Bush Campaign Offices Burglarized 194
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."
Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:5, Insightful)
No, three equally plausible scenarios! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No, three equally plausible scenarios! (Score:2, Funny)
Bush-speak... (Score:4, Informative)
A burglar might burgle a property, in which case the property has been burgled
Re:Bush-speak... (Score:3, Informative)
That way, I won't have to do it for you.
Re:Bush-speak... (Score:2)
The references you quote also have the word listed without the unnecessary "ariz" in the middle. I get the feeling it's only in the dictionary in it's long form because enough people got it wrong for it to come into common usage.
Re:Bush-speak... (Score:2)
A burglarizer
Re:Bush-speak... (Score:2)
Karl Rove has form (Score:3, Informative)
Faux news has published two entirely fake stories about Kerry in the past two days. The first was a list of fake quotes he never made, hastily withdrawn after Josh Micah Marshall blew the whistle on them. The second was reporting quotes from 'Communists for Kerr
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:4, Insightful)
Not everything is a conspiracy.
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Mod Parrent Up! (Score:2)
Feel free to mod me down at the same time, so long as you mod parent up.
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:2)
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:2, Insightful)
"They were created in such a way as to appear genuine until closely scrutinized."
Closely scrutinized?! Do you know anything about the forged letter? It lacked the correct letterhead; in fact, it didn't have one at all! It was done on computer rather than a typewriter. A computer that supported variable character spacing and superscripting of numbers("1st", "2nd", etc.) which means it was probably done in a modern version of Microsoft Word. All of these things are clues even your average slashdotte
You aren't much of an expert either (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:You aren't much of an expert either (Score:2)
They're both lousy bums, and they're the only choice we're being given. So, which is it, Kodos or Kang?
Easy choice (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Easy choice (Score:2)
Why would you want either of them? If this was football, it would be somehow fathomable. But whatever. My sole, small consolation is that a fool like you is likely to suffer just as much as myself when one of these two boobs wins.
Oh, not so (Score:3, Insightful)
But here's how I really feel about politicians and voting and elections.
Firts, politicians are scum, but that's because we only choose scum. Look at all the flak Kerry has gotten for actually thinking about bills and voting differently as conditions change, and for giving detailed answers. What politicia
Re:Easy choice (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Easy choice (Score:4, Interesting)
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 [mcsweeneys.net] of other, more important, reasons to vote against Bush.
Swift boat vets swift with the truth (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Easy choice (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:You aren't much of an expert either (Score:2)
Re:You aren't much of an expert either (Score:2)
Re:You aren't much of an expert either (Score:2, Informative)
Being crumpled up and run through a copier for a few generations will introduce some variation in the horizontal and vertical spacing (mostly to do with the position of the scanning element.)
But the main jist is that the forged memo is impossible to duplicate on any typewriter of the era -- even the best $3000 Selectric Composer typesetting machine. Whereas if you load up a modern version of MS Word, keep the default settings, and type up and print out the text
Bullshit! (Score:2)
Being crumpled up and run through a copier for a few generations will introduce some variation in the horizontal and vertical spacing (mostly to do with the position of the scanning element.)
and
Whereas if you load up a modern version of MS Word, keep the default settings, and type up and print out the text of the memo, you get a perfect match.
So you can make it mismatch and match at the same time? Crumple it up to make it misaligned and look like a typewritten document, but it sti
Re:Bullshit! (Score:2, Informative)
Because the alignment distortion is consistent with modern photocopiers. Did you even look at the link I gave you? Here's a shorter one [littlegreenfootballs.com]. Keep in mind that nothing comes even vaguely as close as MS Word.
Circular arguments go nowhere (Score:2)
That praise of Bush is bog-standard fitness reporting. Ever heard of grade inflation? The military has it in spades. Just about everyone gets an A. You have to be really atrocious to get a bad report. Besides, no one says Bush wasn't ok to start with.
If you want to pick and choose documents, go ahead. There are a whole lot of documents, even some released by the white house, showing t
Re:Circular arguments go nowhere (Score:2, Insightful)
No, they are forged because they were typed up in Microsoft Word, and are impossible to replicate using any known 1970's typewriter.
"Jumped the queue"? That's a Michael Moore fabrication. There were plenty of flight slots open when Bush applied. There was no mythical unified queue.
Re:Circular arguments go nowhere (Score:2)
It also distorts by jumping some characters up, like a typewriter. That's even better, now you'd have to muck around with Word very much weirdly.
They don't look typewritten when you only see them thru Rush's eyes. Try looking at them with your own eyes. Figure out
Re:To me, the Bush documents are plausible. (Score:2)
So, you (or whoever actually wrote this) are saying that the documents are legitimate, even though no-one involved believes the documents to be authentic, and though no-one involved believes that the documents were sent out to be typeset?
I suppose you also believe that when dealing with an alcoholic, it's best to write up a memo yourself and take it to the typesetter, in order to leav
It happened to me, several times. (Score:2)
Here's a paragraph from my comment: "Nothing that I've said in this commentary until now attempts to decide whether the Bush documents in question were or were not forgeries. I have only been establishing that the documents are plausible. It appears to me that I am in a position to know what might be plausible."
All I'm saying is that it happened to me, several times, that I took letters to be typed, and they were returned looking like the Bush documents.
I've had a life-long interest in typesetting. T
Re:To me, the Bush documents are plausible. (Score:2)
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:5, Interesting)
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
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Which still has to, for the most part, be approved by YOUR representatives in Congress. Or do you actually believe Bush would stage some sort of military coup?
Regardless, my point was that many liberals, for whatever reason or another, have completely lost their logic due their hatred of Bush. Ted Kennedy less than a week ago likened a vote for Bush to a vote fo
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:3, Informative)
You see it one way - I see it as an enemy handing out material that shows just how mutch of a boob the President is - but I would really enjoy knowing why you think they are handing it out.
You know I was asked by some republican friends of mine about Zell Miller's speech at the convention, my reply was - "It is too bad
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:2)
I believe they're handing it out because they know his proactive approach to their cause is working. Furthermore, it gives them hope by showing the Achilles Heel of the giant after them--the U.S.'s complex internal politics. All they have to do is try to stay alive long enough for some idiot like Michael Moore to put some soldier's (who was probably killed by friendly fire anyway) mother in front of a camera and milk her for ever
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:2)
The 'War on Terror' was affirmed by both sides, it's more a matter of how, not why at this point... conservatives feel they can not trust the rest of the world to do a damn thing about it (The UN talks and talks and passes various pieces of commentary but never acts on anything)... the liber
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:2, Informative)
Umm.. yes he is. I can't believe you don't think that he is. [newamericancentury.org]
Afghanistan, Iraq == "Two Shining Examples of Western Democracy In the Middle East"
My ass he's not trying!
Bottom line on Bush/Kerry and Vietnam... (Score:3, Insightful)
He dodged the draft! He dodged going to Vietnam. Look, there were 3 ways to get out of going to Vietnam if your number came up back then. 1, skip off to Canada. 2, be in college forever. 3, Join the National Guard.
And again, this same way of thinking can be applied to Kerry. The "Swif
Re:Bottom line on Bush/Kerry and Vietnam... (Score:2)
From one perspective, Kerry was honorable for going oversees and participating in that iffish little war. From another, let's call it the "Rincewind perspective," he was stupid for doing so.
I find myself thinking more and
Your tinfoil hat is not malfunctioning (Score:2)
On the other hand, the break-in doesn't quite have the Rovian flair. I think it was just one of those freak crimes by some anarchist.
And better still, (Score:2)
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:2)
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:2)
So Afghanistan was not a threat? I'm sorry, they harbored Osama bin Laden, supported him, protected him, and I was a eye witness in New York on 9/11. That "defeated, underdeveloped" nation was certainly a threat to us. I am only disappointed we waited until after an attack to realize that. I prefer to take the fight to them before they attack
Re:Two equally plausible scenarios (Score:2)
1) The plans on the computers were fake outs
2) The low level patsies will be easilly caught, making for a scandal
3) Karl Rove is eeeeEEEEvil.
This comment is not the opinion of the author, just guessing what democracticunderground.com will be saying about now.
Tinfoil hats have no part affiliation.
Payback for Bubblegate ? (Score:2)
Unsurprisingly (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Unsurprisingly (Score:2)
Of course (Score:2)
October "surprise" ? (Score:2, Funny)
Disregard (Score:2, Funny)
I did it (Score:5, Funny)
-- Smelly GNU/Hippie 'puter poacher
Re:I did it (Score:2)
Free Software is EVIL and only Al Queida sanctions it's use; and we'll have none of that!
Stolen computers (Score:2)
What I suspect is that it was a routine case of people stealing other peoples' stuff. If they were after the data, there are other more surreptitious means to go about this, but I get the feeling that they were more concerned with the hardware than the data.
72 hour plan leaked (Score:5, Funny)
The following is from the document they found:
Bush's 72 hour plan
Re:72 hour plan leaked (Score:2)
Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
Reason: Your comment looks too much like ascii argt.
Alert Forrest Gump! (Score:2)
In other news... (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
You make a good point... (Score:2)
Perhaps I ought to pass along the suggestion to my local party offices. Not much of a leftist-hacker crowd down here, though. Seattle, now, that's a different story.
I'll probably send that suggestion into the national GOP offices. "Hey, this maybe-liberal guy on slashdot has a really good idea...". Maybe even get you credit for it
Re: In other news... (Score:2)
> 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.
Yes, and politicians should be particularly careful to make sure they encrypt their
Security? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Security? (Score:5, 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.
the top ten (Score:4, Funny)
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
Re:the top ten (Score:2)
Bob Dole accidently set loose an e-mail virus while looking at V1@gr@ spam.
stolen (Score:2, Funny)
BTW, anyone know where to find the debate video for d-l? Not streaming, straight download, be it torrent or otherwise. Thanks.
I stole it. (Score:2)
Even with this... (Score:4)
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.
Re:Even with this... (Score:2)
Re:Even with this... (Score:2)
Karl Rove tapped his own office in Texas... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Karl Rove tapped his own office in Texas... (Score:5, Interesting)
A possible related incident? (Score:2)
Those darn activists (Score:2, Funny)
Anyway, I'm sure all the sensitive data (if not the entire hard drive) was encrypted, so the only thing we have to worry about is the terrorists finally getting their hands on encryption software.
Re:Those darn activists (Score:2)
Re:Those darn activists (Score:2)
Ironically? (Score:2, Insightful)
How is a comparison to Watergate ironic?
Re:Ironically? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a sort of self-fulfilling socratic irony...
Why this isn't like Watergate (Score:5, Insightful)
2) The Watergate burglars [watergate.info] were caught red-handed in the offices
Trying to equate this to Watergate is really weak.
Re:Why this isn't like Watergate (Score:2)
I'm trying to imagine... (Score:2)
Re:I'm trying to imagine... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'm trying to imagine... (Score:2)
There's just no equivalent of Liddy on the left -- unless you believe the Hiliary-is-Satan conspiracy buffs. And if you do, go join the UFOrians and Illuminati-Skulters over on the other side of the room. This discussion is
72-Hour Plan? (Score:3)
The two sides are both so cynical I am ready to ignore them both and write in Pete Rose [yahoo.com]. If they'd each quit pandering to the other's base for a minute, they'd quickly understand how simple it is:
What the Republicans need to do is quit trying to look liberal, and instead convince middle class subdivisionites that George Bush is God's Own Candidate. They'll turn out in droves.
What the Democrats need to do is quit trying to look like anti-war-but-tough-on-terror hawks, and instead convince undecided voters that John Kerry has a firm position on some issue. They already know he isn't George Bush; he can stop running on that now.
No, the two sides keep hitting their talking points and strategizing about getting out the vote of this or that demographic.
I think I'll turn my attention to something important. Don't they know there's a pennant race [yahoo.com] going on?
It's 'BURGLED', you morons! (Score:2, Funny)
Next we'll have people saying "Last night I was burglarized by burglarizer"!
Or perhaps in a few years time it shall be known as getting 'burglarizered'...
WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END?
Re:Of course... (Score:2)
And vice versa.
In other news (Score:2)
One big-wig Republican party guy to another, "Hey, remember that guy in our office in Washington state that is always talking about voting machines?"
Other big wig, "Umm... Oh yea... I think I get your point, we want everyone to think it was the work of one fanatic to take the heat off the party, right?"
First big wig, "I'll set it up"
Re:Of course... (Score:2)
What? And miss a perfect opportunity to blame the terrorists?
I really do doubt it's the Demms (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:I really do doubt it's the Demms (Score:2)
Re:I really do doubt it's the Demms (Score:2)
Re:They didn't like my version (Score:3, Insightful)
Right. Because the democratic modus operandi has always been a rock through a window at 4 in the morning.
Re:They didn't like my version (Score:2)
Too liberal. (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:They didn't like my version (Score:2, Informative)
Give me a break. There is not even the slightest shred of evidence supporting anything of the sort in that article. There is an entirely unfounded accusation (from the State Republican Party Chairman; hardly an unbiased source) but not a hint of any proof. If this is your idea of evidence I certainly hope you never get called to jury duty.
Re:To everyone saying this was Rove's plot (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:To everyone saying this was Rove's plot (Score:2, Insightful)
Ummm, sarcasm? (Score:2)