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Idiotgate

Two idiots fired for looking up Obama’s passport information. Third idiot under investigation for same. Washington Post here. Washington Times here.  

Fourth idiot knows it isn’t but wants to snark that this is evidence we live in a banana republic.

I think he must be confusing that situation with this one.* Which may be rearing its head again.

It’ll be interesting to find out how interesting passport files are.  If all they have is application information, of the sort in this official list of documents, they should be pretty boring, and these people are idiots who broke the rules for, basically, nothing. But if they include any memos, maybe checks and initials, etc., that indicate investigations were prompted by any particular circumstances, they could be fascinating.

For example, I recently renewed my passport. My wife and kids got new ones.  Theirs turned around in two weeks. It was great. See if that ever happens in a banana republic. My application, accompanied by my old passport loaded up with visas and stamps from one end of dustiest Derkaderkastan to the other took over a month.  Imagine if my name was “Hussein” or something like that. Fortunately, my reputation as an infidel Crusader dog is secure.

Gateway with something the State Department etal might want to look at.

Tigerhawk: “Believe me, the Bush administration wishes there were enough Republicans in the State Department for such trivialities.” 

Surber: Milking it and other Obama hypocrisies. 

Meanwhile, as we try to keep abreast of the latest conspiracy theorism, TPM aha!s with the startling observation that Passport Office contractor curiosity appears to have been heightened by news.

* She’s right. It’s wicked ’90s.

Topics: blogs, moronocy, pols

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:28 am on Friday, March 21, 2008

7 Responses to “Idiotgate”

1. Fatty Bolger Says:
   March 21st, 2008 at 9:33 am

   Really, this is an issue with any organization that holds sensitive or confidential information on its customers. When I worked for a bank there was the same problem - curious employees could find quite a bit of information on famous people who used the bank, especially if they had bought a home through the bank. It was a fireable offense, but I don’t think there was any alert system in place to catch people. They could go back and look at records to see who had accessed the account and when, though.

2. Dave Surls Says:
   March 21st, 2008 at 10:40 am

   For reasons of national security, it is absolutely vital that Obama’s height, weight, hair and eye color remain confidential.

3. The Thunder Run Says:
   March 21st, 2008 at 10:42 am

   Web Reconnaissance for 03/21/2008

   A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.

4. The_Real_JeffS Says:
   March 21st, 2008 at 7:41 pm

   And the same idiots looked up Billary and McCain. Sheesh!

5. Missred Says:
   March 21st, 2008 at 9:29 pm

   last time i went to scotland, the customs officers leafed through the pages of my passport.. “you take a lot of holidays for a yank”, he said. yea, i am blessed.

6. Vanguard of the Commentariat Says:
   March 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 am

   Two “state department employees were fired”. Well, no, that’s impossible

   “Two contractors were fired.” There, all fixed.

7. Consul-At-Arms Says:
   March 24th, 2008 at 3:16 am

   I’ve quoted you and linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2008/03/re-idiotgate.html

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