One reason that could have motivated Passport-gate against Obama?

[calimary]

I'm just sayin'...

The first of three "Snooper-gate" intrusions occurred on January 9th - one day after Hillary upset Obama in New Hamshire, and a week and a day after Obama burst onto center stage from the Iowa caucuses.

Even though he had just been surprised by Clinton in New Hampshire (with the media up til then nearly anointing him the Democratic nominee - so he was the Man of the Hour, and still pretty much THE guy to beat).

EVEN IF this has little or nothing to do with it, it's worth remembering and keeping in mind, regarding the VERY clear threat that Obama poses to the bush "legacy" - both bush-the-first and bush-the-second, from DECEMBER 15th, 2007, LATimes:


Obama makes a promise about presidential pardons

(snip)

The senator from Illinois spoke for the usual 20 minutes, then took questions. A man asked about the presidential pardon power and the ability to pardon people in cases in which the president might have a conflict of interest.

"Scooter Libby justice," Obama interjected. The man wanted to know about the prospect of rescinding the presidential right to pardon in such instances. Judges don't do it, he said. Why should the president? Obama, the former constitutional law professor, noted that pardons were a power granted in the Constitution and that changing that would mean "we would have to amend things and change, you know, 200 years of tradition." "Here's what I guarantee you, though," Obama added. "Here's a promise I'll make. I will not pardon somebody who was part of my administration and who broke the law in part, probably, to cover my backside. That is not something I will do."

Then, the Democratic candidate also guaranteed that he would have an attorney general "who understands that his job is not to be the president's lawyer, but to be the people's lawyer."

Then again, the generous candidate made a third promise: "I will have the attorney general review every single executive order that's been issued by the president of the United States," Obama vowed, and during his first year in office he would repeal any that undermine civil liberties.

Obama finished up the stop with a clear statement of principles: "Nobody's supposed to be above the law, including the president of the United States or the people who work for him."


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2007/12/nopardonspromis.html


Make no mistake, as the bushies settle in on the notion that Obama may be the inevitable Democratic opponent and very likely the next White House occupant, it could be they're faced with someone who not only won't help cover their tracks, but might do quite the opposite - open everything they've locked away by presidential decree back up to public (and maybe prosecutorial) scrutiny. Don't think for a minute that they aren't ACUTELY aware of this.

And you also in mind what a long and storied track record the GOP has for indulging in, and then ruthlessly using, oppositional research. They have entire cadres in the RNC devoted to nothing but that. They're already well-known for sneaking into private records to "fix" things - like junior's um - less-than-distinguished Texas Air National Guard service records.

Besides, remember also their penchant for splicing on a bunch of contractors to do various jobs high and low in their government. I'm not sure how this particular paper-pushing State Department contractor stacks up, but the rule of thumb in Iraq, at least, has been to let the contractors handle it, whatever it is, since they're not covered by ANY of the laws, rules, or regs that govern the military, and there's no accountability to ANY civilian authority for what's spent and what's squandered.

These bastards have worked steadily to do whatever their dirtiest work is and then TO MAKE SURE ALL THEIR TRACKS ARE WELL-COVERED. That goes all the way back to ghwb and Iran/Contra, and who knows what else because junior conveniently came along to lock up daddy's presidential papers, and those of ronnie's, AND for that matter, Bill Clinton's - nearly forever.

Obama could undo ALL of that by reviewing all of georgie-poo's executive orders (and locking up all those presidential papers was among the FIRST things he did after he'd stolen his way into the Oval Office).

I'd bet hard money that the bushies haven't forgotten this (and WERE looking for dirt on him in hopes of finding something to use against him, and then to cover it up and make it look a lot less pointed by muddying the waters - adding Clinton's and mccain's passports in there, too). Neither should we.

I may be wearing some very chic tin foil. But I don't think this should be entirely dismissed. JUST ALWAYS REMEMBER WHO WE'RE DEALING WITH HERE.

[calimary]

1. I'm just surmising here. Any thoughts?

It's simply some guess-work.

But I think it's reasonable to be suspicious of motives in ANYTHING that connects back to the bushies. ANYTHING.

[H2O Man]

3. Although the incidents may

never be "officially" identified as being anything other than three confused people making silly mistakes, it is actually part of an OSP operation that leads back to the OVP.

[calimary]

4. Yay! Thanks for the response!

And especially, YOUR perspective, H2O Man!

I think this is absolutely part of it. It REEKS of cheney shit. It wouldn't surprise me AT ALL if this traced back to cheney's office. After all, david addington is still there, is he not? And rove was there long enough to have taught sufficient numbers of panting, slobbering disciples and would-be heirs of his dirty trickster mantle his best stuff. And I'm sure by now there are clones of him carefully placed in GOP state operations and at the national committee level to carry on his work in every way, shape, and form imaginable, and even to "improve" upon things.

I think there's ONE thing you can ALWAYS trust the bushies to do: fight dirty.

[blm]

5. No doubt about it to me. As soon as I heard about HRC and McCain's 'files' it sounded

like quick CYA and diversion.

[calimary]

7. It sure makes sense to this suspicious mind here.

Just looking back over the long and "distinguished" track record we have available to us already. They've had a LONG time to perfect dirty tricks AND their cover-ups. They've done TONS of divert-and-distract of every imaginable sort since they first arrived to blight the national political scene. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find this in their playbook someday: obfuscate-obfuscate-obfuscate! When doing dirty, make sure you spread it around over several other "marks" to cloud the issue when you're really targeting only one.

[Voice for Peace]

12. I don't think it should be dismissed at all.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the evil powers are first and foremost concerned about covering their own asses.

[calimary]

2. Dang. I'd really like to hear someone else's take on this.

Kicking. Just because.

[calimary]

6. Kicking. I'd love to hear some additional opinions.

Thanks again, H2O Man - AND blm, too!

:yourock:

[calimary]

8. What the hell? Kick - see if anybody else weighs in.

[Samantha]

9. In the arena of sewer politics, where apparently we have descended

there is no such thing as a convenient coincidence.

That's the opinion I quickly formed when I saw the dates of the review of the Obama passport file coincide with the dates of significant political events.

Sam

[calimary]

11. It just SMELLS. I can't get it out of my mind - how much time, manpower, and money

they've invested in oppositional research - PARTY-WIDE. And beyond (like every frickin' "think tank" and other sort of viper pit in their twisted infrastructure.

[JeffR]

10. I've had a bellyfull of DU for today, but before retiring

I can only say as a weary and late convert to Obama, that I'd be surprised - delighted but still surprised - if he, as the next president, really evinced much willingness to delve into the crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush misAdministration. Color me cynical. And I sincerely, profoundly hope I'm totally wrong.

on edit: 5th rec, because I hope you're right...

[Voice for Peace]

13. One thing I believe about Obama is that if the people are making a good case

for something that is in line with protecting the Constitution and the reputation of the US and upholding international law .. he's going to pay attention. It will be up to the people to organize and apply pressure. He has said he wants to be held accountable.

I can't quite imagine him saying "So?" as Cheney did.

On the other hand, I do not trust Hillary in that regard, sorry to say. I think she is of the school of: government of the little people by the few big ones. Let your government do your hard thinking.. just go shopping.

[JeffR]

14. I agree

and I hope when the dirt starts getting dropped on his desk in the Oval, he'll do the right thing. And I agree with you that a hypothetical President H. Clinton would not. Fingers crossed here.

[calimary]

17. With Hillary, I'd be concerned that she'd adopt the "we seriously need to MOVE ON"

attitude - just let it go. Get over it. We have to move on. Can't dwell on the past. It'll bog the nation down. Blah-blah-blah - the same sort of excuses pelosi and other pals in Congress make for not embarking full-bore upon IMPEACHMENT.

[Voice for Peace]

18. I haven't heard anything about her wanting to roll back the newly acquired Exec.Privileges

.. has anyone?

[calimary]

20. No. And CERTAINLY nothing like that from mccain, either.

From him, I'd expect more of the same sneaky-ass shit, especially since it will be proven, if he wins, that you CAN get away with this stuff if you stack the deck effectively and thoroughly enough.

[calimary]

16. Well, I just found something interesting.

Take a look at this:

http://www.theanalysiscorp.com/

Watched Olbermann tonight and he showed graphics of which contractors were snooping, when, and into whose files. The first two involved one company. The third (and last) of the contractors who snooped - into Obama's AND mccain's, came from a company called The Analysis Corporation.

Note on their homepage they tout their expertise in "watchlisting" among other specialties:

For the past 16 years, The Analysis Corporation (TAC) has provided invaluable service to the U.S. Government's national security effort. Increasingly, and especially since 9/11, TAC has made its most important contribution in the counterterrorism (CT) realm, supporting national watchlisting activities as well as other CT intelligence and analytic efforts. Led by the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and staffed by other former senior officials from the Intelligence Community, TAC is at the forefront of the fight to safeguard U.S. national interests.


I may just be really ridiculously suspicious, but the term "watchlisting" is raising a red flag for me.

-----

The other contractor company is Stanley Inc.

Found this, too:


State Department officials said the contractor companies are The Analysis Corporation and Stanley Inc. The latter has had contracts with the department since 1992 and was recently awarded a $570 million contract to provide support for passport processing.

Stanley Inc. officials confirmed that two of its employees had unauthorized access to Obama passport files. Both individuals were fired, according to a company statement Friday. "While this is a rare occurrence, we regret the unauthorized access of any individual's private information," the statement said.

The Analysis Corp., also in a statement Friday, confirmed that one of the contractors involved in the breach was a company employee and called it "an isolated incident."

"This individual's actions were taken without the knowledge or direction of anyone at The Analysis Corp. and are wholly inconsistent with our professional and ethical standards," the statement on the company's Web site said.

The company, which has contracted with the U.S. government for nearly 20 years, said it would fully cooperate with the federal investigation.

A State Department source said passport files contain scanned images of passport applications, birth date and basic biographical information, records of passport renewal and possibly citizenship information.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/obama.passport/



Food for thought, if nothing else.

I hope to Dear Sweet God that when he gets in, Obama makes good on that promise. I am hopeful simply because of the nature of his "A More Perfect Nation" speech earlier this week, when it appeared to be majorly important to him to look back clearly and in detail to examine what factors and causal issues and events led to what we have today, what helped build the attitudes of yesterday that are causing pain even today. To know where we came from so as to better understand where we are now. Hopefully he will maintain that perspective in the Oval Office, where he'll have to examine and understand a HELLUVA LOT of shit from its beginnings to better figure out where we are now - whether it means a fuller investigation of 9/11 or why we got into war - or many other nagging questions and, pardon the reference, unsolved mysteries that we'll never get to the bottom of, if we don't understand how those things got started. He applies this to the predicament we're still in regarding race. Hopefully he'll apply it also to other matters.

BTW, JeffR - thanks for weighing in here before you called it a night! I appreciate that!

:yourock:

[PerfectSage]

15. WHO ARE WE DEALING WITH HERE? SLIME?

Why Spitzer was Bushwhacked
By F William Engdahl

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JC20Dj04.html

GObama!
Go Dean's 50 State Strategy!
Go Grassroots!

[calimary]

19. MOST intriguing. Certainly verifies my suspicions.

Wouldn't surprise me a bit to think that this is why Spitzer had to be "neutralized."

These guys play for keeps. I'm deeply suspicious that this was fishing-expedition stuff trying to build some oppositional research. They were digging for dirt. Using a convenient contractor like a set of sanitizing mitts so they wouldn't leave any of their own fingerprints behind.

And don't forget, regarding how they tried this same stunt against then-candidate Bill Clinton when bush-the-first was president: ghwb WAS a CIA director at one time. And he STILL gets daily intelligence briefings as is his perogative as a former president.

[DemReadingDU]

21. Digging for dirt, mostly on Obama

But whoever was behind this snooping, had to have had someone look at all the candidates. It doesn't want to appear that only 1 candidate was snooped on. All of them have been snooped on. And it wouldn't surprise me, but I doubt all the dates have been leaked out yet.

edit: They say these were just contractors, just an accident? Not! They were contracted specifically to look for dirt.

[calimary]

22. It makes you wonder who else they snooped on.

After all, they're digging for dirt in our phone calls and emails, also.

This is merely what we've found out about.

And they sure got rid of Eliot Spitzer in a hurry, didn't they?

[jimshoes]

23. Has anyone asked whether Biden or Kucinich or Gravel's

info was breached? Is anyone going to ask these questions or is this affair headed for the nearest memory hole? It is way beyond time to shine some light on the cockroaches that are infesting our government.