Robert Parry at ConsortiumNews has a good piece on the first President Bush's invasion of then-candidate Bill Clinton's passport file.
Also, I would suggest that if we're getting little eruptions over passport files, just imagine what else is being mined. And I'm sure someone at the NSA is on the wire listening for any Osama-Obama phone calls, or Clinton chatting with other terrorists/drug lords/etc.
Posted by Bob In Pacifica at March 21, 2008 09:45 AMThere is absolutely nothing of interest in any passport file. It contains less information than what is on the actuall passport because it does not have any of the visa stamps obtained when one crosses a border.
This is nothing but some curious workers trying to get a look at a celebrity. In Obama's case they were probably just some of his cult members trying to get 'closer' to their guy.
Posted by ken at March 21, 2008 09:47 AMWhat is in a passport file? Picture? Some personal information?
Social Security number?
Don't think it is the same as a State Department Files that contains travel information-that is what Daddy Bush's political people searched 16 years ago to see if Clinton had traveled to Moscow as a college student.
Maybe it was the same people who looked into B Spears' medical files.
Maybe there are SERIAL file snoopers loose in the USA.
Anyway, we have the obligatory apologies.
What's it going to take for Hillary to drop out? An Al Gore endorsement? A weaker than expected Pennsylvania showing? A blowout in North Carolina? What does it take to kill this monster?
Posted by at March 21, 2008 10:03 AMHonestly, I don't think this passport stuff is anything other than a breach of security/privacy by some low-level workers who just had fun putting in someone's name. There are probably more breaches on Hollywood actors, but we don't hear about them.
Posted by CG at March 21, 2008 10:13 AMnerdoff,
what's it going to take for you to see that the polls are moving strongly in her direction? why the desperation for her to drop out?
Posted by Turkana at March 21, 2008 10:18 AMFrom the evil Mark Halperin:
1. She can’t win the nomination without overturning the will of the elected delegates, which will alienate many Democrats.
2. She can’t win the nomination without a bloody convention battle — after which, even if she won, history and many Democrats would cast her as a villain.
3. Catching up in the popular vote is not out of the question — but without re-votes in Florida and Michigan it will be almost as impossible as catching up in elected delegates.
4. Nancy Pelosi and other leading members of Congress don’t think she can win and want her to give up. Same with superdelegate-to-the-stars Donna Brazile.
5. Obama’s skilled, close-knit staff can do things like silently kill re-votes in Florida and Michigan and not pay a political price.
6. Many of her supporters — and even some of her staffers — would be relieved (and even delighted) if she quit the race; none of his supporters or staff feel that way. Some think she just might throw in the towel in June if it appears efforts to fight on would hurt Obama’s general election chances.
7. The Rev. Wright story notwithstanding, the media still wants Obama to be the nominee — and that has an impact every day.
8. Obama might not be able to talk that well about the new global economy, but she (and McCain) can’t either.
9. Many of the remaining prominent superdelegates want to be for Obama and she (and Harold Ickes) are just barely keeping them from making public commitments to him.
10. She can’t publicly say more than 2% of all the things she would like to say about race, electability, beating McCain and experience.
11. If she somehow found a way to win the nomination, she would have to offer Obama the veep slot, and she doesn’t want to do that.
12. This is a change election, and Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton can never truly be change.
13. Obama is having fun most days, and she isn’t.
14. Even though her campaign staff is having more fun than it has for a long time, there’s hardly anyone there who, given half a chance, wouldn’t slit Mark Penn’s throat — and such internal dissension won’t help her in the home stretch.
nerdoff,
yes. as always, halperin's right. so, just relax and enjoy it as obama coasts to an easy win.
Posted by Turkana at March 21, 2008 10:27 AMWhen Obama gets the 2000 delegates necessary she will concede but it amazes me the people that can't count.
Posted by me at March 21, 2008 10:52 AMWell Olberman and the Obama supporters can stop blaming Clinton for this.
Posted by laternighter at March 21, 2008 11:04 AMMcCain is not as strong a candidate some fear. Obama is strong. How do I know? He kicked Hillary Clinton's ass. But Hillary won't acknowledge the inevitable. In the process she's making Obama's job harder than it has to be.
Posted by at March 21, 2008 11:21 AMMcCain is not as strong a candidate as some fear. Obama is strong. How do I know? He kicked Hillary Clinton's ass. But Hillary won't acknowledge the inevitable. In the process she's making Obama's job harder than it has to be.
Posted by at March 21, 2008 11:22 AMTurkana,
"... as always, halperin's right. so, just relax and enjoy it as obama coasts to an easy win".
Posted by Turkana at March 21, 2008 10:27 AM
Couldn't agree more! On to the general!
Posted by tfitznc at March 21, 2008 11:24 AM
Why would anyone have access to passport files, anyway?
and, outsourcing? Why don't we simply outsource all governmental functions to India, starting with the president, especially.
Posted by IntelVet at March 21, 2008 11:32 AMMcCain is not as strong a candidate as some fear. Obama is strong. How do I know? He kicked Hillary Clinton's ass. But Hillary won't acknowledge the inevitable. In the process she's making Obama's job harder than it has to be.
That's the weirdest reasoning I've ever seen. He's beating HRC, so she should help him out by conceding? Yeah, he's so tough that his opponents should surrender now, to save him some hassle. Tell it to McCain.
Obama’s skilled, close-knit staff can do things like silently kill re-votes in Florida and Michigan and not pay a political price.
Not until the GE, anyway, when MI and FL join the red column because Obama stiffed them.
Sorry, I'm not going to "help" Mr. Tough Guy win the Dem Nom so he can get beaten by McCain. Been there, done that.
Posted by Blue Jean at March 21, 2008 02:44 PMHonestly, I don't think this passport stuff is anything other than a breach of security/privacy by some low-level workers who just had fun putting in someone's name. There are probably more breaches on Hollywood actors, but we don't hear about them.
Doesn't anyone else remember this minor plot point in an 80's flick about government workers looking at celebrity records and, "it was considered a perq of the job. Management didn't condone it but they turned a blind eye."
How times change. And our perceptions of curiosity and personal security.
Posted by idiosynchronic at March 21, 2008 04:44 PMWe've lost all perspective. I was watching MSNBC when the passport files story broke. Both Keith Olbermann and Dan Abrams preempted their entire shows to report, well, nothing, except that Obama's passport files had been looked at by some contractors. Then the story dominated the news the next day too, and it continues.
In the meantime, people are getting blown up in Iraq. We've just passed the five year anniversary of this GD war. The economy is tanking and we're bracing for the worst recession this country has seen in sixty years. People are losing their homes and jobs. The blight of our fiscal irresponsibility and greed is spreading to other countries all over the world. The White House flips the bird at Congress and ignores subpoenas when Congress tries to hold people accountable.
But, the news media and apparently many people in the left blogosphere find a breach of passport files to be the most important issue in the nation, nay the world.
We have lost all perspective. It causes me to lose sleep at night.
Posted by joanneleon at March 22, 2008 06:16 AM