it is easy: sign a non-disclosure agreement.

I know Olbermann is about to bust a blood vessel over this, or wants to appear that he is, but I don't think there's a story here, to be honest.

Comment by Andy Niable

Andy Niable — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:29:50 -0800

Fnarf is right--this is much ado about a mistake.

But the story is probably getting a lot of play is because there WAS deliberate privacy violation in the same agency back in 1992 when campaign operatives dug for dirt based on the rumor that Bill Clinton allegedly sought to renounce his U.S. citizenship to avoid the draft--which turned out to be untrue. But the GOP ops did their digging, causing a 3-year investigation that concluded while there were violations of proper boundaries, "no laws were broken."

So this could explain why ears in the MSM perked up so--this HAS happened before, deliberately, for political gain.

Comment by Gomez

Gomez — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:47:10 -0800

11. Okay, that makes more sense. Again, I've been out of the loop.

Comment by some dude

some dude — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:49:17 -0800

@10 - that is totally something i would do. have done, actually. a blank query window and some boredom leads to fun times.

Comment by David Wright

David Wright — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:46:14 -0800

Of course! "Breech of passport" is the newest thing in victim-hood. Everybody's gotta have it!