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Bush Campaign Offices Burglarized

DesScorp writes "The Washington State offices of the Bush campaign were burglarized, and computers with sensitive campaign data were stolen. The computers belonged the executive director and officer in charge of the 'get out the vote' campaign; one was set to be delivered to another office within the state. The staff says that secret strategy information and voting data are on the computers, and ironically, they're comparing it to Watergate. The staff blames Democratic Party activists intent on stealing the information. Of course, they deny this."

26 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Two equally plausible scenarios by russeljns · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. Democratic Party operatives stole the computers. 2. Republican Party operatives stage a fake theft to make the Democrats look bad.

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    This concludes our transmission to Oceania.

    1. Re:Two equally plausible scenarios by avalys · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, or some junkie looking for quick cash broke into the offices, found a few laptops that had for some reason been left sitting around overnight, got spooked before he could take anything else, and left.

      Not everything is a conspiracy.

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    2. Re:Two equally plausible scenarios by br0ck · · Score: 5, Insightful

      3. Random theft

      According to the article, police said theft is common in the area and stealing one or two things (the amt you can carry) is also common.

    3. Re:Two equally plausible scenarios by Radical+Rad · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I can't help but wonder about the "fake" Bush service records too. They were created in such a way as to appear genuine until closely scrutinized. What if the content of the documents were generally correct but forged versions were prepared by Republicans to discredit the real ones that they feared were about to turn up. The Colonel's secretary stated on camera that although she did not type these particular documents, they were in agreement with her former boss's attitude and words. Also a member of the unit who was in the CQ the day the Bush records were disposed of told his story on camera. No doubt some neo hitler youth will accuse me of wearing a tinfoil hat despite that I am only suggesting this as a possibility, but I have heard of much stranger goings-on in Washington which actually came to light. Look at Watergate for a thoroughly investigated example of our two party's shenanigans.

    4. Re:Two equally plausible scenarios by Seraphim_72 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And even if he went crazy in office, he'd only be there for, at most, 4 years.
      See there are two problems here.
      • The first is that the there is a known fact that a second term President has nothing to lose and so is willing to push all his craziest stuff. This is not only a Republican issue, ask any good Republican about Clintons second term, or even better Ronnie's.
      • The second is that I, a person who is so liberal that it would make your teeth hurt, has many (many, many it seems :() very conservative (btw, you def, not mine, by mine ...well...) friends have heard them say the following "Well, he (quote [include finger motions]) wasn't elected(/quote) Then it is only his first term right?? HUGE laughter ensues.

        And as a Liberal of the First Stripe I will tell you this; we are scared of the "Patriot Act" the Eternal "War on Terror" and the loss of life in Iraq - on who ever's side. We are Dismayed at the sigle mindedness of the President, and see his "Stedfastness" as ignorance. We see Big Oil and $money$ everywhere - and it scares us. The Bush White House has done nothing to ally those fears while chuckleing about them under thier collective breath. He walked into office wanting this war and drummed up a reason - or at least that is what two of his closest advisors have said. His White House exposed an Agent for political backlash, his record as a military man is suspect. All of this bothers us, and we want it talked about, the Administration will not, "All is Good" is what they say and all we hear. From Revolution to Iraq, mine is the only generation of my family that has never gone to battle for the USA - I was born at the wrong time it seems, I have a nephew and a good friend on the ground in Iraq - I heard it said on the radio that this war is this generation's Vietnam - the other guy corrected him - he said 'No, this is Isreals West Bank.'

        I am an Armchair General (same thing as an armchair quarterback, but you have to worry about MRE's) I fought the war in Iraq 5 years before we went in - there was no way to win. Truth be told Bush Sr. has several quotes about Iraq - all of them right - look them up, some great statements about why you would *never* want to go into Iraq, - Jr. should have read them.

        Sorry it was you, but I had to get that off my chest. Take Care.

        Sera

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      Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.
  2. Unsurprisingly by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Karl Rove also denies any involvement.

  3. No, three equally plausible scenarios! by El · · Score: 5, Funny

    3. Democratic Party operatives planted bags of pretzels, bicycles, and a Segway in an attempt to do in the incumbent president.

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    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

  4. I did it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Those laptops were not running Free Software, as should be befitting of a party that defends Freedom. I have reformatted and installed Debian GNU/Linux; as soon as I get X, the sound card, the ethernet card, and the USB working, I will return them with a polite note.

    -- Smelly GNU/Hippie 'puter poacher

  5. 72 hour plan leaked by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny
    From TFA: "But, he said, the loss creates a potential security breach about the campaign's so-called 72-hour plan, the Bush get-out-the-vote effort."

    The following is from the document they found:

    Bush's 72 hour plan

    1. Tell people to vote for me.
    2. Remind them that my opponent is in favor of terrorism.
    3. Remind them that my opponent forgot about Poland.
    4. Ask Mr. Cheney what to do next.
    5. ???
    6. President!
  6. Too liberal. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    You should have phrased it as follows:

    Communist Hollywood Elite Liberals Take Time Off From Killing Babies And Homosexual Intercourse To Steal Computers From Ordinary Plain-Spoken Republicans Who Want The Best For America

    That would be fair and balanced. Your version comes across as something Noam Chomsky might say.

  7. In other news... by 0x0d0a · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In other news, if said computers were using encrypted filesystems, none of this would matter. Could be a simple computer theft, could be DNC dirty tricks, could be anything. It just wouldn't matter.

    We live in a nation where we can freely (mostly) obtain and use encryption, and people choose not to do so.

    When will they ever learn?

  8. the top ten by pizza_milkshake · · Score: 4, Funny
    the top ten things the Republican laptops were last seen doing:

    10. hacked by democrats looking for Windows XP serial#
    9. kicked off IRC for inventing words
    8. tricked into running a Word macro virus by therightisright@hotmail.com
    7. accidentally installed YouthfulIndiscretion XP, regrets it
    6. voting negatively in the online polls at homosexualmarriage.org
    5. busy checking paypal transactions from SaudiArabia@hotmail.com
    4. engaged in IM session at Halliburton.com
    3. busy DDoS-ing iran.com
    2. browser choked on pretzel.com
    1. infected by trojan whilst browsing alt.sex.binary.gay.marriage

  9. Re:Security? by Hank+Reardon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You must be trolling.

    The campaign managers are in charge of national security in much the same way that you're in charge of putting the dishes away at my house.

    That's like walking into a drug company convention and exclaiming "We let these salespeople do surgery?"

    Come the fuck on; he's running for President, not applying for a job as a system administrator, security consultant, or even an MCSE.

    If you were talking foreign policy, domestic policy or something that a potential POTUS would be responsible for, fine. But the stuff was ripped off from a campaign office by a rock through the window.

    I'm just sick to death of both sides screaming "This is what we want?" at every little fucking thing that comes up from break-ins to which campign offical is involved in what 527 group.

    Find some fucking issues that matter, figure out where Kerry and Bush have different ideas on how to handle the issues, and make your choice on how well their views match with yours.

    If "got campaign headquarters broken into" is top on the public list to vote Kerry instead of Bush, we are indeed in deep shit.

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    There's so little difference between politics and jihad lately...
  10. Even with this... by aztektum · · Score: 3

    They act like it's just two parties. They automatically blame the Democrats. What if it was people from the Green or Libertarian Party.

    Oh wait, I forgot those two groups have no chance of winning for President so lets automatically blame our biggest competitor.

    Anything that comes out of Washington D.C. these days just makes me sick to my stomach.

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    :: aztek ::
    No sig for you!!
  11. Karl Rove tapped his own office in Texas... by for(;;); · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...during an election in, I believe, the mid-70's. (See "Bush's Brain".) All the reporters could tell Rove was behind it, but had to report the bullshit anyway. That's what will happen this time.

    The lapdog media will fall for Rove's tricks every chance they get. Like with McCarthy, they have to report lies if someone important says them.

    --

    "Whatever happened to fair use?"
    -- Duff-Man
    1. Re:Karl Rove tapped his own office in Texas... by megabulk3000 · · Score: 5, Interesting
      That's funny, I was just reading about this here, in an article by Joshua Green in the Atlantic Monthly about Rove's dirty tricks. Here's the quote:
      One of the first highlights of his career was the famously tight 1986 Texas governor's race, in which his candidate and mentor, the Republican oilman Bill Clements, sought to oust the Democratic incumbent Mark White. The race is legendary in Texas political lore for Rove's discovery that his office was bugged--news of which, coincidentally or not, distracted attention from an evening debate in which his candidate was expected to fare poorly.
  12. I really do doubt it's the Demms by 0x0d0a · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems like kind of a stupid idea to do this. Seriously.

    Okay, consider what would have to be true for the Demms to be behind it. They want some data from a computer. They don't pay someone on the inside to get keys or another form of access. They have a plan to obtain the campaign plans from a laptop. Instead of taking lockpicks or anything else that one might expect from professional espionage types, they smash in a window -- using a rock. That's the sort of thing that you'd find at the scene, and unless there were gloves used, there are probably fingerprints left on the thing. They take the laptops.

    We've had Watergate -- we know what happens to politcos that get caught fucking around with election campaigns. They ignore Watergate and public reaction to that. They leave evidence all over the scene in a very obvious break-in right before an election -- there's no way that anyone can miss a smashed window with a stone on the ground and missing laptops. Even if they couldn't *possibly* come up with a more intelligent plan for stealing the data, they still feel that the spectre of a Watergate is worth the stealing of a laptop.

    No, I just don't buy that it's the Demms (at least the party). It'd just be stupid.

    Could it be someone pro-Bush that wants to tie up the Demms in a scandal right before the election? Maybe. That seems a little far-fetched, though. It's a terribly visible dirty trick. I'm not sure that I'd want to do something like that -- there has to be *some* sort of more effective, less risky want to pull things than to try framing the Demms.

    A common thief? Maybe. They did say that the laptops of the top three people were the ones taken. As the Republican guy said, that seems a bit unusual. Unless, of course, the laptops of the three biggest head honchos were the flashiest computers.

    And then, of course, there's the oddball concept -- maybe it's just someone who isn't intending to influence the election one way or another *or* wants the computers -- who just gets their jollies from screwing with the people and the media. This is pretty much guaranteed to produce a shitstorm. Kind of like the guys that send fake anthrax to people to screw with them. They get to read about themselves in the newspaper, and love it.

    So, I dunno. It could be the Demms, but if it is, they're being *awfully* stupid.

  13. Why this isn't like Watergate by Masker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1) Watergate was the national campaign headquarters for a national political party.
    2) The Watergate burglars were caught red-handed in the offices

    Trying to equate this to Watergate is really weak.

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    ---------The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

  14. You aren't much of an expert either by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There have been plenty of analyses. The common letters (etaoinshrdlu...) are worn like they would be on a typewriter, and all the letters show slight variations in vertical and horizontal position and impression, just as they would be on a real mechanical typewriter. No one who had the patience for that kind of fakery would slip up on the obvious ones like letterhead.

    Furthermore, interviews with the colonel's secretary says the tone of the letter and the information in it was exactly what was being talked about in the office at the time, that everyone knew how pissed the colonel was about Bush playing fast and loose with his obligation, and the pressure from above and outside to let Bush get away with it.

    Bush signed up for 5 yars flight obligation and walked away from the last two years.

    As for the rest of your comments, Bush is a lying whining coward. Sitting for 7 minutes reading a book like a deer in headlights while the country is udner attack --- what kind of bravery is that? Lying about the reasons for going to war is a lot more important than Clinton lying about who he had sex with. Whining about Kerry flipflopping when Bush has flipflopped over nation building, fiscal prudence, states rights, government bureaucracy -- he isn't even a republican!

    He can't even take responsibility for anything. He hasn't even got the guts to say I was wrong, I made a mistake. He just barges on as though nothing has happened. That takes real moral courage. The buck sure doesn't stop anywhere near the White House these days.

    Anyone who likes Bush is blind. Anyone who thinks he knows what he is doing has blinders on in addition.

  15. Re:To everyone saying this was Rove's plot by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    It is just as plausible to say that Watergate was a Democrat plot to make Nixon look bad.

    To cover his tracks, one of the Democrats involved (G Gordon Liddy) served five years in prison on charges of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping before his 20 year sentence was commuted by President Carter- who, it turns out, just happened to be a Democrat. Coincidence? You decide. Then to make extra sure nobody was onto him, he became a conservative talk show host and pretended not to be a Democrat for years and years. This guy continues to cover up his sabotage of Nixon's reelection campaign to this very day. There is no depth to which these people will not sink.

  16. Easy choice by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd vote for the guy who got three purple hearts, a silver star, and a bronze star, anytime, over the guy who took the rich boy coward's way out and won't admit there was anything even remotely improper about it.

    Attacking any of Kerry's purple hearts is attacking every purple heart ever issued. That is not to say that all were well earned. No doubt some were for mere scratches, just as LBJ got a silver star in WWII basically to get him out of the war zone; MacArthur didn't appreciate politicians gallivanting around to get votes back home. But to single out one of Kerry's three purple hearts, when he was at least over there and getting shot at and rescuing a man, is pretty damned silly.

    A friend of mine was so pissed about the slimeball attacks on Kerry's purple hearts by the Bushies that when he saw a jeep with a purple heart license plate and a "Another vet for Bush" bumper sticker, he asked the guy if he had earned his purple heart. That's obnoxious as hell, but perfectly fair in the light of the Bushies attacking Kerry's purple hearts. Either check them all or leave them all alone. Don't single out Kerry.

    1. Re:Easy choice by Kalak · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This goes against my nature to just say "me too" but I couldn't have said it better myself. Even if all Kerry had was a campaign ribbon, no Purple Hearts, and no Stars, and was a PFC loading boxes then it sure beats campaigning at home and not showing up for duty. I respect both the vets and the Guard members I've met (as all are pledged to put lives on the line), but being there is a far cry more service than not being anywhere. (AWOL may be the correct term, we don't have enough records, AFAIK, but we sure know he missed his physical he was ordered to show for.)

      To question Kerry's service records is a straw man - Bush has no service record - correction, so he's actually missing a few of them. If that's your reason for not voting Kerry, or voting for Bush, then you are disrespecting all those who served in any capacity. If you can't get a real reason to vote for a candidate, maybe you should either examine the issues more, or just not vote. Look for the real issues, and pick a candidate based on those.

      p.s. This applies no matter who you end up choosing to vote for - just have a good reason, cause we're going to have to live with the decision, so I hope it's based on some good reason, not some crap.

      --
      I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by .hack)
    2. Re:Easy choice by MilenCent · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'd vote for the guy who got three purple hearts, a silver star, and a bronze star, anytime, over the guy who took the rich boy coward's way out and won't admit there was anything even remotely improper about it.

      Really? I'd vote for the guy who didn't freaking give tax breaks to the richest 1% of Americans under the cover of helping the middle class, double freaking pull back environmental protections it took decades to establish, quadruple freaking send us to war in Iraq under false pretenses, and super-duper-dippity-dang-dog-freaking exhibit a childlike love for junk science that furthers his beliefs.

      Yes, this means I'm voting for the same person as you. I just take the view that while it's nice that the guy you're voting for is honorable on the field of battle and all, under the present circumstances, that are dozens of other, more important, reasons to vote against Bush.

    3. Re:Easy choice by Rew190 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, but skipping out on real service sure does...

  17. Bush-speak... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 4, Informative
    Burglarized?

    A burglar might burgle a property, in which case the property has been burgled

  18. Re:Ironically? by CaptainCheese · · Score: 3, Insightful

    when most people use the word "ironic", the irony is that they don't know what the word actually means.

    It's a sort of self-fulfilling socratic irony...

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