Is history repeating? Bush I's 1992 Passportgate smear campaign against Bill Clinton

[ProgressiveEconomist]

and his mother.

With Bill Clinton leading in the polls in September 1992, an FBI investigation showed that George H.W. Bush sought to confirm far-out right wing rumors. The kook ultra fringe whispered that a youthful Clinton had sought to renounce his citizenship, and may have been a secret KGB agent!

Did Bush II seek passport data on Obama and his mother to smear the 2008 frontrunner?

As with both Bushes' irresistible urges to invade Iraq, is thiis another case of "Like father, like son"?

From http://www.consortiumnews.com/1999/100599a2.html :

"BUSH FAMILY POLITICS By Robert Parry -- October 5, 1999

The National Archives released the records from the so-called Passportgate affair in August in response to my Freedom of Information Act request. ... the documentary record now makes clear that Bush was the driving force behind this 'silver bullet' search. The Passportgate controversy began in mid-September 1992, with Clinton leading in the polls and Bush�s brain trust pondering ways to exploit the Clinton "character" issue. White House chief of staff James Baker heard about press inquiries seeking government records on Clinton's anti-Vietnam War activities. Reporters from several news organizations, including the right-wing Washington Times, had filed FOIAs.

...rumors were floating around conservative circles that Clinton might have written a letter renouncing his citizenship during the war. Recognizing the damage these rumors could cause Clinton, Baker asked other administration officials about the status of the FOIA requests. Eventually, the high-level White House interest was communicated to State Department official Elizabeth Tamposi. Tamposi, a Bush political appointee, saw the White House interest as a green light to speed up the search and override concerns that expedited action could violate Clinton's privacy rights.

On the night of Sept. 30, Tamposi dispatched three aides to the federal records center in Suitland, Md. They searched Clinton's passport file as well as his mother�s, presumably because they thought it might contain some references to Clinton.

The State Department team did not find the rumored renunciation letter. But Bush aides did not give up the hunt. Tamposi contacted the U.S. embassies in London and Oslo and ordered searches of consular files in those countries. Only the London embassy complied and found nothing. With little to show for their efforts, Bush officials next constructed a suspicion that a Clinton sympathizer might have tampered with the passport file and removed the supposed renunciation letter. They cited staple holes and a slight tear in the corner of Clinton's passport application to justify a criminal referral to the FBI. The existence of the referral was then leaked to Newsweek, which published a story on Oct. 4 with precisely the disloyalty spin that the Bush campaign had wanted. The Bush campaign then seized on the Newsweek story as an opportunity to raise more suspicions about what Clinton was up to when he made a student trip to Moscow over New Year's Day 1970. With these negative themes on the table, Clinton's loyalty became a hot campaign issue and Clinton's advisers nervously watched their poll numbers soften. The Bush camp upped the ante more, putting out new suspicions that Clinton might have been a KGB "agent of influence.""

[ThatBozGuy]

1. The Clinton Campaign group definitely learned the lessons of Bush 1

Ms Clinton's political operatives have been running the same playbook that Mr Bush ran against Mr Clinton page for page against Mr Obama.

A study into these politics, would make a very interesting case of Stockholm Syndrome impacting the Clinton campaign. They are definitely taking on the views and and process of those that attacked them in the 90s and repeating them today.

Mr Obama 2008 campaign = Mr Clinton campaign 1992 Young hope against the political dynasty,
MS Clinton 2008 campaign = Mr Bush's campaign 1992 Experienced politically savy incumbent against young upstart candidate.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

2. It will be interesting to vet the resumes of the 3 "contract employees" for links to Bill

and Hillary, as well as links to Rove, Baker, and the rest of McCain's Brain Trust.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

3. Kick!

[stillcool]

4. Is there anything Bush does..

that Daddy didn't do first? There is no law they do not feel entitled to break. Too bad we don't have a Justice Department.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

5. The Bushes may regard this kind of felony breach of privacy as just 'opposition research',

routine paperwork.