Obama, McCain Campaigns Both Hacked, Files Compromised 255
dunezone writes "As the election ends, news is coming out from both campaigns on what happened behind closed doors. During the summer, the Obama campaign had their systems hacked, but so did McCain — and not by each other, but by a third party. '... both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised.'"
Also from the article: "Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions — information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration."
Hopefully this inspired Obama (Score:2, Interesting)
Insight into Pragmatism (Score:5, Interesting)
I particularly love this insight:
The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ⦠answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."
Could you have imagined Obama saying that during the election? heh
Nothing to see here (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Hopefully this inspired Obama (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't think that having legislation enacted that cites the latest Die Hard movie as a source and has Ted "Tubes" Stevens as an adviser is a good thing.
We'll wake up one morning and hear that the cyber-terrorism meter is at paisley.
Re:Obama Apologists (Score:4, Interesting)
Fuck it. We got him elected, he's going to have to answer for himself from now on. And I hope more people are with me on this -- especially those in the media.
The good news is, I believe that he will.
Re:Insight into Pragmatism (Score:5, Interesting)
> Could you have imagined Obama saying that during the election?
No... but he just went up in my estimation having read that.
Re:Who.... (Score:5, Interesting)
The old guard have spent the past 8 years stinking drunk with money and power and now 'Bama(and, apparently, most of the common Americans) wants change. Of course, that tinfoil hat theory implies that 'Bama and the old guard are at odds and Obama would be wise to reverse his stance re: telecom immunity.
Re:Insight into Pragmatism (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is that all? The IntarTubes have a solution! (Score:5, Interesting)
> Corruption in Alaska? You betcha!
According to my brother, even with such corruptions as she's shown, Sarah Palin is a breath of fresh air compared to politics as usual in Alaska.
And he is by no means a Sarah Palin fan, quite the opposite.
Re:By 3rd parties ? i dont buy it. (Score:4, Interesting)
Uh, you don't have to hack any websites to get information about political donors. It'a all public knowledge. The candidates are required by law to report that kind of stuff. This was required even before McCain-Feingold fucked up our political system even further with their Campaign Finance Reform Bill. If they don't file these reports, or file them late, they have to pay significant fines.
Go to the Federal Election Commission's website and review all the campaign finance reports they've filed regularly since they declared their candidacy. For an easier view of the data, you can also go to http://www.campaignmoney.com/ [campaignmoney.com] and search on your own zip code to see how much money all your neighbors contributed to the last campaign.
No hacking required.
Re:Or it coult just be /b/tards having a bit of fu (Score:1, Interesting)
One word. It is the Chinese. This is what happens when U.S. companies move their production and design to China. For gods sake don't move any more production overseas or out source.
Sigh! Incorrect (Score:5, Interesting)
So, I'll refrained from criticizing any conservative or GOP positions, and simply deal with what's incorrect.
1. NAFTA - that story you link to is incorrect. A couple of days after the article you cite, both the Obama campaign and - more importantly - the Canadian embassy itself declared that no such assurances were made. So either they're all lying, or the first article that you cite got it wrong.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/03/politics/main3898313.shtml [cbsnews.com]
2. Obama's position on coal is: We will probably need some coal as a transition away from foreign oil. But coal also comes with environmental risks, so clean coal is better than dirty coal.
That's not shifting, that's reasonable. Sometimes reality is nuanced. That's addressing different circumstances in a complex world.
3. There was and is absolutely no change in Obama's tax plans, or anywhere near it. That link you cite is not even from Obama speaking. That's Biden making a gaffe-tastic misstatement in a speech. The Obama campaign restated it's policy after Biden's misstatement - it says that in the very same article you cite.
4. As for Biden's transcribed dialogue - it seems quite clear to me. It's just transcribed from live human speech. Biden's saying "When the US and France kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, Barack and I wanted NATO forces moved in to fill the vacuum. Otherwise Hezbollah would walk back in."
So, in conclusion, I'd like to propose that, from this point forward, we criticize what people's actual articulated positions are, and see how their actions match up to those positions. Because, as an Obama supporter, I *want* to see Obama's positions and policies criticized from every possible angle. Both in formulation and in practice.
But let's stick with what Obama and others are actually intentionally saying (and will now be doing) - and not hearsay or misstatements. Let's concentrate on whether or not it will work, and why.
Sound good?
Conspiracy theory (Score:1, Interesting)
Just for fun, let me go a little wing-nut here. The FBI informs the campaigns that their systems have been compromised. Implying of course that the campaigns themselves don't already know this. So ... how does the FBI know? That's weird all by itself.
Let's get even weirder. Do they know? Maybe they are just making shit up, so that they can offer to 'help' the campaigns tighten up their security. Thereby obtaining access to information that they wanted. What information, why, and for who? Dunno. I'm just opening the door for the next conspiracy theory.
Re:Gee, which "foreign entity" could they mean? (Score:3, Interesting)
95% of the unauthorized http accesses
Do you have a system for requesting authorisation for http accesses to your system? tcp/80 open to the world? Sounds authorised to me.