3 candidates' passport files breached

This is another news story that is a bigger story than many people may realize. Apparently, the passport files of Sens. Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain have all been illegally viewed by State Department employees.

The State Department is ultimately under the control of the President of the United States. In fact, Condoleeza Rice has already apologized for it and the employees have been reprimanded. These were contract employees, not direct hires of the U.S. Government.

This all may add up to nothing. A mistake, perhaps. After all, the privacy of candidates of both parties were violated. Worse case scenario, the employees saw the candidates Social Security Numbers which would allow them to obtain credit reports, right?

No, actually, the worse case scenario is actually that the White House knowingly sent people in there to obtain this information for the purpose of launching a smear campaign. Does that sound paranoid?

It shouldn't. The Nixon Administration did just that in 1972, when they thought it was a good idea break into the Watergate Hotel to dig up dirt and Democratic candidates and, thus, influence the election.

Yes, I know that candidates of both parties were affected. And, I am not saying that this is at all the same thing. But, I do think that anyone not familiar with Watergate very least read the Wikipedia article about it here. Knowledge is Power.

BTW, if this DID turn out the same way as it did in 1972, then both Presdident Bush and Vice President Cheney would end up resigning. I can't see that happening, because Bush and Cheney are a LOT more arrogant than Nixon and Agnew were. They would have to be frog-walked out in handcuffs rather than give up the keys to the kingdom. And, presumably, they learned a lot from Watergate and are not likely to make the same mistake. Not only that, but Cheney actually worked IN the Nixon Administration, and in 1975, in a handwritten note, he actually suggests that the Ford Administration consider the same type of covert strategy to deal with another issue.

There is already a lot out there about comparisons between W. and Nixon. Here is a very interesting comparison of presidential popularity that was published by the Wall Street Journal. However, it is a little dated. I am sure that W.'s popularity is much lower, now. I don't know if he has fallen below Nixon yet, or not.

It is interesting to notice that almost EVERY president looses popularity as they go. In fact, the ONLY president shown to have a higher popularity when he left office than when he came in was Bill Clinton.

And, I am told, he was the anti-Christ.