(Jake Turcotte)
Palin’s hacked email account — what’s next?
By Jimmy Orr | 09.18.08
The news buzz last night was all about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s hacked email account.
Palin’s personal Yahoo account was apparently plundered late Tuesday evening and the contents of the account — personal emails, email addresses of her parents, children and friends, private family photos, and phone numbers — were published all over the Internet Wednesday.
Shocking invasion
News of the break-in received a harsh response from the McCain campaign.
“This is a shocking invasion of the governor’s privacy and a violation of law,” McCain’s campaign manager said. “The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities, and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them.”
Those appropriate authorities are the FBI and the Secret Service as they’ve teamed up to investigate the breach.
Yeah, but…
The hacking community however isn’t really in to the “authority thing.”
Upon word of Davis’s statement, one blogger at Gawker.com said - we think with a touch of sarcasm - “I guess we’ll have to blow up the internet now?”
Ryan Tate over at Gawker doesn’t condone the break-in but said the hacker “succeeded in reviving the unanswered question of why the Alaska governor had two quasi-official email addresses.”
“This use of the accounts is a naked affront to public records laws in Alaska,” Tate writes. “But it’s not exceptional: It’s one battle in a 30-years war between conservatives and civil libertarians over government openness, during which the current presidential administration itself blurred the lines between public and private email. Is there any way to finally stop these hijinks?”
Why use Yahoo?
The topic of whether Palin should be using a personal account for state business has been subject of a lot of talk recently. Two days before the email account was hacked, the Anchorage Daily News discussed it.
“Even before the McCain campaign plucked Palin from Alaska, a controversy was brewing over e-mails in the governor’s office. Was the administration trying to get around the public records law through broad exemptions or private e-mail accounts?” the newspaper asked.
Pssssstttt
The British IT website The Register published an article early this morning with the wonderfully attractive headline: Memo to US Secret Service: Net proxy may pinpoint Palin email hackers.
Translation? If the feds were to contact an individual named Gabriel Ramuglia they might be able to track down the, as President Bush and Aquaman would say, “evil-doers.”
The 25-year-old webmaster and entrepreneur is the operator of Ctunnel.com, the browsing proxy service used by the group that hacked into the vice presidential candidate’s personal email account and exposed its contents to the world. While he has yet to examine his logs, he says there’s a good chance they will lead to those responsible, thanks to some carelessness on their part.
“Usually, this sort of thing would be hard to track down because it’s Yahoo email, and a lot of people use my service for that,” he told El Reg in a phone interview. “Since they were dumb enough to post a full screenshot
Act now and save
The article, written by a San Francisco based reporter named Dan Goodin, suggests the law enforcement communities get working now as the logs on the server which house this information expires in seven days.
Ramuglia told The Register he would “probably” comply with requests from law enforcement but has not yet been contacted.
Karl Rove
Former Bush strategist, Karl Rove, gets brought up nearly every time a controversy with a Republican candidate emerges. No different this morning. Farhad Manjoo, over at Slate, this morning says the use of the Yahoo based email is “Rovian” in nature.
“The Yahoo breach does raise a few questions about Palin’s e-mail habits,” Manjoo wrote. “Why was she using Yahoo? Critics say she was taking a page from Karl Rove, who cooked up the idea of using an off-site e-mail address to confound investigations of his activities in the Bush administration.”
<< Embattled Alaska Rep Don Young beats Palin pal in primary | MainComments
2. chollie | 09.18.08
So, it’s OK if Yahoo releases private data to any government in the world that asks, but the minute citizens start looking into the government…
3. Dinosaur Sarah | 09.18.08
Attention Americans, this is the GOP speaking. Please look away from the economy, and pay attention to this hack hoax. We repeat, please look away from the economy.
4. perplexed voter | 09.18.08
I find it both incredible and hypocritical that McCain is so upset about someone hacking into Palin’s email when he obviously condoned this very same behavior when he named Carly Fiorina as his economic adviser. Wasn’t she the same CEO who paid to hack into Hewlett Packard’s Board of Directors personal emails?
5. chuck jarzbek | 09.18.08
At least Sarah knows how to use e-mail as opposed to McCain who is computer illerate!
6. Patricia | 09.18.08
Did anyone ask Homeland Security if they know anything about it? I understand they spy on Americans regularly.
7. Bob | 09.18.08
Wouldn’t Barack’s emails to Rezko/Ayers/Wright/Kilpatrick (and who knows who else) have been more politically interesting than Governor Palin’s family pictures?
8. Steve | 09.18.08
Judging by the tone of this post, the writer doesn’t seem to condemn the hackers’ actions at all. Instead of being portrayed as sleazy hatemongers who engaged in a despicable - and illegal - invasion of personal privacy, the hackers are framed as “gonzo” investigators who uncovered some kind of “Rovian conspiracy.” Is this really Christian Science Monitor? Class it up a bit, boys and girls…
9. Kerry | 09.18.08
At least they have 1 of them who can use the internet, but she doesn’t seem to have a lot of savy on how to protect herself..Can you say firewall?
10. Becca | 09.18.08
I’m tired of the devastaing issues we face as a nation getting hijacked over nonsense.
Palin is barely on the scene, and there is the refusal to cooperate with an investigation that was voted on, by a Republicon majority in Alaska’s gov’t, well before McCain’s “choice.”
Now tell me: WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT THE STATE OF THE UNION?
I AM SICK AND TIRED OF GETTING A RED HERRING SHOVED IN MY FACE…….MCCAIN CAMPAIGN, DEAL IN The issues that are unraveling our country.
11. Gene | 09.18.08
Attention Hillary Voters:
Vote for Obama and you will have DESTROYED Hillary’s chance at becoming President!!
Obama has already destroyed Hillary’s chances for this time around. He couldn’t even do her the honor of making her VP.
Consider this:
If you elect Obama for 2008 , Hillary CAN’T RUN IN 2012!! The incumbent always runs for their party in reelection.
Hillary will then be 69 when she gets a chance to run as democrat. Then people will call her old(like they do McCain who is 72) and she will NEVER become President.
Reagan was 69 when he got elected but he wasn’t trying to break the glass ceiling at the same time.
So if you care at all about Hillary, you will VOTE AGAINST Obama this time around. Plus, you will break the glass ceiling and Hillary WILL BE THERE in 2012!!
Think about it!! It makes sense!!
If you support Hillary, YOU MUST VOTE AGAINST OBAMA!!!
12. BlueDotRedSea | 09.18.08
I think it’s only fitting, since the government can read our emails without our permission. But honestly, I work for a government agency, and there are clear, hard and fast rules about email use. Heck, my law school clinical program had stricter rules on email use than Palin seems to live by. Palin needs to be more vigilant, but the hacking isn’t excusable.
13. James | 09.18.08
It wasnt hacking, lets be clear about this, the guy who breached Sarah Palin’s account used the password retrieval system ( which all accounts on yahoo have) It does not take a genius to answer password questions like the Wasilla zip code, and where Sarah and her husband first met. At any rate what the tech savvy guy did was reckless. The downfall of the attacker will not be from a huge FBI manhunt, but the simple fact that the screenshots he posted on the internet contain the web address with a seemingly long string of letters which key to the specific computer in Gabriel Ramuglia’s logs. I find all the outrage by…well…everyone to be amusing. One email account gets hacked and everyone is scared. DO YOU NOT REALIZE THAT THE PATIOT ACT DOES THIS? At any rate I suggest Palin choose a stronger password than “popcorn” the next she sets up an account that is unethical if not illegal.
14. Christopher Brown | 09.18.08
At least you know that John McCain’s email will not be hacked, because he doesn’t even know how to use email. At least the Governor of Alaska can use email. And how appropriate that it’s Yahoo. Perfect for a Yahoo like her. LOL. National security secrets on Yahoo. 4 more year of the same!!!!!
15. Jeff in Orlando | 09.18.08
This incident will just inflame the Palin haters. The goal is to destroy her and to discredit McCain. With the examination Palin has received, you would think more “dirt” would surface, but I’m sure millions are being spent to find a smoking gun. No political leader is perfect. We need to be careful as we are vetting our potential leaders that we don’t discourage good people from serving. Otherwise we will be left with people like Pelosi, Reid, Rangel, Boxer, Edwards, and many others who use their offices to promote pure partisan issues.
16. Paul | 09.18.08
Most Democrats can’t stand that Palin isn’t shaken by their attempts to trash her.
The woman is strong. I don’t care how inexperienced she is…she’ll have her cabinet and advisors. Reagan came into the White House with about the same amount of experience as Palin and they want his head on Mount Rushmore…even though the Dems wanted it on a platter.
The democrats also don’t like the fact that Christians have a way to dispose of their guilt. Most Dems would rather hang on to their baggage and drag it through life, being angry at everyone that appears to be happy.
It must be a lonely existence. Democrats are just so angry and unpleasant to be around.
True Christians love their enemies, but from a distance…
17. jon | 09.18.08
Why is she using a Yahoo account?!? Ummm…you just said “the contents of the account — personal emails, email addresses of her parents, children and friends, private family photos, and phone numbers”….sounds like what a Yahoo account is used for.
18. Kim | 09.18.08
It’s appalling to think that this campaign has stooped to this level. This is a federal offense and I sincerely hope they imprison those guilty of this horrendous crime. Where does it stop?
19. Bill | 09.18.08
So I guess having a business and pesonal email account is now a crime? Let’s take a poll of every business owner in the USA who has a business email and personal email and see if they have EVER used their personal email for a business transaction? I wonder if they are all criminals…
Wait a second, let’s see if each and every policy, governemnt organization, and tax has a constitutional basis first…then we can see who is left standing to even hold a debate, let alone an investigation.
Wait even more, wouldn’t it be a crime for the judicial branch to not prosecute those people making unconstitutional laws?
Isn’t the oath:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
I am ready to start here with my investigation…
21. Mark | 09.18.08
Funny how they can’t find anything incriminating in her emails, so the result is “why does she have a yahoo account?”
22. bob | 09.18.08
Is this what Americans want?
controversy manipulation lies abuse of power same old same old and that s what
MCCain call change?
Let me choke….
liar liar liar liar….enough
23. D P Graves | 09.18.08
Ah…the hacking sounds a little reminiscent of Rove’s tactic in Texas where he was to thought to have planted a bug in his own office when he was running a gubernatorial campaign. Rove then accused his oppenent of bugging Rove’s office.
24. Jaycee | 09.18.08
“The Yahoo breach does raise a few questions about Palin’s e-mail habits. Why was she using Yahoo? Critics say she was taking a page from Karl Rove, who cooked up the idea of using an off-site e-mail address to confound investigations of his activities in the Bush administration.”
—–
And yet, nothing negative was found. But does this rationale in any way excuse this malicious felonious act? NO! I say prosecute all involved to the full extent of the law!
25. Jane | 09.18.08
Governments spend a considerable amount of money and effort on security and protection of data, including email communications. Services such as Yahoo and Hotmail do not have that security, and are not used for official business. If Palin used a non-government, unprotected email client to conduct any official business for any reason, then she left herself open for precisely this sort of attack….hackers don’t care about law.
As to the privacy issue, if it’s government business, personal privacy concerns don’t apply. The laws governing government data do. And yes, that is why it is a legitimate question to ask why there was any government connection to that Yahoo account in the first place.
27. Heidi Morgan | 09.18.08
She’s so dirty. Everything about her shouts revival of the reviled administration sitting in the White House. How can this go and on and on and on and on and on without ANY accountability?
28. Bohica | 09.18.08
Once again net subculture invokes it’s own technocratic “You Deserved It” ethics to justify violating someones privacy. Prolly as a favor to those who were blocked by Palin’s executive privilege stance.
29. Ray | 09.18.08
This article cutely but clearly establishes Palin and Karl Rove to be at fault here. Obviously the women is a ditz to use Yahoo for mail. What type of fool would post family pictures and mail on an email service? The whole thing just reeks of Karl Rove and both of them should shamed in front of Federal Judge for being so stupid and evil. On the flip side, if such a thing had happened to our Lord Obama, it would instantly be considered a hateful, racist attack of the lowest order and the hue and cry for justice would go out across the land. The media then would scream for the heads of the ditz Palin and evil Karl Rove, of course. We are in bizarre, frightening times.
30. Damnocrat | 09.18.08
They should consult Orin Hatch’s aid who broke in to and published, for over a year, Ted Kennedy’s emails, until he was caught.
-eh
31. Timus, Powder Springs, GA | 09.18.08
If Palin used Yahoo mail for official state business she is indeed a big idiot. What would she follow this up with? Leaving the missile launch codes on a rock in Afghanistan?
32. Nick | 09.18.08
Funny that the government feels it is “necessary to protect the citizens” to tap into our phone conversations, read our emails and give us no privacy, but when it happens to someone in government it is outrage. So I say boo hoo, if you can do it to us with no just cause then we should be able to do it right back in order to protect ourselves from evil, lying politicians. Not saying she was an evil, lying politician, but in order to become a VP or president should the citizens be given the right information to judge for ourselves? Shouldn’t the leaders of our country be put up to a higher level of scrutiny than the citizens who are affected by their every decision and pay their salaries? I say thank you hackers for being good citizens.
33. Chris Morris | 09.18.08
Come on people. Leave this woman alone. There is not a single American on the face of this earth that hasn’t got a secret or two in their closet. If we need a virgin politician we will no longer have politicians. Its that simple. Why can’t anyone have a debate over “WHAT” change is coming rather than what one or the other hasn’t done. I get so sick and tired of those who sensationalize and target people trying to do a good job. If we weren”t in America than we could have a dictator and then rightfully so we could blame the one at the top. Here we have many checks and balances, and comittees, and advisors pave the way. LEAVE THEM ALL ALNOE AND ALLOW THEM TO DEAL WITH THE TRUE TASKS AT HAND!!!!!!
34. Sue | 09.18.08
Please just leave Sarah alone. I don’t know if I can stand living in a society that seeks to rip apart the people we should most admire. Where is the place for happiness in a society filled with depraved and malicious intensions?
35. Ryan | 09.18.08
You take the risk of being hacked when you don’t use complex passwords and/or use common services such as Yahoo, Gmail, etc. It’s fact of life. I’m not saying I condone what the attacker did, but the reality is you signed on to that risk when you agreed to use the free service.
37. Ken | 09.18.08
“At least they have 1 of them who can use the internet, but she doesn’t seem to have a lot of savy on how to protect herself..Can you say firewall?”
She could have 20 firewalls on her computer, it wouldn’t prevent anyone from hacking into her Yahoo email account.
38. speckul8tr | 09.18.08
This highlights a lot of issues. First, what the hackers did is inappropriate. However, it is not surprising, since many people would probably try to hack a famous politicians accounts. It highlights the fact that email is not private, although many people treat it as if it was.
But there’s real issues with Palin ( and Rove’s) use of email. And I can’t help but notice the stench of classism - is the FBI going to rush in to help me if my email gets hacked - no, of course not.
Palin and Rove seem to have this weird idea that privacy should apply to them but not to other people they want to snoop on. Sorry - it doesn’t work like that. To guarantee their own privacy, or conversely their freedom to access information, our system requires that we the citizens have the same rights and guarantees.
I don’t feel sorry for her because I believe she’s a basically dishonest and ruthless person. That of course, does not ethically clear the hackers, either.
It also highlights that she has been thrust into the arena of world politics while she’s still thinking at the level of her hometown politics. Neither her nor McGeezer have a clue about what they really need to be doing if they get elected, beyond making crony deals and more campaigning. Palin in particular probably has a whole list of high-school and college BFFs she’s promised stuff to if she gets elected. Ugh.
39. duff | 09.18.08
Can’t wait lets see what other email accounts she has..
It’s part of the new vetting process..
nobody gives a damn anyway…..everybodys watching there 401K
shrink!!!!!!!!!!!!!
40. World Bible | 09.18.08
This just goes to show the type of leadership a McCain Administration would have. Bend the law but don’t break the tablet. I guess we could all get Yahoo accounts 
41. eigsac | 09.18.08
Attack is the best form of defense… You are trying to divert our attention away from the despicable act of breaking into Sarah Palin’s account by attacking her email habits? Shame on you, Jimmy Orr.
42. Dan | 09.18.08
While the hacking is illegal, I find it appalling that the governor of a state would use a non-secured email service for government communication.
The state of Alaska has a perfectly good system that works and it’s available for all state employees, including the governors office. The only reason to use another private system for government business is to hide something.
If she is truly for more open government, what could her communications be that she isn’t willing to offer them up to potential scrutiny in the case of a bonifide inquiry?
43. DCX2 | 09.18.08
It should be pretty easy to tell someone’s slant regarding this issue. If they think the hackers’ violations should be punished, but not Palin’s, then they are obviously pro-Palin. If they think Palin should be punished, but not the hackers, they are obviously anti-Palin.
If they think both people should be punished according to the rule of law, well then I guess that just makes you rational.
44. vivifiant | 09.18.08
.
So now we “kill the messenger”? It seems law enforcement is now going after the hackers instead of going after a governor who mixes up personal and official government email. To put this in other words: If someone films an act of police brutality, who is the bad guy, the one who commits the brutality or the one who exposes it to the world? …
By the way, looking at the records on wikileaks.org, there is nothing personal revealed other than Palin is mixing personal and official business. Maybe it speeds up the ongoing investigation of the Alaskan governor. That’s all.
… Vivifiant, Ohio
45. Brett | 09.18.08
So the government can violate our 4th amendment rights and spy on our e-mail and phone convorsations, but we can’t spy on them? I don’t think what these hackers did was right, but I also don’t think what our government is doing is right either, and it’s about time they got a taste of their own medicine. Not Cindy McCain’s medicine though, that would knock your socks off! Did anyone notice her eyes when she gave her speech at the RNC? I have an aunt who is a pill popper, and I know the look. Google “Cindy McCain” and “drug use” if you don’t believe me. Sorry, got a little off topic there!
46. D Miller | 09.18.08
It is totally proper for the governor, or any other elected official, to maintain a personal email account for non-state business. It is not proper for an elected official, or any government employee for that matter, to use a taxpayer-funded email account for their own personal business.
47. David | 09.18.08
I wish someone would hack into Barry and Joe’s accounts, and publish the contents. Any liberal is normally upset about privacy breaches. Apparently, it is just when your friends are being hacked that it is acceptable to be invaded.
Two-faced? Most Democrats are!
49. Steve in Austin | 09.18.08
This sort of things happen to careless celebrities all the time. You do have to wonder why she didn’t use her official alaska.gov account, since she was mailing her Lt. Gov.
50. Mine | 09.18.08
Yahoo sucks! BUT, BUT, BUT gov. employees should use gov. email accounts. Lack of transparency is stupid. Honesty is what counts. Economy sucks. I am great.
51. Ballard | 09.18.08
Anyone in the corporate world should take note that the use of personal email for business purposes is very dangerous. In this case the use of personal email for governmental purposes may have been against the law. This does not, however, exuse the “hacker” who definitely broke the law. What this person did was illegal and if caught will more than likely result in jail time. This is a very serious crime and the fact that the victim’s professionalism and ethics are at question does not change the fact that no one should have their email stolen and made public. Anyone who does not see Palin as the target of a very serious crime is simply being dismisive based on their personal oppinion of the victim (Palin).
52. Mark | 09.18.08
Computer illiterate people frighten me. Kerry yahoo mail is web based. Sarah Palin having a firewall would not have stop this in the least as the email is stored on Yahoo’s Servers. Secondly even an average hacker can find away around firewalls both of the software and hardware kind. If I had to guess on how they manage to hack the account I would say it was due to an unsecure password and user name not firewall. Please research or go to school to learn about networks and security.
53. Tara | 09.18.08
Seriously? This is it? Please…. how ridiculous this is to make the news. Obamas’ e mails would be interesting~ not Sarah Palins. I don’t think it’s real anyway.
54. Karen | 09.18.08
Most people use multiple email addresses. One for work and one for personal. There is nothing Rovian about that! Give me a break. The slimy induvidual needs to be prosecuted.
55. republicon gorilla redneck | 09.18.08
If only one hacker gets sent to GITMO and ends up with a boyfriend named Abdallah AND pictures of their love affair make it to someone’s web site, well, let’s just say it won’t break my heart!
56. miguel | 09.18.08
why do people continue to flock to Palin’s banner? she has nothing to offer, and you know nothing about her. whe is a corrupt, lying neopyte politician. why are conservatives so simple-minded? and why can’t you deal with reality like everyone else?
57. Cindy J | 09.18.08
Poor Sarah! Nobody gives her any respect. Did anyone happen to tune in to the Q&A in Grand Rapids Michigan last night? Someone asked her to clear up the concerns about her lack of experience and she whined some more about how people do their best to sling mud when they’re jealous of you and feel threatened by your legitimate God-given right to be in office. Who cares about Sarah Palin?!? She’s a brainless twit from the butt end of civilization. It’s McCain we need to focus on. The last time I looked he was the Republican presidential nominee not her. His campaign dogs probably gave her email information away to throw voters off the scent and my, my haven’t they all bought the false trail.
58. FogPiles | 09.18.08
What most are missing is that she COPIED HER HUSBAND on at least 40 emails concerning government matters. What, so he could get his dirty little fingers involved in business he shouldn’t be in? Is this really the type of person you want in office, someone who’s stupid enough to leave themselves wide open, who has ***-backwards thinking when it comes to her politics, who, in general, is just a frightening moonbat?
59. Lim | 09.18.08
invading someone’s personal email is a very big crime, whoever did this should be blamed. Are the Democrats going to do something to this or will just stand there?
The more she gets attacked, the popular she will become and she will get empathy votes. She is the only one with executive experience in this race. Mr. Obama is the first term senator, spent two years on writing his books and book signing tours. He spent most of his last year on campaign. So, what is his experience? If he’s running for the President, why not Ms. Palin run for VP?
60. ash | 09.18.08
Dinosaur Sarah : thank you for putting a comment like that on a site like this…what a joke…you are so right…this is all to take focus off of what matters in this campaign…because really and trully…The GOP has no case for being elected this time…if they are, this woman scares me to death…I thought nothing could get worse than Cheney. but hey, she can field dress a mouse, and that’s all i’ve heard about her qualifications so far…GOP should ask itself when enough is enough…of playing the pitty card. My god…ooops, sorry!
61. Mike | 09.18.08
The same people who scream about federal wirtetaps of call to middle east countries make excuses for this crime.
62. Grant | 09.18.08
Here is how you handle financial difficulty during hard economic times:
Get a Job! If that doesn’t work, get two jobs. If that doesn’t work, get a better job! If that don’t work get an education. You have to work hard to succeed in life. You can’t just expect the goverment to take care of you! If you think there is something wrong with our country, then move to another one! GOD BLESS AMERICA! THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! GOD BLESS FREEDOM! MY LIFE IS GREAT DURING TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES BECAUSE I AM FREE AND I WORK HARD!
64. Billo | 09.18.08
“Would anybody else out there like someone to hack into your email and publish personal items all over the web?”
For Osama bin Laden or Jeffrey Dahlmer, the answer would surely be no.
“And if you answered ‘no’ to that question, are we to believe that it is because you have something to hide??”
If the emails prove Palin did no wrong, then the hackers should be prosecuted and Palin’s critics on this subject owe her an apology.
If the emails prove Palin broke the law, then the hackers should be prosecuted and so should Palin.
But, considering that Palin was already the subject of an investigation for a serious ethics breach and refuses to cooperate with authorities in the investigation, do you think she used the private account because she has something to hide?
???
We don’t care if she used email to forward tasteless jokes. It’s the vice presidential candidate’s lack of respect for the law we are questioning.
65. scorch | 09.18.08
Personally, I do find it offensive that people hacked into her email. BUT she should not have been using yahoo to conduct state business. I am sure that there is an entirely different level of security between yahoo, and the governments email system. I work in schools, and the schools email is much more secure than yahoo or msn or whatever free email is out there.
Frankly, this just goes to show how intelligent she really is. Which is, not very. Unless of course, she was really using this to avoid the freedom of info act, and to hide certain things from being official. In which case she got caught. Which, instead of intelligence, it would then bring up issues of trustworthiness.
So there you have, she’s either dumb as a rock, or an out right deceitful snake in the grass.
And yes, the hackers are still criminals, but . . . so are a lot of other whistle blowers out there.
NOW can we get back to the real issues. Like how McCain’s health care plan is going to increase my taxes by $3700 a year by making my employer provided benefits taxable? Or how Palin stated that her belief in supporting Georgia’s admission to NATO could possibly lead to war with Russia? What about Social Security? Ending the war? Or as she see’s it, a holy war? How about tax cuts for the wealthy instead of the 95% of the US population that makes UNDER $250,000 A YEAR? Or why we would possible want a leader that graduated 5th from the bottom of nearly 900 students instead of a person that graduated in the top of his class? Do we really want stupid people running this country? Haven’t we had enough of that the past eight years?
– This is coming from a lifelong republican that has had it with the GOP. I’m not thrilled about it, but I’m crossing party lines in Nov and going with Obama. And I may not be coming back.
67. Merfzero | 09.18.08
Please people do not be surprised at anything that happens in this arena. Remember it was a DNC staffer that impersonated Michael Steele to retrieve and publish his credit credit scores and ratings during the ‘06 Maryland senatorial campaign. Chuckie Schumer slapped his hand and promised they would not get caught again.
Somehow the major media missed that one.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/134mpbij.asp
68. Merle | 09.18.08
This is ridiculous and illegal, and even more ridiculous that people are making excuses for it like it is o.k..
People let’s not be distracted by what does not matter, keep your eyes on the ball.
This is nonsense
69. John Fountain | 09.18.08
That’s it! If supporters of Barak Obama are willing to do anything to get their man elected, I don’t want any part of it! If Barak Obama doesn’t come out and condemn this type of dirty tactics then he is not fit to be a leader. Next if you techno idiots believe that you will be less regulated under the democrats you only display your total ignorance…. Come on keep blaming Bush for all your troubles in the world and stop this childish BS.
70. Colorado Conservative | 09.18.08
Heidi - Seriously, what are you talking about? Do you have any demonstrable “proof” that she’s dirty? Or, are you all about baseless accusations?
And, since you’re apparently an Obama supporter, can you articulate why you support him? Is it his community service record? His (lack of) experience on international politics? His socialist agenda and long-term associations with left-wing radicals? His continual use of the race and class-warfare cards? Details, please.
71. TheWhatNow? | 09.18.08
Remember during the 2000 Republican primaries when the Bush campaign announced that they found a hidden mic in their campaign offices? They all but charged the McCain clan for this crime, but no one has been found guilty since. How much do you want to bet this is the same case now? Anything to distract us from the real issues, pure Rovian politics.
PLEASE….let’s report what matters….how many of you know that there’s an economic crisis going on right now? Forget about Sarah’s emails, that’s all they can talk about right now cuz they have NOTHING to say on the economy…except stuff that makes them sound like fools.
72. Todd | 09.18.08
It is interesting how this article hints this is okay because Palin might be using a Yahoo account “as a naked affront to public records laws”, because as the article itself admits, what were taken and made available were “personal emails, email addresses of her parents, children and friends, private family photos, and phone numbers”.
By the way just some FYI for some posters - its not that McCain is computer illiterate, his war injuries prevent him from using a keyboard and mouse for very long.
73. gopher | 09.18.08
I would like to point that if I had sensitive company documents or classified information stored in my personal email, and then went to the media and let them know my name, the fact I was storing important email on a private email account, and that I was using a yahoo account, and then this information got out, I would lose my job in a second.
It’s not uncommon for careless government employees to be demoted, reprimanded, r even fired for being careless with sensitive information, the fact that Mrs. Palin CHOSE to use a Yahoo account, when a secure government account was available, and let the public know, is unacceptable, and she should be held accountable.
But let’s all be outraged at the people who did this instead.
75. CharleyR | 09.18.08
I just LOVE all the retards who are still parroting the “McCain is computer illiterate” line that Obama tried several days ago. Folks, its been disproved. Actually, he is VERY computer literate - just cannot type on the keyboard because of WAR INJURIES, something YOUR candidate has no knowledge of. He is afraid to even MEET with real wounded warriors, and could NEVER be one because he doesn’t believe in anything strongly enough to fight for it!!
CERTAINLY not America………..
76. Rich | 09.18.08
Am I really to believe that a majority of you who have a job would shut down your personal e-mail account once you have a job related email address? Give me a break.
77. Matt | 09.18.08
This looks bad for the Obama camp imo. First it will be assumed that it was a Obama fanatic that committed this illegal crime, granted there are nutjob fanatics on both sides. Second, was anything incriminating found? If not, Palin looks even more pristine now than prior to the hack.
78. TF | 09.18.08
This was wrong. This was illegal. It shows how low-down, dirty and nasty the left-wing really is. Anyone who tries to rationalize this terrible hacking job is part of the problem too. I hope they track down the culprits all the way to the Obama campaign because this is where it came from.
79. In Virginia | 09.18.08
There are few things to look at with this situation, first why would anyone trust Yahoo with personnel information. Yahoo has hijacked our computer home page many times, they share information with every advertiser they have. They like the government agencies have gotten to big!
Why would a governor of any state have a Yahoo email account that was important enough to be hacked! What about official state secure servers and emails, sounds like a Red Herring to me!
We do however believe that Governor Palin is the best thing to happen to this political season in years. America needs to get back basics, design, build and sell it here, we do not need 3rd world garbage sent here.
“Made in the USA”, should be slogan of change!
80. jack | 09.18.08
Obama paid off the hackerz!!!!!!
That is just wrong, who ever did it should get jail time. Exposing someones private emails and contact information should be no less punishment then someone going through your mail.
81. Voice of Reason | 09.18.08
Can anyone tell me what they found in the Watergate scandal? No, because they got caught and people were outraged at such a low tactic they wanted blood. What’s our response today…what did she have to hide? Have we lost everything the USA stood for. Cut and dry this is totally WRONG. Period.
What evil did they find in her emails, family pics. She’s a good person give her the respect she has EARNED. Not intitled but EARNED. When you become gov of a state i will give you the same respect.
82. Jason | 09.18.08
I find it funny that with all the money this country puts into security, both national and international (in light of the recent Yemen attacks), that something like this, an email hack on the vice presidential candidate was possible. Makes for a good headline, but I agree with most of the other bloggers here that it was morally, as well as probably legally wrong to do. But, like many people know, “something published on the internet is basically impossible to completely erase”.
83. Voice of Reason | 09.18.08
Can anyone tell me what they found in the Watergate scandal? No, because they got caught and people were outraged at such a low tactic they wanted blood. What’s our response today…what did she have to hide? Have we lost everything the USA stood for. Cut and dry this is totally WRONG. Period.
What evil did they find in her emails, family pics. She’s a good person give her the respect she has EARNED. Not intitled but EARNED. When you become gov of a state i will give you the same respect.
84. Dan | 09.18.08
Wow. Both the article and the comments take a very cavalier attitude to the fact that someone broke the law in an attempt to smear a candidate.
If you oppose the patriot act with its unaccountable wiretapping then you should be aghast that this occurred. The level of hypocrisy is incredible.
Very clever. You guys have reached a new low.
85. Virgil | 09.18.08
Hmmm…the question that keeps being asked is why a yahoo.com account…seems that was explained in the first part…what did the hackers publish? Personal emails, family pictures, email and physical info on her parents and family…obviously the yahoo account was for (drum roll please): personal email, pictures of her family, email to her parents and family. The Looney Left or course screams “Rove”. I bet every one of the Liberals screaming foul, that work for the government, have a personal email account somewhere, and at some point, even if it was nothing more that a personal opinion, something concerning their government position.
Incredible that the liberals, who constantly demand privacy, don’t want the government looking at their emails, and support EFF (as do I, though I am conservative…libertarian actually)are not up in arms over this break-in. Had in been Hillary’s email account, these same people would be screaming for an investigation and new, tougher laws to keep it from happening.
Listen up Libs: a crime is a crime, no matter who it is against. The fact that you don’t like Palin does not make this any less of of crime!
86. Lino Torrez | 09.18.08
in re: #5
Chuck, he may not know how to use a computer, but let me ask you this:
Do you or Obama know how to fly a fighter???
Different skill sets do not make someone stupid, as you libs like to portray them, it just makes them different. Also, remember, he can not use a computer because of his war wounds, why can’t you or Obama fly a jet??
88. Rick Cain | 09.18.08
Its Palin’s fault. Using yahoo webmail for official business is downright amateurish, and potentially put many alaskan’s private information at risk.
I heard her password was easy to guess so hackers had little trouble. Again this demonstrates her lack of computer knowledge which is vital to being a modern leader. McCain and Palin both are computer illiterate, and that does not bode well for our push into the 21st century.
89. Adriana | 09.18.08
Those referring to the Patriot Act doing the same thing are way off base. Does the Patriot Act allow people to post your personal information all over the Internet? I think not.
Comparing a pathetic individual that hacked into an account just to distribute personal information to a national security measure such as the Patriot Act is completely ridiculous.
90. Butch | 09.18.08
Obama should know better than to jack into Palin’s account. He should know the laws!!! GOD!!!! THIS WORLD IS HAS LAWS DEMOCRATS!!!! Dems are using this as a deterrent against real issues like drilling offshore, relaxing gun laws, banning abortion (murder), and, most importantly, protecting us from 9/11 terrorists.
Drill-Baby-Drill!!!! one drill can turn this economy around…
Republican fo life!
91. mack13 | 09.18.08
Quite possibly another GOP ploy to cry foul. It’s probably all unimportant info that they hacked and posted themselves and it’s just another Weapon of Mass Distraction.
92. Steve | 09.18.08
OOOh, she had a Yahoo e-mail account called Gov.Palin and another called Gov.Sarah. She must have been using those for under-the-table government business. Just like anyone whose e-mail address is something like DoctorBob@yahoo.com is exchanging medical info in violation of HIPAA and anybody who uses one like MathTeacher99@yahoo.com is transmitting information about students.
If one’s judgement in choosing an e-mail address is now an auditable event, I’m sure some other folks out there need to be investigated.
93. Chuck | 09.18.08
OMG SOMEONE DID A WIRETAP WITHOUT A WARRANT !!
What is this nation coming to? Someone broke the law by obtaining private communications without a Legal Warrant !!
Quick call in the Attorney General.
Quick call in the President.
Quck, call in AT&T !
How Dare They Invade Someone’s Privacy without Legal Permission!
Or is it …. Turn About is Fair Play?
95. Adriana | 09.18.08
Heidi Morgan, what about this story makes her “dirty”? Im all for a logical, mature debate but calling a VP nom “dirty” because she has a personal email account really limits your credibility.
96. George Tichy | 09.18.08
If I had the hypocritical conservative republican mentality, I would say, “Palin has the right to do her business without following the law… It’s none of our (people’s) business.”
97. Kale | 09.18.08
login: sexyAKgov@yahoo.com
password: rovegf23
how hard was that? That’s not hacking.
98. Joe Peiffer | 09.18.08
Why is it that some people have become so scared of Gov. Palin?? Is it that she just might really be for the change in government that we all want?? I sometimes wonder if there is an movement to dig anything (large or small) to try to smear Palin and keep the heat off Biden’s back…Palin phobia is running rampant right now as a diversion… There really is nothing notiable that the media has been able to produce against her…The media has tried to discredit her as an qualified canidiate for VP but has no grounds to stand on…Palin is more qualified to be VP than Obama is to be President or VP for that matter…Where is his leadership experience??
99. marty | 09.18.08
what is the fuss about? after all the election about morality and most dem.s dont know what that is. no means of self defence , no right to speek
look at the congress , they are running the country to ruins todoy.
100. Adriana | 09.18.08
“If Palin used a non-government, unprotected email client to conduct any official business for any reason, then she left herself open for precisely this sort of attack”
Jane, does this mean she deserved her personal information to be displayed all over the web? Perhaps you should post some of your information as well-addresses of family and friends, pictures of your minor children, personal emails…?
101. Dave | 09.18.08
For those of you who question why someone, elected official or not, has more than one email account. Most companies forbid using company email for personal uses. I think that should include Government officials also. For those liberals who vilifile everything and everyone conserative, Life sucks for you. Privacy laws have been around since before the Revolutionary War. It is a federal offense to smash mailboxes, tamper with the mail in any form, or even to put fliers inside a mailbox unless it has postage and a cancellation on it. Now that is snail mail. A private email account is just that, PRIVATE. (sorry to yell but somepeople can’t read quietly) To all of the sensible bloggers who waste their time making rational statements to irrational people, (like I guess I am doing), it really is no practical use other than to make us feel better. Everyone is entitled to there opinion and that is one of the great things about America. We as a country have our problems and then some, but no matter how hard the liberal socialists try, they still can’t explain why the rest of the world looks to the US first in a time of need. But please “Don’t confuse them with the facts, their minds are made up”! We can only hope that their tinfoil hats don’t cause cancer or our insurance premiums will go up again.
102. Ducarmel Sagesse | 09.18.08
This is a tangible proof to see that she used poor judgement. How come a Governor uses yahoo acount to do gavernement business. It is not about Love or Hate. It is about principle. I want America to open their eyes and their mind to know who they want to be their President and VP. God Bless this great Land America and the world.
103. Computer Guy | 09.18.08
There can be little expectation of privacy when using centralized server based, non-encrypted emails like hotmail, gmail, yahoo mail, etc.(although some of these services do offer at least one-way encryption as well) There can also be very little expectation of privacy when using any type of standard email over the internet(POP, SMTP, IMAP, etc.) as most of the time it is sent in plain text that can be viewed with a protocol analyzer in any segment while passing through the internet. It appears to me that this “hack” was probably either somebody that knew her, or somebody that knew her email for whatever reason and got lucky on the password(probably not a very secure password)… far less likely that it was somebody that hacked the entire yahoo database, or got her info from a keylogger or other technology from one of her PC’s.
Whenever you send email, you really need to consider this. I haven’t seen the Palin hack results, but from what I’m reading it’s pretty benign, so who cares if there’s a few family pic’s out there? Sarah and family seem to be good looking folks, nothing to be ashamed of there. In that light, this definitely looks like it might be a political “misdirection”.
My advice to all–if you send internet email-don’t send anything you wouldn’t want anyone to read– past that– if you MUST, then use an encrypted email connection, and consider even encrypting the text with some sort of algorithm.. even safer on private networks. Stay OFF the internet for things you don’t want others to see, or for a modicum of privacy, have a network pro set up a Virtual Private Network(VPN) over the internet between you and those you wish to communicate with… then at least you know all the data is encrypted… and somoebody is gonna have to expend a GREAT deal of energy trying to hack that.
That being said, most folks are completely safe and shouldn’t worry– ’cause who cares what Bob Smith is emailing to Joe BLow??? But if you’re Sarah Palin, or Barrack Obama… watch out because celebrities are always targets for hackers.
104. Chris Trapani | 09.18.08
BLAH BLAh BLah Blah blah! Vote independent, less government = less liberals!
105. Von | 09.18.08
If she didn’t want her personal account hacked she shouldn’t have used it for public business. Once she did that her account was open for public examination as far as I am concerned. No one would have bothered if she were attempting to circumvent the public records laws by using her private account for government business.
106. Bronson Sweet | 09.18.08
I am so tired of hearing what is happening to Palin. How does she plan to turn around the economy? What does she plan to do to stop terrorist attacks? How will she reduce the out of control deficit? We don’t hear that because the conservative folks are too busy throwing up smoke and mirrors about poor Palin. She is in the news everyday with something else happening to her… sorry I don’t vote because I feel bad for someone, I vote because someone can make this country a better place for future generations. Her email got hacked, so what, one in five of my phone calls is recorded and kept by the FBI without my knowledge. The fbi can log into your ADT system and listen to the microphone at everything going on in your house. So what if some guy hacks her Yahoo! mail. If she was smart, she would know that these public emails are not secure. There are tools to hack them all over the place. Email is not secure! Repeat Email is not secure! That is why we don’t conduct business via email. Does she realize how many servers that message crosses when she sends it? All of which can pull a record and see what was sent? If not, let me tell everyone, nobody has to hack email to read it, you can read it simply by it crossing and SMTP server. Please see the Texas A&M website:
We strongly discourage using email to send messages of a personal or confidential nature. Email is not secure, and can be read in transit by people other than the recipient. Sending email is like sending a letter in an unsealed envelope; most information you send is probably safe, but an unscrupulous person could read your message, change it, or even impersonate you. Email is copied, archived, and retransmitted continuously as part of normal processing. Because of this, please use email only to request information about our services, or other non-confidential matters.
So to heck with Palin, she will not be elected on pitty like everyone in this party thinks. In the words of George H Bush, If you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen.
107. What Isgoinon | 09.18.08
It is funny how everything is blamed on the Bush administration when the Dems. have control of the house and senate (with a whopping 8% approval rating). Everything is twisted and turned into being the fault of the Bush admin. What a joke.
108. Mark | 09.18.08
To all of those who are bashing McCain’s supposed lack of email savvy…you should hang your head in shame. It isn’t that he does not know how to use e-mail or the internet…He had severe injuries as a POW during the war. He can use these tools but prolonged use causes pain. Why don’t you set aside your political bias for just a moment and think outside your pitiful little box. I guess you just wouldn’t understand what making a sacrifice for your country is about. That sacrifice is what enables you to spew forth the garbage from your keyboard.
109. jlove | 09.18.08
I have four email accounts, one for work, one for personal friends/family, one for misc. items (such as signing up for accounts on websites and so forth) and one that I had when I was a teenager. I don’t care who you are, how corrupt you may be, hacking into someone’s email is wrong. I’m not a huge fan of Palin, but I don’t think she is inherently corrupt that the extreme left try to paint her to be. I mean come on, they didn’t even find anything that consequential in her email, family photo’s? A few exchanged emails from political figures? Hardly sounds like a scandal to me.
110. l33t h4×0r | 09.18.08
L00k @ m3, 1 c4n p05t 0n d4 1nt3rn3t t00! W00t!
@ tammons: You started to make a point until you turned to your “Far-left liberals” conspiracy theory.
@ Kerry: Firewall? Don’t you realize that Yahoo email is accessible via the Internet?
@ Gene: You Hillary fanatics get old…let’s have four years of someone that opposes the WOMAN we want in office so we can have a chance to get HER in office next time.
@ Paul: So Republicans are religious zealots and Democrats are heathens…(thanks for clearing that up for us). Whatever happened to the separation of church and state? Anyways, you can be a strong person but that doesn’t fix ignorance. Take your holier than thou attitude and shove it.
@ Bill: Uh, first, this is an issue about a GOVERNMENT official, not some CEO. Second, most companies do have rules about conducting official business outside of official channels, like not using personal email accounts for business purposes.
111. Samuel | 09.18.08
The rule of law and the respect for law is a principle of a governed society. Theft is a crime. If this was the recording industry the perpetrators would already be identified and sued in civil court with criminal charges filed , if possible. The left needs to understand that personal gratification at the expense of others will generate a response. To put it in simple terms, back off.
112. David | 09.18.08
Just as certain corporations have rules regarding use of corporate email for personal use - would it not seem fitting that Government email should also not be used for personal emails? If the content of the email had shown a bunch of official communications then that would be an important matter - however, the report only mentions personal emails, photos etc.
“The topic of whether Palin should be using a personal account for state business has been subject of a lot of talk recently. Two days before the email account was hacked, the Anchorage Daily News discussed it.”
Again, by the writers own text - “personal emails, email addresses of her parents, children and friends, private family photos, and phone numbers”.
The writer even managed to make a reference to Rove at the end of the article.
Quite clearly yet another example of writing a smear piece. Pathetic.
113. sarantx | 09.18.08
She cannot or should not have a personal e-mail account? I mean, come on, people. Besides, I would much rather she was using a personal account for family and friends or her personal life (you know, like us, recipes, joke of the day, newsletters from her children’s schools, shopping, - stuff like that) than the government service. Government officials are people, too - aren’t they? This is juvenile politics - criminal, but juvenile. Her call sign should be Phoenix.
114. Bronson Sweet | 09.18.08
In response to personal information being displayed all over the web. Why not? Mine is without my control. You can see my yard on Google, you can drive by my house on google? You can look up if I have ever had a traffic ticket. You can find my phone number. If I call somewhere they can look my phone number up in reverse, or address for that matter. She is a public official her information should be more public than me, the privat citizen in my opinion.In response to personal information being displayed all over the web. Why not? Mine is without my control. You can see my yard on Google, you can drive by my house on google? You can look up if I have ever had a traffic ticket. You can find my phone number. If I call somewhere they can look my phone number up in reverse, or address for that matter. She is a public official her information should be more public than me, the privat citizen in my opinion.
115. Thanatos | 09.18.08
Bill said:
So I guess having a business and pesonal email account is now a crime? Let’s take a poll of every business owner in the USA who has a business email and personal email and see if they have EVER used their personal email for a business transaction? I wonder if they are all criminals…
Who ever said she was running a business? Nice try though. She is a public official, working for the people. However, I do not condone breaking into her personal email. I think my concern is she doesn’t understand this whole “public official” thing. Yes, she needs to turn over her tax returns which she is reluctant to do. No, she can’t fire people based on her own agendas. And she needs to learn about foreign (and domestic) policy.
116. Jay | 09.18.08
I think the bigger point should be that Palin thinks she is above the law and manipulate it however she wants. She was told to turn over any government email that have been sent to her personal email account and not to use a personal email for government communications. This is the law for reason of accountability in government, however apparently it does not apply to Palin.
So what kind of role model does Palin make for the rest of the citizens of the country? You can ignore the law to avoid accountability for the things you say and do.
Without the hackers real enemies of the state would have a lot easier time accessing the countries secrets, and causing real damage. Most hackers are ethical and stop from doing damage that could cause death and endanger lives, they serve a purpose in the IT world and expose security failures.
117. Bill G. | 09.18.08
Cracking into anybodies e-mail or phone calls or regular mail is despicable. Our own government seems to think it is just OK though. I don’t. I never gave up my right to privacy, it was stolen from me by a POS government.
Palin, if elected will not fight for our rights or uphold the constitution any more than Bush or Cheney. Neither will Obama and what’s his name. They are just puppets of a larger puppet master which we don’t get to see or vote for. I won’t vote for a puppet.
Personally I would much like to see every “public servant” under 24 hr surveillance and their video broadcast on TV. Kinda of like the way it is heading for the average citizen now. She just got a taste of her own possible medicine. Tastes bad.
118. George Tichy | 09.18.08
Why are so many people afraid of government transparency? They pay the bills, and don’t have the right to know what is going on?
Would you protec your child’s “privacy” at home knowing that something must be going wrong? Or would you actually try to get into his/her emails?
What was Pailin hidding anyway? It’s evident that there must be something! If elected, she will be just another CHENEY, may be still worse!!!!
119. NotAnon | 09.18.08
For all of you saying “Personal information only” was in her account…
Shut up and read the damn news:
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4013
120. Alec | 09.18.08
If Sarah Palin was using private email accounts to skirt open records laws, that’s one thing. But I’m left wondering whose fault it was for the actual hacking. As soon as Palin became a candidate, the Secret Service was supposed to be her watchdog. They should have de-briefed her to discover all avenues of communication she used … to oversee them and either protect them from access or suggest alternative communication channels.
As a candidate, she could be privy to national security information considered sensitive. Based on the fact that it was posted to a website, it seems clear the hacking was just a sophomoric prank. But what if she’d been hacked by a hacker from Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, or Al Qaeda … and they kept quiet? This woeful lack of communications security was certainly noticed by “unfriendly” powers.
I’m certain McCain has taken Palin to the metaphorical “woodshed” on this, to make certain it NEVER happens again. But I wonder if someone, somewhere, will take the U.S. Secret Service to the woodshed, too … before insecure communications by candidates are exploited by someone more sinister than a sophomoric hacker?
121. sephy | 09.18.08
Uh hello, earth to Palin! hackers hack people who are in the media! Before the VP ticket you were still in the public eye. Thus, you could have been hacked just as easily.
She was stupid for using a yahoo account. This just shows the poor decision making ability she has. The McCain camp is only upset because they look like id10ts right now.
123. Wilkin Chu | 09.18.08
We all seem to justify this heinous and illegal act by pointing Palin’s use of an unofficial e-mail. All those conservative haters are making excusing for this illegal act. Hacking and invasion into anyone’s e-mail account, regardless of party affiliation should be prosecuted to the fullest extent provided by law. It looks like the left is getting so desperate, they’ll resort to anything. Disgusting!
124. Hilary Smith | 09.18.08
This is America. The people are in charge. Why do we elect incompetent leaders? Because we’re incompetent.
We had better start questioning authority in this country or some day we won’t be able to.
125. alice southwick | 09.18.08
Gene,
Your rationale for not voting for Obama to protect Hillary’s chance to become prez is just dimwitted drivel. Hillary would be well rewarded within an Obama White House, I am sure. She has made it clear that the most important thing right now is to get him elected. She has put her own ego behind what is best for this Country. We are in a boatload of trouble–debt, unemployment, an unwinnable war, at a higher risk for terrorism because the world pretty much hates us, etc.) because of the past eight years of Republican “governance.” To even suggest that we endure another four years of the same old (and it will be the same old) knee-jerk Republican **** is simply irresonsible. Get with it.
126. Anon | 09.18.08
Much more interesting than emailed family photos…
Obama’s MENTOR in his high school years, was Frank Marshall Davis, the COMMUNIST poet and journalist from Chicago who retired in Hawaii…
Now here’s a HUGE story waiting to break…
127. Sam | 09.18.08
Well if Palin was in the public more instead of studying/cramming about all things Presidential I would have more of a problem with this. However, seeing as I know nothing about her and she is not making herself available, for obvious reasons, i don’t really care.
128. Carlton | 09.18.08
How come everyone keeps saying that she had no right to use a personal email account to do government business? I can read (I guess better than most Dems) and it said there wasn’t nothing in there other than personal information. Just because the writer implies that she is using it as such doesn’t supersede the fact there was no proof of that.
129. Matt | 09.18.08
Yahoo email accounts get hijacked every day. Sure, it sucks, but that’s just a fact of life. Yahoo email accounts aren’t particularly secure, even for users savvy enough to use unguessable passwords and hints. If the person(s) responsible for stealing the accounts are found (fat chance) and convicted, they won’t face any worse charges than if they had hacked any other private citizen’s account - but when sentencing comes, they’ll certainly get the book thrown at them and wind up with a short prison term & huge fine.
Hopefully Sarah Palin will have learned a valuable lesson from this: She can either hide in the shadows, away from accountability and the public’s Right to Know; or she can hide under the government’s secure wings & watchful eyes, away from the criminals and hackers waiting in the shadows. She has hopefully realized that she can’t do both, because continuing to send or receive government correspondence on non-government email servers is a GRAVE THREAT to our national security. If she was familiar with DHS policies for electronic communication, she would have never discussed some of the sensitive topics discovered in her email - including messages with her staff about using Yahoo email accounts to dodge subpoenas.
Mrs. Palin has come to a crossroads - Either she keeps her nose sparkling clean, and her windows even cleaner to prove it; or she goes back to shooting moose, schemeing all night long in her unsecured email accounts, and otherwise being a good mother to her disabled newborn, pregnant teenager, and the rest of her brood.
I don’t understand why there are so many creepy people here who defend public officials’ abuse of Executive Privileges? Why aren’t you scared? This isn’t Hollywood where we can stuff popcorn down our throats and wait for Tom Cruise to swing into a corrupt official’s office on a bungee and swipe a microfilm full of damning evidence. This is real life, and we can’t risk giving officials the type of secrecy and enabling that has historically only been afforded to dictators with personality cults.
130. Bronson Sweet | 09.18.08
Palin has leadership experience? She is a governor how does that qualify her to run a country? She has never even been in the federal government to see how it works. You say Obama doesn’t have leadership expierence.. ok.. so he hasn’t been the President or a Governor, but you seriously feel more confident about a Mayor of a little town and the Governor of a State that isn’t really even in tune with everyday life in the lower 48 as opposed to anybody who has already served in the federal government and the ins and outs of it?
And this:
To all of those who are bashing McCain’s supposed lack of email savvy…you should hang your head in shame. It isn’t that he does not know how to use e-mail or the internet…He had severe injuries as a POW during the war.
Are you kidding me? Who cares. I am so tired of the republicans trying to win office on some unrealted matter. I appreciate that he was a POW, but so were several other people. He shouldn’t win because people like him because he was a POW, Palin shouldn’t win because everyone is so mean to her. They should win because they have a plan to fix this mess of a country.
And as for the people who are blaming the Democratic Congress… They couldn’t get anything passed if they wanted to with your 4 years of lame duck president. We have given the republican party 8 years and they have stunk up the joint, its time for a real change.
131. Larry Brothers | 09.18.08
5. chuck jarzbek | 09.18.08
At least Sarah knows how to use e-mail as opposed to McCain who is computer illerate! <- what is this word?
133. Dallas Veteran | 09.18.08
I don’t know what kind of people feel it is there God given right to trash those who they disagree with. If you want change then get off your backsides and serve this country, either in elected office, or volunteer at homeless shelter, pickup trash from our roads, or join the Military. You self righteous cowards who hide behind the internet and do things like displaying some-ones private email are no better then the govenrment you disagree with. Debate the issues, personal attacks are tactics that are employed by those we have fought and defeated in war. I don’t care for Hilary or her cheating husband, but I don’t go through their trash behind their home looking for items that make the headlines. I vote against them. I suppose you young kids didn’t take civics in school, the vote is the one tool that is given to you by birth right and by becoming a U.S. Citizen if born else where. Learn to use its laws & love this country a bit more. Time will tell if Obama or McCain is the answer. But lowering yourself to the level of sleze you are showing your lack of morals, ethics, and dignity. So grow up, this country has run just find for over 200 hundred years with all kinds of people in office. The bad ones went away in disgrace. The rest were recongnized for their duty to this country. God Bless the USA
134. David | 09.18.08
Bronson: All that information you describe is publicly available because it is *public*. For example - anyone can drive down your street and take a photo of your house - you have no expectation of privacy in that regards. However, if you live in the US then, due to the bill of rights - you do have an expectation of privacy in regards to your domestic communications.
135. itch | 09.18.08
a major bank informed me yesterday that a box of tapes with backup information, including my credit information, had been lost during a routine transfer; the VA informed me two years ago that a careless employee took the data of thousands of veterans home on a laptop only to lose that laptop - somehow I don’t feel any pity for Palin’s breach of family contact information and photos. I haven’t read the lists of the contents in her email account, but that the news reports no ****, no government documents, no conspiracy theories or private correspondence with Sen. Stevens, I’m of the initial opinion the hackers got to only one of her private email accounts, or the inside job cleared the account before public viewing. Whatever, in the cynical, contemporary and blaise form of speech whatever implies, there’s still 40 days of distraction to go as the thieves make out the backdoor with the laws and the loot.
136. Bronson Sweet | 09.18.08
117. Hilary Smith | 09.18.08
This is America. The people are in charge. Why do we elect incompetent leaders? Because we’re incompetent.
We had better start questioning authority in this country or some day we won’t be able to.
WELL WELL WELL WELL SAID!!!! WELL SAID!
137. Country Boy | 09.18.08
I think the Demos just crossed the line with this one. This is old time Chicago politics at it nastiest. I’m just gonna sit back and watch.The bottom line is Demos have to much money and no qualified candidate. Talk about putting lipstick on a pig! As an independant I’ll stay with McCain/Palin.
138. charles woodworth | 09.18.08
The media double standard arises again. Might we at least see the journalistsand blogs’ personal emails as prerequisites to such gross invasion of the privacy of others. “What?,you say. Public disclosure of media emails? Facism! How Busharian a measure! Media information and sources are protected by the Constitution.” There you are folks. The elitist media double standard. Media falling back on Constitutional rights at the exclusion and expense of the rest of us. True? Folks, ask Sarah. And as a post script, perhaps, Govenor Palin, this is just an additional place among many to begin the Reformation. After all, hacker is just a techy way of trying to sanatize another criminal. And criminals, without a doubt, they are. Criminals abusing the Constitution, I might add. By the way, what’s next, bugging the Palin bedroom? Be still my beating heart.
139. Obama’s A Joke | 09.18.08
I have asked two questions and have heard them asked many times, but I am yet to hear a logical answer. So here it goes again:
1) Can anyone tell me one thing Obama has done in his past, without mentioning McCain or Palin, that qualifies him to be commander & chief?
2) What has Obama done in the past tht makes you believe he is going to bring change to the White House? The most common response I usually hear is he’s extremely intelligent: Well Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, or even Hitler were extremely intelligent.
Not that Obama is any of these people, but there are a lot of intelligent people in the world who arent fit to run this country. And of course I always get the well look at McCain, he supports Bush 90% of the time; this answer seems to be the only thing Democrats have to hang on to. And if thats your angle, then on the flipside of that, Barrak Hussien Obama has voted Democrat 97% of the time.
And last time I checked, congress, which is controlled by the Democrats, has less than a 10% approval rating. Feel free to give it a shot?
The responses usually point out what a fast talking fraud Obama actually is.
140. Willie | 09.18.08
It’s disgusting that everyone is questioning McCain’s e-mail savvyness. McCain spent 5-1/2 years in captivity. He was injured to such an extent, that he is not able to operate a keyboard, that you guys make fun of him for not having an e-mail address? I assume that because you are so computer savvy, you are probably reasonably young. You should thank God that people like McCain was out there protecting your right to be stupid.
141. Frank | 09.18.08
I keep hearing the libtards claiming that the Governor Palin should be prosecuted for conducting government business over a Yahoo email account, yet the only thing found on her Yahoo email account was of a PERSONAL nature. It’s not like she violated the Logan Act, or anything like that, like Prince Obama did. That’s not such a big deal to you scumbags though is it?
You people are beyond disgusting. God help us if you and your thuggish, condone any crime as long as it might benefit you, ways ever gets back into the White House. You all make me sick and I am ashamed to call you my countrymen.
142. Paul Bordieri | 09.18.08
If this privacy infringement on Governor Palin wasn’t so serious, I would laugh at those leftist hacks who are so scared by Gov. Palin. It’s a great thing that Sen McCain’s disability doesn’t allow him to use e-mail. He could have broke Pres. Clinton’s record of sending only two e-mails during the Clinton years. I think both of them were sent to some staffer about a date.
I would like this hacker to invade Dodd,Obama,Kerry and Frank to see what they were saying as they lobbied for Freddie Mac and Franie May.
Why isn’t anyone talking about their contribution along with Clinton’s about these bank failures.
Pres. Bush definitely has his faults but I think there are others involved, including Biden who had their hands on this tar baby.
So much for Obama’s “change”. This is just more of the Democratic politics with a different color.
Don’t you just love how Pelosi and Reid are helping to get us out of the enrgy crisis? More of the Democratic delays.
143. Bryan | 09.18.08
tammons: I agree 100%. I’m amazed at how well she has taken the barrage of attacks. And I agree that they should at least leave the family out of it.
Chuck jarzbek: You are the very definition of irony… Basing a guy for not being computer “literate” all the while misspelling the word “illiterate”.
Kerry: You completely fail!!! How would a personal firewall save ANYONE from having their Yahoo email account attacked?? And, they didn’t “hack” her email account. They used her security questions to change her password and gain access to the account. Oh, by the way… the word savvy is spelled with two V’s.
Becca: When you state something, don’t be a typical liberal… State ALL of the facts! The refusal to fully cooperate in the investigation is because it has been taken over by the democrats which makes the investigation biased. She did turn over email evidence supporting her claim that the firing was due to his failure to perform his job not because he refused to fire someone.
James: Yes, the patriot act gives our government the authority to invade the privacy of any American given that they have sufficient evidence to support their decision. What the government DOESN’T do is post your personal stuff on the Internet for all the world to see.
To everyone else… Quit with the “McSame” and “McBush” BS… You all have been brain washed into thinking this… If you don’t believe me, do some bipartisan research. Search any article quoting a member of the Obama campaign pertaining to McCain and count how many times they put Bush’s name right next to McCain’s. Most of the time the association they claim doesn’t even make sense!
144. Melanie | 09.18.08
Umm, can I get a black kettle over here. The GOP seems to be hogging them all.
145. Van | 09.18.08
Not much difference between the Watergate break in and breaking in to Palins email . . . there both illegal and should be thoroughly investigated then prosecuted
146. DCX2 | 09.18.08
I love how people here rail so hard about…email. The hackers belonged to a juvenile website called 4chan, a group of people who call themselves anonymous. One of the people in Anonymous changed the password and emailed Ivy Frye to tell her that someone else in Anonymous hacked the account.
Mind you, no one was harmed, physically or financially. Not a single person. Yet here some people are calling for imprisonment in Guantanamo? Do you realize that minors make up a significant portion of 4chan? (BTW, Obama has nothing to do with 4chan - anyone with intelligence has nothing to do with 4chan for that matter)
Get a grip. It’s some email. A small privacy violation. Did you call for Carly Fiorina’s head whenever the HP Pretexting scandal broke out? Or did you look the other way when Fiorina became a prominent surrogate for McCain? And someone actually suffered financial losses due to that privacy violation!
147. Desmond F | 09.18.08
Of course the far left liberals are outraged. This is a privacy issue. But we are outraged by her attitude of special privilege too. We can dislike both at the same time.
It’s why we always loose elections, we don’t believe in the ends justifying the means. If it turns out that these guys are part of any Democratic party organization, then I want them to go to jail on the fastest track possible. They deserve some jail time either way.
148. Fred | 09.18.08
Wow, all this outrage. Dems this, GOP that, I hate Obama cause Hillary didn’t get selected, wha, wha, whine, whine. Let’s focus on the issues rather then ranting about how its some conspiracy from the man or whatever. We have serious problems and need to look at which candidate will potentially move us in a direction where everyone will be better off rather in four years.
149. rick | 09.18.08
If it had been a democrat who’s E-mail was hacked no one would give a ****. What kind of communist country have we become?
151. David | 09.18.08
Chuck 88. Have you ever entered the US after visiting someplace abroad? Every had your baggage checked? Did you expect that your baggage was not subject to search? Of course not - because the government does not need to obtain a warrant for searching stuff coming into or out of the country - for example: bags, parcels, letters, email or telephone calls.
152. robt | 09.18.08
What’s next? We’ll soon find out that Palin doesn’t eat enough vegtables. Oh noooooooooooooooooooo.. Not enough vegtables!!!! Where is da pooooooolice when you needs one?
153. Dave | 09.18.08
What I can’t understand is why suddenly, after all this time with Bush in office people are so quickly flocking to support the Republicans when, for the past 8 years they have done nothing but lie to the American people.
Just because a woman is now on the scene in the Republican party doesn’t mean that the Republican party is suddenly honest. Nor does it mean that she was chosen for some special God-given purpose. The only reason she was chosen was because McCain was desperate. Obama was too strong.
All you women who supported Hillary and now support McCain drive me insane simply for the fact that you threw all your morality, all your values and all your hatred for Bush and Republicans OUT THE WINDOW, just so you can vote for a woman?!
That’s insane? You are completely skewed in your thinking. McCain and Palin don’t stand for anything that Hillary stands for…so if you support Hillary, why in God’s name would you support McCain?!
If Republicans win, it’s because Americans are ignorantly passionate about their politics
154. lyndsay | 09.18.08
She should not be using a private email address for governmental purposes. This is why the hackers did it because she was trying to circumvent safeguards for politicians and avoid any transparency. Not to condone this but it certainly brought attention to Governor Palin’s not paying attention to rules to shroud things in secrecy and it appears she was trying to hide something. As a public official, she reports to the public but she doesn’t know that and neither does George Bush so that is not good news. It’s just a side issue by comparison to everything else. They won’t let her speak to reporters to shield her but who will shield her if McCain dies. Does she understand democracy and that not everyone thinks like her? Does she study anything besides the bible?
156. George Tichy | 09.18.08
#105: “The rule of law and the respect for law is a principle of a governed society.”
Why don’t you remind Bush/Cheney about it? They commited so many crimes against the Constitution, and there they are laughling at us!!
157. Dave | 09.18.08
Ducarmel, I have yet to see any written proof, other than speculation and inuendo that any Official Govermental business has been conducted via email. I may have missed it though since I don’t read all of these “truth laden” blogs.
Scorch, if I am not mistaken, approximately 3/4 of the carreer politions in DC are Lawyers who graduated high in their class. I see two problems with this. 1. They are responsible for our current situations. 2. They are responsible for our current situations! I did not graduate at the top of my class either, infact I don’t even have a college degree, but some things are just obvious to an old farm boy. When you keep losing chickens, maybe you should quit putting the fox in the hen house every night! How about getting rid of the cause of the problem? Term limits! Two terms is good enough for the President, why not Congress? Why are there not more average citizens in office? Maybe they are too smart? Maybe they don’t think they are above the law? Maybe they don’t have the right connections to big money? I don’t live in a $1.4 million house, do any of you? NEWS FLASH, bigger government has never solved anything! All of our problems are a result of Bigger Government and Government interference! People don’t go to war, Governments do! Free health care is not free. People as a whole trash subsudized housing. Highly educated teachers are in charge of our public education system, that is why we out source technical jobs, our educational system is broken also! Yes change is needed but not from more Government run buy rich democrat lawyers who lie and portray they are one of us common folk! Yes McCain and his wife have 7 houses, Obmas financial adviser made an average $15 million a year in charge of either Fannie or Fredie. He is an average joe? We taxpayers are going to pay for all of these bailouts with money we earned by physically working. Have they ever really worked? Have they ever lived in a single wide trailer? Have they ever lived from paycheck to paycheck? Change means getting people in office who do not fit into the mold! Change means getting rid of the status quo! Change means that the American people have to start thinking for themselves and demanding culpability of their elected officials. It may even mean electing someone who was not the validictorian.
158. Helen | 09.18.08
The way the world is now I think we had all better get our heads together and try and get America back on track. Most people don’t realize what a mess we are in. We have had it very good for a long long time, but the God of my understanding is going to surprise America, and then less see who will make fun of our politians, America is going down people China owns us.
159. NotAnon | 09.18.08
@ Country Boy
You are as ignorant and one-sided as they come.
The “Demos” didn’t do this, the group “Anonyomous” did this.
You somehow have access to the internet, look them up on Wikipedia. They are a self-organized/disorganized group of people with and without agenda. The biggest enemy they have are people with too much confidence and all the ignorance to back up that confidence. All they are doing is trying to show you how inept some of the highest/mightiest people are, and then sitting back with the rest of the world in dismay as you continue to put this type of person on a pedestal.
If Obama did something like this, they’d have done this to him. And who knows? Maybe they will still. Chances are, though, he’s smarter than some token-female-to-pull-Hillary-supporter-votes-away-from-Obama… And all of you know that’s exactly what she is. “Barracuda” “Pit-bull” aside. Just like a feeble-minded fish or an overly aggressive dog that attacks your toddler when left alone with him/her, she has proven absolutely nothing but incompetence and lack of ability to do a job correctly and within legal bounds.
160. George Tichy | 09.18.08
#111 - Bill: “Cracking into anybodies e-mail or phone calls or regular mail is despicable.”
Please remind BUSH about it. Have you forgotten that this administration did the most outreageous invasion of privacy spying on us US citizens?
161. edwin | 09.18.08
As I tell my children…
Don’t put anything out on the internet that you would care about being made public. Even a secure site is not always secure.
162. david | 09.18.08
in response to comment by Kery(#8 post)”At least they have 1 of them who can use the internet, but she doesn’t seem to have a lot of savy on how to protect herself..Can you say firewall?”
having a firewall on her computer would not help prevent her Yahoo account being hacked.the account is on a yahoo webserver,not her personal computer.this is whyy a person can access thier account no matter where they are and no matter on what computer they are using.in other words,palin was not attacked,yahoo was.
163. Stacie | 09.18.08
Barack Obama selected a running mate thinking, “If I do get elected, and something were to happen to me, who could step in and do good work for America?”
John McCain selected a running mate thinking, “How do I get elected? Who can help me get elected? Let me pick an attractive, conservative woman. She will appeal to women who think it is time a woman became president, and will appeal to the right wing base. Palin! Perfect! Yeeha!”
164. Joop | 09.18.08
We immediately terminate any employee using private email at work to discuss work business. For every webmail account, once the login process takes place, every keystroke is captured and automatically analyzed. If you’re sending a quick email to Grandma with photos of your kids, no problem, the log is deleted and a human will never see it. However, if you include information about business, even to Grandma, a log is kept and ranked. The higher the risk ranking, the more likely it will be reviewed by Security.
Palin is a clueless clown and her use of private email accounts for government business proves it.
The hilarious bit is that the US government is in the process of implementing the same software that my employer developed and I don’t believe that this will be communicated (at least intially). If Palin/McInsane are elected and she continues the practice, she may be sweating in front of the FBI, NSA and/or the CIA.
165. sephy479 | 09.18.08
I work for a pharmaceutical company and we have STRICT SOPs that state that we can NEVER use personal email for company business. I would be outraged if our government doesn’t have the same policy.
The reason that we are required to use our company domain is because it is SECURE! And they track emails for legal reasons. If Plain is shocked that her yahoo account was hacked she is a dope.
166. egc52556 | 09.18.08
Typical GOP response: blame the whistle-blower. This is more Plame-ian than Rove-ian.
Should Anonymous have hacked Palin’s account? No. Should Palin have used that account to conduct public business? No.
Maybe we could look at the situation like this: Anonymous were “community activists” while Palin supposedly had “responsibility.” Which of the two has the public invested more trust and which should be held to a higher standard?
167. One Vote | 09.18.08
“perplexed voter” suggested Carly Fiorina had paid someone to hack into other board members’ e-mails. Actually the correct name is Patricia Dunn, former Chairwoman of HP. Ms. Dunn was dismissed in 2006 for hiring an investigator who was found to have hacked into a board member’s e-mail.
Ms. Fiorina preceded Ms. Dunn as Chairwoman of the Board; she also held the CEO position at that time. To note, Ms. Fiorina had been dismissed from HP back in 2005 due to disagreement with an impatient board on the company’s performance. Her strategies, to include the successful acquisition of Compaq, were subsequently vindicated as her successor stayed the course she had set. If you had bought the stock prior to her departure and held through today…yes…SEPT 18…you’d be a very happy camper.
168. Stacie | 09.18.08
Palin is dumb enough to conduct business of State on an unencrypted private account.
Imagine what would happen if she becomes VP and used her private email to conduct official US Government business. The whole world could snoop on it.
And she calls herself a champion of national security.
169. Janet | 09.18.08
Some of these responses blame McCain for the media coverage of Palin’s hacked email. How could it be McCain’s camp creating the problem? Surely Americans aren’t ignorant enough to think Republicans would do this to themselves?! I don’t know if the Obama group had anything to do with it, but considering the way he forced all his opponents off the ballot to get elected in the first place, it looks like an Obama technique. I thought it was hysterical that I read Obama used email for “important” things like sports scores–you go O! Everybody I know has a business and a personal email and uses both for both. Come on email users. Fess up.
170. George Tichy | 09.18.08
New add to be run soon: Vote McDISASTER/McFALIN
Beware: Palin = Cheney with LIPSTICKS!!!!
171. Charley | 09.18.08
Excuse me, Paul. Are you saying there are no Christian democrats? That republicans hold the lease on being ‘Christian’? Why Paul. How very UN-christian of you…… Do unto others, Paul… Do unto others.
172. mbviews | 09.18.08
Words cannot describe the unending hatred and blood thirsty rage of today’s modern liberals and Democrats.
*** I don’t know if anything can stop them. **
They have too many rationalizations for doing just about whatever they want to or need to. They can be all about stopping us from checking in on phone conversations of terrorists, yet have every reason in the world to check a Republicans personal email accounts. To them, it all makes sense. And it is there rationalizations that make it through the media.
What will stop these blood thirsty liberals and Democrats? And, I wonder who it will be next week. Palin will be momentarily gone and there will be a new Republican/conservative for them to vent their rage.
173. George Tichy | 09.18.08
Voting for McDisaster & McFalin?
America thanks you for mMORE OF THE SAME BUSH-it.
174. Stacie | 09.18.08
The GOP is agitated that her email account was hacked into.
But then, this is what the PATRIOT Act does, and it was the GOP’s idea.
What do you think of the PATRIOT Act now, right wingers?
175. George Tichy | 09.18.08
Voting for McDisaster & McFalin?
America thanks you for MORE OF THE SAME BUSH-it.
176. G Bryant | 09.18.08
I can just imagine Vice President Sarah Palin using her personal email to communicate top secret government information. Dah !!
177. winner | 09.18.08
“Reagan came into the White House with about the same amount of experience as Palin …”
Are you serious? He had been governor of California for 8 years, and ran for president twice. He had been on the national political scene for 16 years when he was elected. We knew who we were getting, and like him or not he had real experience.
178. Scienceguy | 09.18.08
I do think that hacking into somebody’s email is wrong, but the government emails are kept for a longer period of time in order to catch spies and find other corrupt individuals. She used a private email address in order to hide her own government work, which is public information. If she didn’t want these ‘personal items’ to be viewed then she shouldn’t have mixed them with government information.
180. ipaintgolf | 09.18.08
This was just one email account her kids were using msn maybe she has some there also. Maybe she has 10 accounts. This one was a smokescreen.
181. Teddy | 09.18.08
The group that got her password has about as much to do with politics as World of Warcraft. They are a bunch of teenagers that live behind computers and know how to use them. They will attack anything they consider hypocritical or worth exposing. That simple folks… so knock it of with the Right and Left who dunnit…. and people do you not understand for about $200 anyone who has a public & free email can get “hacked” via a simple password retrieval service??? You guys are scary…
182. AnnapolisMD | 09.18.08
In reply to tammons | 09.18.08
If there is anyone out there that believes their email is private on a public server, they deserve to have their dirty laundry exposed. Please, if you want to keep something personal, encrypt it using a strong encryption algorithm.
By the time someone gains access to higher office (there’s only one office higher than VP in the US), they should know better. If they don’t, they do not deserve to be in the office.
Finally, our officials should not be using public email servers to conduct government business! Good grief, how stupid can she be?
183. AnnapolisMD | 09.18.08
In response to charles woodworth | 09.18.08
Please stop with the over use of the word elitist.
184. sparky | 09.18.08
Surely by now no one still has a Yahoo account. I sure transfered all my keeper stuff from mine and sent the rest to ****. I don’t think there are very many people out there that realized how easy it would be to hack someones e-mail. Computers are like any other tool, or gun, for that matter only the criminal will misuse them. If these criminals are caught, I’ll bet my social security check that Obama kisses them personally and will probably ask for the resignation of the people that did the catching. Go Christian Science Monitor lets tap all private phone lines now, is there any difference ? Just another liberal news organization. Lets all spend all our time pointing at the current administration and crying over spilled milk. If we cry enough everything will be cured.
185. Rick | 09.18.08
Welcome to the major league Palin. This is so great. So the GOV spends billions to try to track email from the “evil-doers” while a smart hacker does a better job on Palin for free.
Love to see all the comments on how we should not pick on her. No need to have visibility on her…she is not running for anything important…..just trust that the GOV is doing all the right things. Right on the war, Katrina, the banking system, global warming, overall state of the country….yep let us not pick on Palin.
186. Aatos | 09.18.08
Oh, good. More Pit Bull. This could happen to anyone at any time and the only thing protecting you is obscurity. The Internet is inherently insecure. So use a strong password: a random string of uppercase, lowercase, numbers and punctuation. Don’t populate the challenge questions with your mother’s maiden name. Mostly, just be grateful no one really gives a damn what “Click here for natural male enhancement” spam you’ve been forwarding to your golfing buddies.
187. Sunshine solves bad govtmnt | 09.18.08
She was using the account to avoid compliance with the open governance laws of AK. Emails to state officials about state business were among the emails exposed. This is just another example of corrupt Repub governance.
188. J Thomas | 09.18.08
“This is ridiculous and illegal, and even more ridiculous that people are making excuses for it like it is o.k..”
Agreed! Palin should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!
189. Bryan | 09.18.08
First of all, aside from any personal feeling on the matter, it is illegal to conduct state business on private emails. Just because Bush got away with it by blurring the definition does not mean it is legal and ethical.
The GOP is the most corrupt party ever from sex scandals to financial crimes to this.
For all those who voted for Bush for a second term - I hope your 401k has taken a bath and you have lost your retirement, this is what you deserve for your ignorance.
For all those who plan to vote for McCain, who lobbied hard for this deregulation, if you have any money left in your retirements after Bush, plan on it continuing to drain away. If you vote for him - you deserve what you get.
190. Independent | 09.18.08
This article may not have mentioned all of what was published yesterday, but it certainly has been spoken of in other articles. Sarah Palin was using this Yahoo account to conduct government business. She was more than likely using it at home.
That’s completely wrong. No government official should ever use public servers like Yahoo, MSN, Gmail or AOL to communicate government business.
It’s against the law and it should worry everyone that government information can be hacked into by anyone, anywhere around the world.
191. Bigger Problem | 09.18.08
hi everyone,
i want to bring up what might be the bigger issue here.
1) sarah palin had two personal email accounts that she used in order to evade FOIA requests and avoid public scrutiny of her actions. this is definitely an ethics violation, and is probably against alaskan law. (i don’t know for sure about the law, i’m not from alaska).
2) only one of the email accounts was broken into. it was done by the hacker clicking the “i don’t remember my password” button and then answering questions about her first pet’s name, what street she lives on, etc. it’s relatively easy to find or guess most of this information.
3) since her password was then reset, she noticed pretty quickly that her account had been compromised.
now here’s the troubling part:
4) BOTH of her accounts were DELETED. they didn’t just change the password and fix the password recovery questions to be something unguessable. they actually DELETED the accounts, INCLUDING THE ONE THAT HAD NOT BEEN COMPROMISED.
likely, there was a LOT of information here that would have been relavent to her ongoing investigation with troopergate. now, all those emails are conveniently gone.
so, it could be that someone who is against sarah palin hacked the account. it seems equally possible that someone working for her hacked the account in order to destroy damaging evidence against her in her troopergate fiasco.
i’m taking off my tinfoil hat now, but think about it.
192. Darscars | 09.18.08
Yeah, I mean seriously, why was she using yahoo! when she could have been using gmail? Seriously, who uses yahoo any more?
PS - I don’t mind that her emails were made public. She’s a public servant. Mental note “darscars, don’t leave a paper trail of anything you don’t want to end up on the front page of a newspaper and you’ll probably be okay.”
193. AnnapolisMD | 09.18.08
In response to Willie | 09.18.08
“He was injured to such an extent, that he is not able to operate a keyboard,”
Willie, how do you know this? Are you his doctor? Has he or his campaign ever said this in public?
If not, please just shut up.
194. Bill | 09.18.08
@ 15. Paul | 09.18.08
Interesting…you think that Christians and Democrats are mutually exclusive? And who hates who?
196. Dan Necci | 09.18.08
Hey DinosaurSarah, this is your civics teacher talking, please understand who controls both houses of congress, and who makes the laws.
197. AnnapolisMD | 09.18.08
In response to sparky | 09.18.08
“…lets tap all private phone lines now, is there any difference ?”
Sparky, yes. Your phone conversations are protected by law. Your email, on a public server, is not.
198. kevin wolfer | 09.18.08
to the idget who derides McCain for not using email–his war injuries previent him from using a keyboard. he hires others to do that for him. some people do not have any respect for others, nor in their ignorance care to find out. issues are one thing, attacks on a person or their family are quite another. if one is not willing to extend proper manners to another in the area of exchange of views and idea’s, just remember—what you hand out to others comes back to you in spades.
199. Thomas Dark | 09.18.08
Gene:
Telling people to vote against Obama so Hillary would get a chance to run in 2012 is just stupid.
First…Obama and Hillary represent the Democratic party. Voting against Obama would provide four more years of devastation to our economy, our civil liberties, appointment of conservative supreme court judges to overturn Roe v. Wade, etc. None of which makes sense.
The correct answer is to vote for Obama. Encourage the Democratic party to further boost Hillary’s status in the party and she WILL win after Obama’s terms. It is that simple.
201. lindsay | 09.18.08
Paul above said that Reagan came into office as President with about the same amount of experience as Palin. That’s a LIE. Reagan majored in sociology and economics in college. He was the president of the Screen Actor’s Guild, followed by TWO TERMS, 8 years, as Governor of one of the biggest, most populated states in the union. That is WAY WAY more experience that Caribou Barbie has. NO question. Get your facts straight, dude!!!! Sarah hasn’t even been Governor for two years yet. She’s a total lightweight.
202. Kay B. Day | 09.18.08
Breaking into anyone’s email is wrong. From what I read, the emails didn’t discuss anything significant. And I’d be willing to bet you that many politicians have more than one email account.
If we’re all about openness, a great place to start might be the release of more documents about the Kennedy administration. Many documents are still withheld. Or all those tapes JFK made. Or for that matter, the Clinton administration’s operative stuffing papers from the National Archive into his pocket and basically declaring ‘oops! lost it.’
There’s no good reason for the smears against Palin, other than desperation to win an election by any means. I’m all for grilling all the candidates from both parties on their platforms and their pasts. But email is in my opinion a person’s private property. Unfortunately, the hackers’ action will give ammunition to those who want to more rigorously control the Internet.
best, Kay B. Day
203. bluto | 09.18.08
People should understand thise movement, called “anonymous,” is absolutely an anti-establishment group. People eager to pin this on Obama supporters should know that these “anonymous” have nothing to do with partisan politics. They seem to be equal opportunity offenders.
204. mkk | 09.18.08
To the Wingers that think that the intelligent, educated, thoughtful patriotic Americans of the left are “scared” of Palin: We are not scared of a bullying, ignorant-and-proud-of-it, parochial PTA mom who would charge you for the right to carry your rapists baby to term. We are terrified at the idea of her in a position to run the country, even more than we are terrified at the idea of the brain-addled, flip-flopping, say-anything-on-any-given-day-to-get-elected-president McCain becoming President.
205. Stan | 09.18.08
It really is pathetic how leftists, with their greater education and higher IQs, use such flimsy stawman arguments in order to justify a criminal act. Period.
206. Thomas | 09.18.08
First off - I am a Democrat, and I am a Methodist…
The way I see it 3 crimes have been committed here.. 1) the hacker breaking into someone’s private files.. 2) Palin using a private e-mail address to conduct State Government Business in violation of Alaska Laws… 3) The deletion of the evidence by Palin and her associates.. -=-
Now the hacker is either some common criminal and deserves what he gets, or the hacker may be a whistleblower,.. But Palin is a Governor, and a VP candidate, and her flagrant violation of the law should be a concern to every American.. We cannot have a shadow government running this country.
Also if Palin feels injured that her private files were hacked in a private (non-secure) account as Governor where “SHE” herself made this mistake of posting it in the Internet Zone, thenn just imagine if she done this as Vice President, and allowed National Security Information out in this manner. She certainly did not show wisdom and prudence in this case.
207. homunq | 09.18.08
This was only one of two accounts she was using to get around sunlight laws - she had both gov.palin@yahoo.com and gov.sarah@yahoo.com. The other one has now been shut down, too.
208. JohnnyDoe | 09.18.08
I so love intelligent discussions “George Tichy” says
“Voting for McDisaster & McFalin?
America thanks you for MORE OF THE SAME BUSH-it.”
why not follow it with a carefully constructed retort like….
It’s better voting for O’Blamo and Has’biden?
America thanks you for MORE OF THE SAME SOCIALISM.
or…. You bad we good.
209. Ryan | 09.18.08
I do agree that it is quite the double standard for the Patriot Act to allow the government to peruse citizens’ email accounts, while once a private citizen tries to “investigate” potentials leaders, people start whining and pointing fingers. But nonetheless, I guess since it’s illegal to do this, it must be wrong.
It would be great if people would stop generalizing here…Republicans are this way, Democrats are that way. Please stop! I know Republicans that are atheists and believe in almost no government. I know Democrats that are Christians and that are lighthearted people. THIS is the reason why our country needs fixing. If we all stopped bickering and worrying and nitpicking, then we would all get a whole lot more accomplished. Remember, there are as many types of people in this world as there are people IN THIS WORLD.
210. Deborah | 09.18.08
For those of you who don’t understand why Mccain doesn’t type emails, it is because of injuries he got while being a POW. When was the last time any of you defended your country? You people are scared of Sarah Palin and will do anything to bring her and Mccain down. If your poor Obama had his emails spread all over the internet, you would cry foul.
211. dan | 09.18.08
Just another example of liberal hypocrisy. Complain about the patriot act and then make excuses for an act like this. I beginning to think liberalism is a degenerative brain disease…that prevents coherent thinking.
212. Must respond | 09.18.08
1. Palin is being investigated for a number of things. Not the least of which is an abuse of power (firing someone because he didn’t fire her sister’s ex husband) and (read this because it is relevant) Using personal email accounts to try to sidestep government record keeping on issues of policy. Will most of the extremist right care about this? Of course not, all they care about is the fact that she didn’t abort her baby, subscribing to the moronic idea that the left is, what, “pro abortion”? It’s pro CHOICE people. For a group that likes to wave the “less government” flag you sure seem quick to interfere with a woman’s right to make choices for her life.
2. A vote for Barrack is a vote against Hillary? You are obviously not interested in what is best for this country. You’re just following blindly the hope that a woman will make it to the top of the ladder. I welcome the day a woman ascends to that position. I just believe that her motives should be to make this country a better place for all, not simply to be the president.
3. As another commenter stated, this is just another non issue to distract voters from the fact that the McCain campaign has NOTHING to offer this country except continued lies and backward-thinking policies. The McCain campaign is about getting into the White House, not making America a better, safer, and more prosperous country to live in.
213. hafdan | 09.18.08
mark @ 102: To all of those who are bashing McCain’s supposed lack of email savvy…you should hang your head in shame. It isn’t that he does not know how to use e-mail or the internet…He had severe injuries as a POW during the war. He can use these tools but prolonged use causes pain. Why don’t you set aside your political bias for just a moment and think outside your pitiful little box. I guess you just wouldn’t understand what making a sacrifice for your country is about. That sacrifice is what enables you to spew forth the garbage from your keyboard.
Shame? are you serious? He got his injuries from torture right? So why does he condone it now? Point mooted … sit. I have life-enduring injuries from war too. Have you ever heard of “ACCESSIBILITY” software? Ya know, like voice recognition? Or, better yet, Mccain has millions of dollars, maybe he could contribute to the economy by hiring someone to type for him. Let the POW meme go Mark.
115. Wilkin Chu | 09.18.08
We all seem to justify this heinous and illegal act by pointing Palin’s use of an unofficial e-mail. All those conservative haters are making excusing for this illegal act. Hacking and invasion into anyone’s e-mail account, regardless of party affiliation should be prosecuted to the fullest extent provided by law. It looks like the left is getting so desperate, they’ll resort to anything. Disgusting!
Um… is spying on Americans’ emails without legal authority or their permission illegal? There we agree but… um… you are whining about the very thing that is happening to US citizens everyday by GWB’s administration with their beloved Orwellian “Patriot Act”. You conservatives are a laugh with fretting tears. Ya just don’t get it do ya? Do you really believe that noone has tried to hack the other side’s emails? Your naivete is astonishing. It’s just that they are not foolish enough to use a non-secured server to send government emails. Why is her husband copied on government emails? [url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/15/palin-asked-to-release-hu_n_126420.html]one wonders[/url]
214. iconoclast | 09.18.08
Funny how they can’t find anything incriminating in her emails, so the result is “why does she have a yahoo account?”
What part about ‘public official’ don’t you quite get? When someone’s elected to a public office ALL of their official correspondance becomes a matter of public record and, as such, must be reliably archived. A home e-mail account doesn’t do this - which is why it’s ILLEGAL. If you’re prepared to condone illegal behavior on the part of someone who’s job it might be to enforce those same laws all I can say is: please wake up
215. Cera | 09.18.08
The notion to persuade Hillary followers to vote against Barack so that she can run in 2012 is absurd! We need a change in direction today, not four years from now. This is no longer about Hillary, this is about our nation and who do we think is best now. I think it takes a narrow minded, for me only, type person to defer or work to shuffle votes for the sake of a candidate to run four years from now. How shallow can one get? Please, we need hope today to help overcome the financial crisis we are confronting. To change the subject, did you see the pictures from Alaska? It was the largest rally in the state of Alaska and CNN and other major news networks failed to cover. Wonder why? I guess they are sucking up to this fair and balanced notion and didn’t want to be the one that portrayed some of the not for Palin folks in her home state.
216. feckless | 09.18.08
PROSECUTE PALIN.
I find this similar to a whistleblower who violates secrecy laws to demonstrate government wrongdoing.
The GOP (w/ conservative democrats) have stated repeatedly in public and in legislation that in the face of terror, we the citizens, have no right to privacy.
However our founding fathers understood that the greatest threat to US citizens, the greatest “terror” we really face is a secretive tyrannical government.
If Palin’s personal email shows government work that should have been archived under law then Palin should be prosecuted.
Why is this not fruit of the poison tree evidence? Because when police use drug informants, the informants can do all kinds of things the cops can’t, as long as the cops didn’t direct them to do it. Same thing here, no government official directed the hackers to expose Palin’s probable illegal acts, therefore she should be prosecuted for it.
1) TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT NOW!
2) THIS COUNTRY NEEDS A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROTECTING PERSONAL PRIVACY AGAINST ALL GROUPS, PRIVATE AND PUBLIC.
217. Guillermo | 09.18.08
It just shows how naive Palin is, that’s all. On one hand you have McCain who admits he never uses a computer and Palin who is so unworldly as to use a Yahoo account with a simple password. Are these the people you want in the White House in the 21st Century? I think sharper minds are called for.
218. tania | 09.18.08
Who cares. Why must we assume this has anything to do with politics. It could just be some brilliant little geeks with nothing to do.
Its illegal, so lets investigate, prosecute and move on.
I am not a fan of any of the candidates but I am voting on the issues which this one is not.
219. George Washington | 09.18.08
re: 5. chuck jarzbek | 09.18.08
…….. “McCain who is computer illerate!”
Yo! Up-chuck! If you accuse President-elect McCain of being computer “illerate,” would you please define the term in quotes? Might you be one of those dumb-as-nasal-mucus Eastern leftists on the payroll of Osama, a.k.a. “The Drive-by Politician?”
220. the caped shitheader | 09.18.08
Gene, yeah you, up on comment number 10, I’ll paste it down below in case you forgot.
What a silly, ignorant comment to make. Do her the honor of making her VP? He doesn’t owe her anything. and vote for McCain so Hillary can be president? Now, there’s a statement that has “Greater Good” all over it.
You’re embarrassing yourself - go back to bed. And next time post something that’s actually relevant to the conversation.
Oh, and Gene, here’s the silly comment you posted:
Attention Hillary Voters:
Vote for Obama and you will have DESTROYED Hillary’s chance at becoming President!!
Obama has already destroyed Hillary’s chances for this time around. He couldn’t even do her the honor of making her VP.
Consider this:
If you elect Obama for 2008 , Hillary CAN’T RUN IN 2012!! The incumbent always runs for their party in reelection.
Hillary will then be 69 when she gets a chance to run as democrat. Then people will call her old(like they do McCain who is 72) and she will NEVER become President.
Reagan was 69 when he got elected but he wasn’t trying to break the glass ceiling at the same time.
So if you care at all about Hillary, you will VOTE AGAINST Obama this time around. Plus, you will break the glass ceiling and Hillary WILL BE THERE in 2012!!
Think about it!! It makes sense!!
If you support Hillary, YOU MUST VOTE AGAINST OBAMA!!!
221. captbilly | 09.18.08
Did any of you actually se the emails before they were taken down? I did and they weren’t all family photos, there were emails that would clearly be considered government business. There are a number of things that have been brought out by this incident. 1. We are reminded yet again (as if it were really necessary) that anything sent on the internet is not going to stay private. 2. Palin has shown that she is willing to break the law (whether it was as a convienence or because she was purposefully trying to keep the emails off the record is irrelevent as far as the illegality of the her actions). 3. Supporters of a candidate become something like fans at a ball game. Once they make up their mind to support a team they stop listening to anything that might cause them to change their mind.
Palin should never have been even seriously considered for the job by McCain. It showed both supremely poor judgement and very poor management of the vetting process. For whatever reason, in McCAin’s zeal to keep his pick secret until the announcement, he simply didn’t look into who this Palin person was. I am fairly certain that before this election is over McCain will wish he had made a different choice, but I am absolutely certain that if McCain is elected the American people will wish they made a different choice. We are on the verge of a financial meltdown the like of which few people alive today have seen. In the midst of that we have the media concerned about lipstick on a pig and McCain’s time as a POW. By the time this whole financial crisis shakes out nobody is even going to remember the lipstick or even McCain’s age and health issues, all we will be talking about is how did America fall so far so fast.
222. Nubby | 09.18.08
If Palin had used the government email for personal use that would have been used against her and much made of it. She had just gotten rid of a Republican leader for using his office for unofficial business. So she uses a private account everyone uses for PERSONNEL email and now everyone goes bonkers over that. So far everything I’ve is personnel not government business email. So there is nothing to back up these idiots claims. Since all of this took place while she was governor not a VP candidate it was not quite up to the level of a national security problem for her to use an email account she has probably had for years.
The leftist and Obama supports have no morals. The ends justifies the means. They take any means legal or illegal to get Obama elected. When Nixon’s henchmen did this in Watergate it terrible breach of confidence and Nixon had to resign. When Obama’s henchmen do this it’s suppose to be okay. Obama, like Nixon, will claim no responsibility but he will just happen to use any information that was gathered, twist it, and try smear Palin or McCain.
Somehow we seem to have two set of laws operating in the USA. One for liberals which everyone gets away with anything and the another for non-liberals in which every minor infraction requires hanging and death. Oh yes, that’s how Stalin got started too.
If you have ever read any of Stalin’s speeches or Fidel Castro’s you will find a familiar tone to them. They sound just like Obama.
223. Richard Sharpe | 09.18.08
Let’s get this straight. Some left wing, radical supporter of Obama hacks into Palin’s private and personal e-mail account, and its her fault? And then, John McCain is castigated by the Democratic dimwits on this post for not using e-mail because he cannot type due to his war injuries. Have I got that right? Only in America can one party (Democrats and its always the Dems who pull the nastiest stunts) do such a thing and expect to get away with it. Remember Chuck Schumer’s aides hacing into a senatorial condidate’s credit bureau report the last election cycle? Democratic operatives, surrogates and groupies are the lowest form of life on this planet. They have no morals, no sense of values, but they do have a strong sense of entitlement. They are truly twisted.
224. GEAH | 09.18.08
Wow!
I thought liberals refuse to blame the victim. I guess that all changes when the victim is a conservative.
225. George Tichy | 09.18.08
Oooohhhh, her email accounts just disappeared? Were deleted? Poor gal, so innocent…, and look what they are doing to her….
Really????? Oooohhh…..
Ask Karl Rove and the rest of Bush’s gang about those “mysterious” disappearances. They are experts on that. And they go without any legal consequences!!!!
This is all BUSH-it style!!!
What amazes me is that so many people still don’t get it, and want MORE OF THE SAME McBUHS-it! Now they are all excited about “Bush-with-lipsticks”…(It must be a matter of IQ!)
226. Chris Ramey | 09.18.08
They hacked her YAHOO accounts, not her OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT accounts! I don’t see why it’s blowing up like it is. There are two issues here.
#1. Someone broke into someone else’s email account. Much like if someone broke into any one of ours yahoo, gmail, hotmail, etc. accounts. It happens all the time! But strangely enough, now it’s a big deal!!!
#2. WHY is she using YAHOO for OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT email???? There are so many things wrong with this, it’s not funny. I’m sure the OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT email servers are more secure than Yahoo’s. She should be punished (fined, fired, something) for negligence while being in an official position!
227. Christina | 09.18.08
This is hilarious, she shouldn’t have been using her yahoo account for her gov’t business. Whether this is the GOP’s strategy to distract us from the economy or just to distract us from the fact that she is supposed to be being investigated anyway, the point is that Sarah Palin could be just as big of a criminal as these hackers are, and for some reason people still think she should be our president(because she would end up being our commander in chief, if McCain thinks he’s going to live to be 100 why won’t he let us have a looksy at those medical records?)
228. TheTruthWillPrevail | 09.18.08
John McCain cannot use a computer because he comes from an era in which superiors did not operate the office equipment. Officers that used computer even to this day in some communities are looked on as “computer geeks”. I know too many people that have injuries much worse than John McCain that use computer; think Hawkins and his straw. John McCain is the “elitist” son and grand-son of two admirals, with the personality of a wet rag without his story of false heroism with the enemy. After he returned as a POW the entire code of conduct was rewritten to fit the actions of “The Song Bird” while in enemy custody. This man and his “Empty Headed Vindictive Beauty Queen” are bad for America. Bush = Hoover; we are going into Depression; bring in the Democrats.
229. RM | 09.18.08
Lindsay,
If Caribou Barbie is a lightweight, what does that make Barry? He has no executive experience and lacks the judgment and leadership qualities necessary for the office. However, he does wear nice suits, has supercool friends (except poor Lindsay Lohan) and reads a teleprompter well. I’ll give him that.
230. sean blackburn | 09.18.08
I’m not impressed by Yahoo hacks… nor by Sarah Palin… both examples of pure mediocrity, in my opinion.
Learning a group of kids can get access to a public email website, the contents of which I have always considered non-private and basically in the public domain?
Yawn.
Learning Palin probably thumbs her knows at the concept of transparency in government? Learning she believes her own behavior is above the law?
Learning she probably bases most of her daily decisions on the result of prayer and the advice of people who believe God tells them what to do?
Those things are all newsworthy.
231. John Byron | 09.18.08
Please people, can we just leave this lady alone ? Let us not question anything she or the GOP does. I read in the bible that it is a sin to question authority.
She may become President. I’ve been to Wasilla. I used to be stationed in Alaska with the Army. And I believe firmly in the Constitution. I’ve heard her pander to religious extremists and to separatists. And this will come out. Why should civilians be allowed to use the same heavy firepower that I needed in the Army? People don’t hunt animals with machine guns.
Obama was a professor of the Constitution. Isn’t it great that we may have a President who has read this vital document ? He wasn’t running on experience, he’s running on judgment. McCain was all about experience, now he’s not. He was all about the environment and anti-drilling, now he’s pro-drilling. He called evangelicals, agents of intolerance. Now, they’re his good friends. He’s a flip-flopper with no executive experience. Why don’t you look at his first marriage and tell me this man has integrity. Wife becomes disabled, divorce and immediate re-marry to rich woman.
Learn the facts ! I love this country too much to see it go in the same direction. It’s amazing we’ve survived this long with the Cheney/Rove/Bush team at the helm.
Thanks, and God Bless America !!
233. MaxMax | 09.18.08
She is a public offical using a private email account for business communication. Can you really be that stupid? I guess so.
234. matt | 09.18.08
I just wanted to say I am excessively humored at people somehow trying to turn this thread into hillary support, and I can only hope they find Palin’s other multitudes of email accounts so that we can find even more juicy stuff.
235. ogie | 09.18.08
Is it wrong that someone hacked into P-Milf’s emails? yes indeed. But that does not set aside the fact that a Government official is trying to circumvent the disclosure laws of the state that she is running. How can a person in good faith stand to be second in line to the most powerful position in the world if they cannot obey as simple as a thing as using the right email address so that the people who elected her can check up on her dealings, should something like trooper-gate arise.
236. Din | 09.18.08
hey gene? (#10)
FYI - i am NOT willing to deal with another four years of this GOP bull just so Hillary can get her shot in 2012. Nope. She’s just going to have to hang in there.
237. Jeff Smado | 09.18.08
The fact that Sarah Palin was using a Yahoo! account is almost neglectable in light of the fact that Anonymous members were illegally cracking the email account and deliberately spread private and government information on the internet, on top of all endangering the safety of Palin’s family. No “public interest” exists for this, and their doing was just plain illegal. Anonymous is known for illegal and harassing actions for a long time.
Article:
http://www.nolanchart.com/article4803.html
Fox11 News on Anonymous:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNO6G4ApJQY
Anonymous response:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFjU8bZR19A
Another Fox11 report:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYH-5ke_bOU
Anonymous documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbwNyKXux70
http://www.anonymous-exposed.org
238. Frank | 09.18.08
I’m still waiting for one of the deranged lunatic leftists here to point out where this email account was used for “government business”.
You people are truly disgusting in your ability to see a blatant crime take place and then blame the victim. All I keep hearing is how wrong and illegal it is for government business to be conducted on a private email account, yet all indications are that government business was not conducted on the account. But liberals NEVER let facts get in the way of a good old fashioned witch hunt and a strong dose of that world famous liberal hypocrisy and hysteria. I’m actually kind of looking forward to this country reaching a tipping point because I am truly ashamed and appalled that people like you are my countrymen.
239. Metro | 09.18.08
A touchstone to determine the worth of someone who’s bleating on about how poor Sarah’s privacy was violated. Ask them:
“Do you support the illegal wiretapping? And do you think it was right to extend immunity to the telcos who carried out, and still carry out, those illegal requests?”
For if you do, then you must excuse the hackers too.
240. NotAnon | 09.18.08
It’s funny how the supporters of McCain/Palin keep on going back to the fact that the action of infiltrating her email was illegal. Like you silly ******* wanted to be kept in the dark.
It doesn’t matter, she was already under preliminary investigations anyway.
And the people that keep saying there was nothing “incriminating” found.
Any official email, even if it’s asking for someone to pop down to Starbucks, from an official, not as an individual citizen, is for PUBLIC scrutiny, not private holdings… So each email is an infringement and an incrimination.
And all of those that claim “at least she has email” like that some big deal. Who gives two flatulized air puffs in the wind that McCain is incapable of using a keyboard for more than a few minutes due to his ‘wartime hero’ injuries he received by torture? Having a yahoo account does not prove you are “with the times”.
And anyone that thinks Obama or the leftwingers or some other Democrats or whatever did this…
Do your research: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group)
241. TheTruthWillPrevail | 09.18.08
I can only wonder what will be the next offense that Sarah Palin is being protected: Lipstick on pit bulls and pit, any comments of her inability to parent her 17-yo is sexist, using private (but unprotected) email for government business to avoid observation, any question on her credentials. Palin is too “Elite” to be commented on and too inexperienced to be VP.
When will we get to the issues at hand: the economy, jobs, Wall Street, Iraq, Afghanistan, violations of the Constitution? When will the right wing stop using “FEAR” and “Elitism” to protect what is obvious a representative poor decision and failure to lead on the part of John McCain from the American People?
And I thought only people in the south were so polite as to not state the obvious, as not to offend the new girl on the block. Palin needs to be removed from the republican ticket for failure to show her true colors. Palin is a pirate ship ready to board the USS America, with lipstick, designer glasses and heels.
242. DCX2 | 09.18.08
For those who think there was no government business done using the account, I suggest looking upi wikileaks’ index of her inbox. Not the screenshots of her inbox, but a text file listing the contents of her inbox. There are some interesting Subjects…
FW: CONFIDENTIAL Ethics Matter
RE: Request for Information and Documents
Court of Appeals Nominations
Re: DPS Personnel and Budget Issues
Court of Appeals / Executive Director Parole Board / Boards and Commissions
Draft letter to Governor Schwarzenegger / Container Tax
FW: Motor Fuel Tax Suspension
243. Goatse | 09.18.08
I think Sarah Palin is a pretty cool guy. Seh has Yahoo and doesn’t afraid of anything.
244. Jan | 09.18.08
Kerry wrote:
“At least they have 1 of them who can use the internet, but she doesn’t seem to have a lot of savy on how to protect herself..Can you say firewall?”
Hey Kerry - Maybe you should not be quite so quick to judge another’s technical capabilities - what the heck does a FIREWALL have to do with a yahoo account being hacked? LOL
245. Peter from Dover NH | 09.18.08
These comments make me want to hurl.
If a rape victim is Republican do you think she was asking for it? Do you think Republicans should be raped? Do you think she is the only Governor with a private email account? Do you think she is the only one who emails work associates from a private account? But for her there is an evil reason?
How much can you hate her? If this is the mentality you have to have to support Obama then I no longer want to be in that club.
This is nuts. I never thought I would vote for a Republican or McCain but there is no way I am going to be connected to this crowd of hate mongers.
This family will never feel safe again.
246. Ron | 09.18.08
Wow there are some ignorant people that post here. Some of you need to take off the blinders and try thinking for yourselves instead of clamping on to whatever trash the media throws in your face.
247. Frank US | 09.18.08
Palin can’t even keep her email accounts safe, and yet she’s supposed to keep you safe? This woman is deficient in judgment.
248. Jackie | 09.18.08
Thomas… George Bush has been flagrantly violating the law for the last 8 years. But, hey those things can be overlooked by followers. Another thing that his followers overlooked and didn’t take as a warning is the fact that he almost ran two oil companies into the ground. Both were on the verge of bankruptcy, but his dad’s friends bailed him out. Now look at the state of our country, we went from a surplus to a record deficit in less than 8 years. Who do you think is going to bail him out this time; the American taxpayer.
So, American voters heed the warning… in Palin’s acceptance speech she claims to have been an opponent of the “Bridge to Nowhere” and that she “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress”.
This people, is an OUTRIGHT LIE! Even the Washington Post took issue with Palin’s description of her opposition. The fact is Palin endorsed the bridge project as a candidate for governor. The Anchorage Daily News quoted her on Oct. 22, 2006, as saying yes, she would continue state funding for the bridge because she wanted swift action on infrastructure projects.” “The window is now while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist”.
Palin changed her position only after her election when Congress removed the earmark that allocated funding for the project; in other words she flip-flopped on the issue only after the American public found out about it and the project became extremely unpopular.
Now she claims she was always an opponent?! How can anyone ignore that fact; especially if you’re a Christian?
249. JM | 09.18.08
Let’s clear something up. Was she using this Yahoo account for personal use or for professional use.
If it is the former, it’s no big deal, if it’s the later, I think that is a really bad sign about Palin’s judgement. Yahoo is not secure enough for somebody to be conducting official state business with.
250. tom | 09.18.08
***
damn how stupid are you people.
stuff gets hacked. don’t use a public service for sensitive stuff, how simple is that to understand.
the issue here… why are they using a non-secure email service for sensitive government communications. what they **** is beauty queen bush trying to hide? haven’t we learned anything from rove-gate, miers-gate, gonzo-gate, and the travesty of bush 43?
251. Robert | 09.18.08
Drop the false outrage against someone getting her password (not a hack), focus on the truth that she was using a yahoo account for some government business.
An account that who knows at yahoo has full access to.
The IT group here can dip into my email account anytime they choose, one thinks the same would be true at yahoo.
Sarah didn’t think her cunning plan the whole way through. Next thing you’ll see cia@gmail.com.
I don’t know if I should laugh or cry about that.
252. Lisa | 09.18.08
This is a hoax by one glowing and simple fact that everyone seems to be overlooking. The screenshot of the e-mail subject lines clearly depict messages that appear to be Delivery and/or Read receipts of E-mails sent. Anyone that has a true Yahoo account will tell you, there is no function in Yahoo mail to allow for read or delivery receipt messages. All I can say is the ‘Paint’ function in Windows sure can do wonderous things to stir the
masses over an empty pot. Sad.
253. Appleby | 09.18.08
To the yobbo above who treated us to this verbatim screed:
“At least Sarah knows how to use e-mail as opposed to McCain who is computer illerate!”
(1) Mr. McCain is unable to type because of war injuries suffered during torture in Vietnam. He has used far more complex computer equipment during his wartime service than you ever will.
(2) It’s spelled ‘ILLITERATE’
254. Hacker Strategies | 09.18.08
I have a theory. I think that the hackers used “social engineering”. They looked at Sarah Palin’s life and guessed her password from that.
Maybe (just maybe) they googled “Sarah Palin Fires Of Hell” and started working from that.
Maybe (again just speculating here) they googled “Joseph Vogler” and worked their way forward.
Another thing they could have done is tried to follow the threads from other stories in the news. But it isn’t really important because we ALL already know her secret password.
It’s TR00P3RG4T3
255. Who Wants To Know More? | 09.18.08
What a GREAT line!
“It’s untrue that Palin has no foreign policy experience, anyway. In fact, she appears to have seriously flirted with the idea of trying to turn Alaska into a foreign country. How many vice presidential candidates can put that on their resumes?”
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks4-2008sep04,0,5675222.column
256. desiree | 09.18.08
Dan, that is her PERSONAL account. She is showing responsibilty in not using her .gov account for personal email. I get that you don’t like her but try to be fair.
257. Eric | 09.18.08
I just love to hear the people talk about how people are picking on Palin but they’re not questioning why she was using a yahoo account to conduct government business, despite policies set that forbid this. If this were Obama, they’d be calling for his head. I’m for neither so I’m thrilled.
258. stupidvoters | 09.18.08
Gene | 09.18.08
Attention Hillary Voters:
Vote for Obama and you will have DESTROYED Hillary’s chance at becoming President!!
………………………………………………………….
Who cares? Attention Hillary voters: If you don’t vote for Barack, you are voting for everything that Hillary is against and has fought for…womens rights, investments in social infrastructure, tax cuts for the poorest and increases for the richest, etc etc etc. DON’T VOTE FOR MCCAIN OUT OF SPITE!!! You vote for someone because you believe they are the best candidate (who is still in the running) for taking our country down a successful path. Geez…I know there is disappointment, but if you really cared about this country and your kid’s future, you would vote with the candidate whose policies best reflect Hillary’s….who is Barack, idiots.
259. Anonymous | 09.18.08
She used her zip code and birthday as password reset hints. It’s not so much a hack as what happens when you suck at teh internets.
This shows more how irresponsible she is than what a bored 15 year old can do.
262. AL | 09.18.08
Gene, you’re an idiot! This country can’t afford 4 more years of the same ole bush league antics. To vote against Obama just so Hillary can possibly get elected next time around is absurd.
263. Carl | 09.18.08
If you step outside of the rules to try and cheat around public issues that could come back to hurt you, then don’t cry fowl when you’re caught doing it. She went out of her way to try to beat the game by going out of bounds, and me and anyone else knows there are no rules out of bounds. Practice what you preach Palin.
264. Joe | 09.18.08
Hackers attack all kinds of people, and they attack a whole lot of people every year, with a lot more devastating effects than posting a bunch of private emails and pictures. Why all the worry about this one case above anyone else? Oh yeah, she’s an annointed republican, I forgot. Obviously everyone knows Republicans cannot be subjected to the same body cavity searches the Clintons were subjected too over some of their “private” financial dealings.
And as far as Republicans being all nice, gentle, and good chirstians? Please be sure to tell the “born again” bush supporter I met in “SEATTLE” who spat on me 4 days after the US invaded Iraq. He did so after I told him the invasion was a farce, would find no WMDs, and would cost the US so much real and polictical capitol around the world it would surprise me if it (the US) ever recovered from doing so.
265. lacyelee | 09.18.08
I am not at all surprised that she is crossing that fine line to hide her personal affairs and not so personal (ie government) affairs from the public. Another wonderful tactic by the incredible republicans of our nation, always battling to keep secrets from the general public.
And I dont care how ‘wrong’ it is, the public has every right to know EVERY LITTLE thing about her. She gave up her right to privacy when she was nominated for vice president.
266. TheTruthWillPrevail | 09.18.08
My friends that do not touch type use one finger; my friends that have back problems place the keyboard on their lap; John McCain does not use computers because he is an “Elitist” pure and simple. If you can see and move a finger you can type with the rest of us. If you can move your tongue or eyes you can use the computer with special aids. McCain in my opinion is reprehensive of a generation 60-years ago that was “Unwillingness to Change”; they are all dead, but he has somehow survived. Life is about copping with change. John McCain is not a “Maverick” he is an “Agent for Regression”; where women were bare feet, pregnant, raised the kids, and had dinner ready when the man came home. McCain is a “Dinosaur”.
Palin has shown herself to be less than qualified as VP, a mother not to be emulated (pregnant 17-yo daughter), a purveyor of misinformation and lies (”Thanks, but No Thanks”), a person with a vindictive heart (”Trooper Gate”), great at “Dodge Ball” or (”Dodge the Media”, correction “Elite Media”) and a great distraction from the business at hand - governing the country. I my opinion Palin is a fraud and has sided with the “Dinosaurs”.
267. Liz | 09.18.08
238. Joe | 09.18.08
“And as far as Republicans being all nice, gentle, and good christians?” roflol. JOE you too much but i’ll will agree.
268. the caped shitheader | 09.18.08
Richard Sharpe Said in comment #200
“And then, John McCain is castigated by the Democratic dimwits on this post for not using e-mail because he cannot type due to his war injuries. Have I got that right?”
Two words, Richard … Steven Hawking
269. Seth | 09.18.08
Gene, you and those who share your opinion are idiotic scum. You would ask this nation to suffer another four years under Republican rule, under John McCain, just so Hillary, a woman who has a voting record in the Senate that is nearly identical to Obama’s…you would have John ******* McCain as POTUS just so that Hillary can try and get nominated again?
Disgusting. You’re worse than McCain and Bush and those who vote for them.
270. Erich | 09.18.08
If the government won’t obey it’s own laws, why should we?
She broke the law, the hackers broke the law. I call that even.
271. M K | 09.18.08
Listen you morons, your intellectual equivalents called Anonymous hacked into her account. NOT some faction of a political splinter cell.
They do it for the laughs, which isn’t hard when someone makes their password the same as their license plate.
Jesus Christ, not everything is a conspiracy.
272. Tom | 09.18.08
“This article cutely but clearly establishes Palin and Karl Rove to be at fault here. Obviously the women is a ditz to use Yahoo for mail. What type of fool would post family pictures and mail on an email service? The whole thing just reeks of Karl Rove and both of them should shamed in front of Federal Judge for being so stupid and evil. On the flip side, if such a thing had happened to our Lord Obama, it would instantly be considered a hateful, racist attack of the lowest order and the hue and cry for justice would go out across the land. The media then would scream for the heads of the ditz Palin and evil Karl Rove, of course. We are in bizarre, frightening times.”
Yes we are… It’s called the Bush Administration.
273. ObamaisBad | 09.18.08
Guaranteed if someone had hacked into Obama’s email there would be rioting in the streets and the person responsible, who of course would be a racist, would already be in jail. Great way to run a decent campaign Obama. You are nothing but business as usual, and you condone these criminal acts.
274. Ryan | 09.18.08
LIM:
“Mr. Obama is the first term senator, spent two years on writing his books and book signing tours. He spent most of his last year on campaign. So, what is his experience? If he’s running for the President, why not Ms. Palin run for VP?”
Please, if you’re going to trash a politician, Lim, try actually doing research. Obama did indeed write “The Audacity of Hope” while serving in the U.S. Senate. Just like numerous Republicans have written books while serving in the U.S. Senate. Just like John McCain wrote “Faith of My Fathers” while serving in the U.S. Senate. However, Obama’s first book, “Dreams From My Father”, was published before he held any government office. It was written at the request of a publisher because of Obama’s election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, and published at a time when nobody outside of South Side Chicago even knew how to pronounce “Barack Obama,” let alone who he was. The book was reissued after Obama became famous — a full 10 years after its first publication. Contrary to the unspoken implication of your note, Obama sponsored many pieces of legislation in the Senate — he hasn’t been too busy writing and signing books.
As for Palin: Yes, the hacker who broke into her private e-mail account should be prosecuted. He or she committed a crime. And so did Sarah Palin — by circumventing Freedom of Information laws by conducting government business — however innocuous — through a private e-mail account. I’m a reporter by trade, and I don’t care if you, as an elected official, are merely e-mailing another official to confirm a lunch date; you’d sure as heck better do it through official channels, because I have the right to know about it. Government must be absolutely transparent (other than obvious rare exceptions for national security) in order to honestly maintain the consent of the governed. Every official meeting, every communication, between Palin and other officials must be public. That may sound harsh, but Palin knew the drill when she ran for office.
I do not condone the hack. This anonymous coward had no business posting family photo all over the internet. But let’s not forget the other issue — Palin, a woman who could one day be called upon to become president of the United States, has intentionally crippled the public’s right to know about her activities.
275. Stephenie | 09.18.08
I wonder if her hint questions was “whats the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull”
276. DCX2 | 09.18.08
Let’s clear something up.
False dichotomy - Believing that Sarah Palin should be accountable for using private email accounts for government business does NOT mean that the “hackers” cannot also be held accountable for their violations of the law.
Exaggeration - There was no harm to Sarah Palin or her family. Grave danger? Get real. People’s email accounts are hacked all the time, and no one dies. Try getting up in arms over the massive data breaches which leaked credit card info to identity thieves. At least there’s real damage there.
If you attempt to draw conclusions about all Obama supporters based upon what a few kids on a website forum do, then you are extremely naive and narrow minded.
277. K | 09.18.08
Do you know what content was in her yahoo account(s)? Why not wait until you hear the whole story, rather than jumping to conclusions.
278. Patrick | 09.18.08
Look the amount of constitutional violations that the GOP has made in the last 8 years is ten thousand times worse than some email hackers.
Everyone is subjective to some rights violations if the public is.
Also don’t let them mislead you from the failing economy.
279. bemused balthasar | 09.18.08
Hello? The ECONOMY, the WAR, do you really care about the ******* email? I want issues, I want some real talk about the things that are going to shape our lives, not some bullshit.
Don’t feed the media, it only encourages them.
280. Reality | 09.18.08
Whar sort of moron doesn’t understand that free mail services like Yahoo are not secure? Oh, that’s right; a gun-toting, moose-killing soccer moron from Alaska - the one who thinks that her state’s proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy cred. Sarah Palin is an idiot of the Bush order. Her candidacy is an insult to thinking Americans. Who gives a flip about her private email. What’s important is that she was using a private mail account to conduct official business. There’s a word fro that (beside stupid, of course): ILLEGAL.
281. ted | 09.18.08
Look, for those of you yapping about her personal account being viewed, you don’t know what you are talking about. Go to 4chan and review the documents. There is government business being discussed, maybe not the codes to our nukes, but government business nonetheless. I would think the really juicy stuff is being held back by whoever did this, but it looks like Sarah wanted to get around the law about keeping all government emails on file for 50 years.
It is a case of dishonesty uncovering dishonesty. How’s that 401K doing dave!
282. Dean | 09.18.08
So, Sarah Palin cannot have a personal e mail account? Am I missing something here? She cannot express opinions on her personal e mail account? What hypocritical, disingenuous, arrogant, elitist ****. If there is government business conducted with personal emails, then have proabable cause, get a warrant and conduct a legal search. This ridiculous notion that personal email is fair game is wrong and illegal. I mean th egood ol’ boys at Yahoo aren’t jumping up and down saying… “hey when you use us anyone can see what you write.. Nothing private here.” Give me a break. This is, unlike the meaningless, empty and ludicrus mantra of “change” and the cult of Obama personality, a real constitutional issue. But I forget, it’s only unconstitutional if it happens to left wing nut jobs.
283. Jon | 09.18.08
This is great News!!!!!! Do i feel sorry for her? Nope. She got what she deserved and more is coming her way!!!!!
284. Fearful | 09.18.08
Have no fear, the people will be caught so your family pics never be in danger of being pilfered again. And your friendly NSA will make sure that the ability to be anonymous will be a dream of the past.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10040152-38.html
Like the Chinese government says “if you arent doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about” If you cant trust the Chi-Coms who can you trust?
This will be used as an excuse to take away more of your rights and posibility of freedom.
If the dems had tried to set up GTMO, remove habeus corpus…etc,neocons would be up in arms. If W does it, its ok.
The right is so sure that Obama will take a way your rights that you dont even realize that Cheney already did it years ago.
285. the other side | 09.18.08
I love how everyone sees this as a political thing. everyone says o he must have changed the pass on her account (really not hacking) it because he wanted to find dirt on her. i dought it the media got this and made its assumptions and everyone just ate it up like sheep. im guessing that he was just some person who decided to try to get on her account for the fun of it. i mean he was probably just looking at the pass recovery page and thought “huh i could probably find all that” then did it posted it cuz he found it funny. im not sure if thats even illegal because there’s no breaking the site its really palins fault that its so accessible and her problem not the laws.
286. Rene | 09.18.08
Every American with a credit card, a telephone or an email account has given up their privacy already. Everything you think, do and say that involves electronic communication is sent to Washington and is on your file. I mean everything, your web sites, your photo processing, everything! ** courtesy of the Patriot Act **. Palin is such a ******* she didn’t realize that her Yahoo correspondence, like everyone else’s is collected by the government - or can be, without warrant. It is hilarious to see so many people say “I am shocked, shocked that private email is read”. Privacy is a joke already. Palin, just in from Alaska, has no idea how much smarter the world is than her. She’s about to find out.
287. She’rah | 09.18.08
Keep the focus off the economy. Keep the focus off the war. Anchorage reporters don’t even get to ask questions anymore. Keep the focus off the issues and everyone will be okay. I can not even pick up a parer without fifteen articles about Palin’s family problems, views, hair, recipes and where she had her teeth bleached. Enough already!!!
Again… keep the focus off what really matters.
288. John Hanks | 09.18.08
It is OK for the rich crooks to spy on Americans for criminal reasons. It is not OK for ordinary Americans to spy on rich crooks, however. The skygod is in heaven and all is right with the world.
289. blahgdoo | 09.19.08
oh my! i cant believe people hacked into her unsecured email account she was using to get around public records laws!! nobody should be able to see your private emails!
Right wingers scream this! but they are fine with the government looking at private emails?
speaking of which, if the patriot act actually does allow the administration to be able to do this, why don’t they, when public officials try to usurp public records laws?
what a paradox. i am now for it and against it at the same time. I’m no better than those scared “please protect me” conservs.
290. Liz | 09.19.08
Her accounts wasn’t hacked…ROFLOL. Damn please people look at the term hack.
Hack has several meanings in the technology and computer science fields. It may refer to a clever or quick fix to a computer program problem, or to a clumsy or inelegant solution to a problem.
The term is also used to refer to a modification of a program or device to give the user access to features that were otherwise unavailable, such as DIY circuit bending. The general media also uses this term to describe the act of illegally breaking into a computer, better described as cracking.
291. Faron | 09.19.08
Boy, wouldn’t it be nice to have privacy in this country? Yeah, well I guess you need to run for some sort of office, because I know the FBI wouldn’t give a **** if someone hacked my email. I work for a major ISP, and I know how much Uncle Sam likes to look at private data without probable cause or a warrant.
We can run around this issue in any way you’d like, but this would not be as much of an issue if she was using her taxpayer provided email address for taxpayer business. Of course, that might be trouble in an investigation, where those records could be obtained. She should really talk to the folks at the White House who have a pretty good method of “losing” taxpayer funded emails with seemingly no responsibility or fear of accountability.
Forgive me if I refuse to hold to people I pay to run our country at any higher standard than the average taxpayer. Elected officials should act more like the role models that they are (or should be.) Follow the rules, or stop enforcing them for those who elect and pay your paycheck. Stop passing laws that violate the privacy you’d like to claim when you’re the victim of private data theft.
292. andy | 09.19.08
It is a hoax, people. A Karl Rove setup.
http://alisavaldesrodriguez.blogspot.com/2008/09/palin-email-hack-is-hoax.html
293. Once a Conservative | 09.19.08
The Bush White House has lost over FIVE MILLION e-mails in a two year period between 2002 & 2005 That’s their own story and they’re sticking to it. How could this have happened? Well they were using unofficial email services, like Yahoo. (In this case the RNC’s)
State business is required to be conducted on .gov servers not only to protect the privacy of that information but to make those messages available by subpoena for review by judges when a crime is suspected.
So nothing incriminating was exposed by this current all too simple criminal act. How do we know slippery Sarah didn’t delete evidence of crimes as she received it. Save me the outrage you ignorant neo-cons. We all know the cloth you’re cut from.
294. jack | 09.19.08
the amount of conservative morons in these comments is sickening. Its because of you idiots that our country is as screwed up as it is. It IS because of you that I hate this country. Are you opposed to progress? To change? To new ideas? To open mindedness? What is wrong with you people?
295. Bill in SF | 09.19.08
Of course it was wrong for that griefer to guess Sarah Palin’s passwords and publish the pictures of her family. But all of the Governor’s government-related emails are public record, and so not only *should* they be published, but it’s unethical and possibly illegal for her to be using that Yahoo account for government business.
As governor she’s got a work email address for public business, and presumably she’s got another work email address that’s not publicly accessible (so she can get some actual work done without fan mail and spam) but is still an official public record, and if she needs a Blackberry for her official business she can get one of them too. (She’s probably also got a non-government email address for campaign business, which isn’t a public record and which she can use for things she’s not allowed to do on her work email, like ask people for money or votes.)
The Straight Talk Express needs to get its story straight here, and not go hiding things that should be on the record over on Yahoo.
297. B. Bryan | 09.20.08
If you’re using a private email account to run public government business, you really can’t consider it “private” anymore. Posting her personal, non-government emails is just wrong, but anything that involves government business is rightly within the public domain. If she was trying to hide crooked government dealings by shielding them behind a “private” email account, then that tells you something about her character and the way she intends to run the Vice-Presidency.
298. A-COL | 09.21.08
What’s most interesting is that the “Felon” who was smart (or dumb) enough to hack Palin’s E-Mail was dumb enough to post his confession on line. Seems the perpetrator’s E-Mail address belongs to David Kernell, 20, from Memphis, TN, a student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and son of Democratic state representative Mike Kernell.
“Young David” explains it this way in his on-line confession: “On Tuesday night, I broke into Sarah Palin’s Yahoo! e-mail account, read the e-mails and posted the address and password to wreak general havoc with the account, using Yahoo!’s password recovery feature…. All I had to do was fill in the answers to some questions with information found in Wikipedia. After the password recovery was re-enabled, it took seriously 45 mins on Wikipedia and Google to find the info….. and then I promptly changed the password to popcorn and took a cold shower…”
I suspect “young David” will be taking future “cold showers with a lot of his new best buddies.” Piece of advice for “the little nipper” …. Try to avoid dropping the soap in the shower. I just hope he’s in the slammer in time to be “Bubba’s date for the Sadie Hawkins Day Dance.”
The upside for Dad, Democratic State Rep Mike Kernell, is think of the tuition money you’ll save!
299. Mark | 09.21.08
It kills me how the FACTS in all of this are skewed depending on which side the author leans. When did the FACTS stop mattering to everyone. At what point did the truth stop mattering? Our nation has become pitiful and whiners. Our ancestors are rolling over in their graves (in Britain, France, Germany, Africa) and everywhere else we have defended our rights and those of others. God help us all if we ever have to show courage and moral conviction in the face of some unknown enemy. This nation of whining, crying, born into entitlement, sissies will try to put them in a timeout as they rape, murder, and torture our families and friends. Why don’t we just all hold hands and sing while we march into the ovens.
300. Once a Conservative | 09.21.08
Come on Mark admit it you aren’t going to be marching into any oven. You’ll be holding the door and pushing in those sissies and other undesirables, like the good Nazi which you obviously are.
301. Terri | 09.22.08
Now McCain Campaign is asking for rules for Palin’s debate with Biden.
Rules for Sarah - include scripted interviews, not turning in tax returns, not showing up for troopergate.
Tom Brokaw, Bob Schieffer and Jim Lehrer - we are counting on you to do your job like Charlie Gibson did. There are no rules when someone is running for VP. There were none for Hillary or anyone else.
People lets just call this what it is - a farce. McCain is putting himself first not the country - don’t let him fool you.
This is a sad day in America
302. ronald | 09.26.08
ha ha you did not find anything sexual nor anything politically incorrect which is exactly what this sleeze ball was looking for, for the DNC!
303. computer expert geeky guy | 10.04.08
That is ridiculous how can Palin get her email account hacked, shes running for the dang vice presidency ???? According to this site http://www.nettechguide.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1947393 it was some lax security question that they used or something but still..
what a farce!!
computer expert geeky guy
304. Private vs Public Record? | 10.17.08
My appologies! ~ l seem to have had an excess of postings mistakingly published.
How annoying?
~ My appologies.
306. web-jogger | 01.28.09
“E-mail is about as confidential as whispering at the White House,” ~ John Shovic
If you want privacy you need a TRUE end to end encryption software that YOU personally manage.
No encryption servers, no service providers, no IT people, no backdoors.
307. web-jogger | 01.28.09
oh yeah, there is NO SUCH THING as a secure email service - services like Hushmail are misleading.
See: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/encrypted-e-mai.html
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1. tammons | 09.18.08
I don’t care what excuses are given, I don’t care how many email addresses she has, I don’t care what is in her email—THIS WAS JUST WRONG! Would anybody else out there like someone to hack into your email and publish personal items all over the web? And if you answered “no” to that question, are we to believe that it is because you have something to hide?? Really? And do the far-left liberals really expect us to believe that they are “outraged” over this and had nothing to do with it? PPLLLEEASE!!!! How ridiculous are the attacks on Palin going to get before the public finally insists “ENOUGH ALREADY”!!!