Sarah Palin's Yahoo! hacking: 'GovPalin'

So a hack got hacked !! That's not unusual. Look at Senator McCain, he got hacked by Charles Keating and Phil Gramm. It turns out, the Bush-McCain Republicans are a loose collection of hacks !! After all, wasn't it Senator McCain who created the Blackberry, for all those hackers !!??
SUPPORT OUR TROPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.

What shows most is Barack Obama's silence on this matter. I'm now sold on McCain/Palin. Obama's far left are the pits............

This is really scary. I was concerned that some of the emails in her personal email account dealt with official state business. I'm still on the fence about Palin.

I found these websites: www.dailysource.org and www.dailysource.org/palin

I'm still reading them now but I have found a lot of really good information on the candidates, including the most unknown--Palin.

While I do not condone the hacking, if Palin was using her personal email account to conduct state business and/or to avoid FOIA requests, she deserves to be exposed.

FOCUS ON THE ISSUES PEOPLE! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT SIDE YOU ARE ON. DON'T LET STUPID THINGS LIKE THIS DISTRACT YOU.

Hacking into her account is a complete crime and should be pursed as such. As a liberal, democrat I am against it. But we do as a public need to consider if public officials should be using private email for public business. That goes for everyone...even Barack Obama. Bush has done this very same thing knowing it is confidential. It is an area that must be decided for the future.

Why is this treated as a partisan attack? These "hackers" would have exposed Obama's email if he were ignorant enough to let it happen. It's their nature. Now let's talk about this evading FOIA business...

This was a personnel email account - and the hacking is the only thing that should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The left should be ashamed of itself - oh, I forgot, their hero changed his mind on spying on the American people - I guess the money from the comunications lobby is more important than principles - hense, the flipflop on the FISA bill.

I wonder if this was Obama's e-mail account and he used it to conduct Senate business as a State Senator or US Senator. What would be the reaction of bloggers, commentators, etc. They would be calling for the heads of the hackers and demanding that the e-mails and photos be taken down. These are the type of sick people who are supporting the "APPEASEMENT KID".
It seems that the Democ"rats' and the "APPEASEMENT KID" bring out the worst in people. make no mistake this are supporters of the "APPEASEMENT KID". and the Democ"rat"ic Party.

They say that "BUSH" is evil, but it seems they are the evil ones.

VJ Machiavelli
http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com

As an independent I had not decided who I was going to vote for until this email hack made the news. The mealy mouthed, spineless liberals have made the decision for me...McCain/Palin it is.

As to Andrée McLeod remarks concerning Palins use of her personal email account that reveals.......

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, talking about a talk show host who had been critical of Parnell, and a friend who Palin appointed to an advisory board on issues involving alcohol and drug abuse that wrote to the governor Sunday saying she was praying for Palin. "Don't let the negative press get you down!, well does that sound like state business?

Sounds like personal gossip to me and that means it should not, let me repeat that ...should not... have been sent on a state email account.
Good call Gov. Palin.

It has become abundantly clear that the left leaning emotional mamma's do not "hate" Sarah Palin, they are just really, really, jealous.

Sarah can hunt, fish, ride snow machines, ride ATV's, field dress game, appeared in Vogue, and has been a great mother, successful council women, mayor, and governor with an 80% approval rateing and does it all with a smile while maintaining a great figure. No wonder the liberal women of the left hate her.

The behavior of these 'anonymous' hackers is despicable. Although I will not be voting Republican in this race, I absolutely refuse to condone the behavior of these radical extremists. This is NOT DEMOCRACY! This is terrorist behavior!

Besides; if there was anything really dirty in her personal stuff, they would have printed it. There WAS NOT.

I am totally disgusted with these 'anonymous' people and hope they are found and prosecuted.

The Obama Youth has just opened itself up to a world of hurt courtesy of the United States Secret Service.
You can be sure that if this is linked to the Obama campaign - and remember how the Obama Youth responded to the campaign's e-mail messages to "shut down" WGN - then he's as good as toast. What a hateful, pathetic, little man.

What do you think you might find if someone hacked and posted online the personal emails of, say, Barack Obama? Or Joe Biden? Or Nancy Pelosi? Or Rod Blagojevich? Or Emil Jones? "This raises questions," my rump. If this were Obama's emails, you Obama supporters would all would be shouting about how his civil liberties were violated and calling for an investigation and indictment or impeachment of any and all Republicans, whether involved or no. Just another demonstration of what happens to anyone of prominence who dares to threaten Obama's ascent in any way. Why is it that he never faced a serious candidate for any race he's ever "won?"

Why on earth would you post personal, confidential business on a yahoo email account? She should have known better and deserves what she gets!

The world we live in - NO hacking should be condoned.

The conservatives cooked up a war that his killed thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and cost trillions of taxpayer dollars. The final reason? Saddam was a bad man. Conservatives want the government out of our lives, because we can trust people and business to do the right thing. Welcome to the housing crisis, the credit crisis, economic armagideon, and the socialization of fundamental businesses. Liberals are the worst.

As far as hacking I think that part is wrong. That person is stupid to do something like that. That said I think it's stupid to use her personal emais for government business. I for one don't want a Vice President that isn't smart enough to keep there personal email strictly for personal use. Move over McCain for Obama

So what state business appears on these personal e-mails? So far all the quotes I see have to do with politics, which is supposed to be separate and apart from state business.

The hacker(s) need to be prosecuted, big time!

I am surprised by some of the commentators over here blaming Obama for some criminal guy who hacked Palin's personal email account. What does this got to do with Obama? It does tells me how careless Palin was for using yahoo account for Government's Official use. This is extra-ordinary evidence that Gov. Palin is not ready for the most prestigious VP slot. God help us if she becomes US President by default and runs the country like this.

Using your personal email account for personal business is not illegal. Even if your email address is gov.sarah@yahoo.com. When she gossips with another elected official (Atty General) about his election progress and dealings with a Talk Show Host, that does not constitute public business.

Sorry, Rapid Foaming at the mouth Liberals, but this will again backfire against the Obamabots. The end result of this whole sorry affair will be to show the world that:
1) Liberals are real slime dogs
2) Sarah has nothing to hide but her emails on who she is praying for!

The first thought I had when I heard this was, why in the world does a state governor use Yahoo Mail to conduct official business? Surely the Alaskan government must have its own domain. What a short-sighted decision that was on her part. Makes me wonder what kind of havoc she'd wreak on the VP's office. :shudder:

no matter if she used her personal email for state business is not the question it is the question of privacy and any left wingers can understand that heck they dont like the patriot act

There are some things that should be off limits. That includes personal email. There is plenty of information on which to base an opinion about Gov. Palin. This incident is enough to make me consider voting for McCain/ Palin. I was going to ignore this election and not vote, but this may change my mind.

and you hear not one word from the liberals about the criminality of invading someone's privacy. But they were all up in arms about Bush and his anti-terrorist group Homeland Security reading e-mails to and from terrorists!!!! I can't stand the double standards the Democrats have.

If the emails were Obama's the press would be crying foul and state that anything said in them were obtained illegally. Instead now the left is looking at the content. So since when is talking about the topics listed above state business? Nothing was found, so the use issue is garbage. REPORT the facts that way, not by going after Sarah Palin. I'd love to see Obama's emails because you know that nothing would be in them since he hasn't worked at his job!!!

Fun to read media and bloggers suggesting it was okay to hack Palin's account if she discussed state business. So, it was okay to break into government official's office to get information? To take letters out of a mail box. FLASH: It was a PERSONAL account. If she was using a state account for personal purposes, it would be a problem but it's really a stretch to try to justify an ILLEGAL act that others have gone to jail for. If this leads back to Obama, the election is over now.

I don't see how these emails are "state business". It seems that an email about a talk show and a note of encouragement, should be in a personal email. These are not topics for "state business". The article does not state weather these were "sent" to personal or state addresses, so where did the "business" connection come from.

I think that there are two wrongs here.
First, any expectation of privacy over e-mails on a server that you don't own or control, is ridiculous .

The second is that the personal and private e-mails that are not passing through government servers are fair game for people to use as evidence.

Since Obama's campaign, we're told, is so well run - then Obama must have been aware of this. The goverement should subpoena Obama's personal email and Biden's also. Obama the divider is a dirtbag - and these actions are typical of his new kind of politics. Just ask Jack Ryan how the democrats unsealed his divorce papers in Illinois, which is one of the only reasons a do nothing guy like Obama is where he is.

Something tells me her email wasn't "hacked" so much as the campaign has released them via the appearance of hacking. Thus, they get the best of 2 worlds: Showing "liberals" as violators of privacy bent on destroying and innocent woman and releasing her "e-mails" that will show how amazing she is.

security
i do not need your security

she will not be involved in important areas any way if elected
her purpose will have been fuffilled
and she can go back to being a hockey mom

Agreed Joe.
To those who are condemning Sarah Palin for using a personal email acct for government business- have they ever considered that it's used because the email software that the Alaskan government uses can't be accessed while the person is traveling or overseas?
My work place uses the Lotus Notes email platform and I always have problems accessing it from home or when I'm traveling.

Why is this a news story? So the democrats are hacking Palin's email account and find what amounts to the Lt. Governor and herself talking about someone who had been critical of them and an advisory board member saying that she was praying for her? I mean, wow, this is pretty crazy/mind blowing stuff! Can we call off operation dumbo drop and pick up the slimy lawyers and reporters that Obama dumped in Alaska. It is becoming obvious that there ain't much there.

Yeah, blame those darn liberals for this email hacking thing. Its the liberals' fault.

Blame the liberals for the collapse of investment banks. Even though the deregulation of the mortgage loan industry occurred in a Republican Congress under the watchful eye of the head of the Senate Commerce Commission (wait, who was that again?), its still a liberal thing, I'm sure.

Obama's and Clinton's passport records were hacked earlier this year by a some administrative flunky and Democrats were told to "take a pill" and quit seeing conspiracies everywhere. So now that its happening to Your Candidate, please take your own advice.

Hacking into an email account is chump change compared to Watergate. The shocking news today is that Joe "Hair Plugs" Biden declares it's our "patriotic duty" to pay higher taxes. Watler Mondale declared a variation of this back in '80' and that started the landslide for Ronald Reagan. Keep it up Joe. Once again your mouth is the expanse of the Grand Canyon.

Using a personal Yahoo email account for government business. What was Gov Palin thinking? Or maybe that's the problem she doesn't. Just more proof she is truly not ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Where is the outrage over Jim Johnson, former aide to Obambi,Chris Dodd, chairman of the committee to oversee home loans[ who received a "special friendly rate" ,] Barney Frank, Chuck Schumer, Durbin and all those 353 people in Congress who recieved financial support from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the years? Dodd was #1 recipient in Dollars and Obambi #2 although Obambi has been there only three years, he was making up for lost time apparently. This is disgusting and they people giving and receiving the "bribes" should be jailed. We are becoming so callous to corruption we simply turn our heads and pray we are not hurt by it-similar to Chicagoans.

What a bunch of hypocrits.

The left is always so worried about privacy issues, but when someone they disagree with has their privacy violated it is somehow ok.

I was on the fence, but the left wings nuts are pushing me to the right.

Liberals are the worst people on earth, considering that republicans started vile nasty way of doing buisness shouldnt you look in the mirror. Its funny how its ok for any republican to do whatever they want whenever they want and its all good but whenever someone exposes a repbulican or any politician for what they really are its hurry up and label them so I can feel better about my small minded self. Grow up, if the lady is breaking the law and being this careless it does need to be brought out into the open, it does matter, it shows how careless and reckless this person would be to get their revenge.

This is not a “shocking invasion of the governor’s privacy,” it just another clear indication that she is not fit to be the second most power person in the US.

She can’t even protect her own personal email account; imagine what she would do with National Security matters? Even my 12 year old kid has a more secure email name and password. With a username like “gov.palin” she was asking to be hacked and I am almost sure the password was equally as ridiculous; something along the line “Alaskas08” or the name of one of her kids. What else did you expect from a woman who had no clue where and who her daughter hangs out with.

Lets all stop being racist and focus on making this country the economic giant it was by electing Obama the next president of the USA. The war we need fight is the economic war to liberate the middleclass from the oppressive chains of corporate America.

With McCain/Palin/Bush, you’ll only get more the same and continue to slide deeper in poverty and uncertainty for the next several generations of Americans.

Let’s elect Obama now!

So the slimeballs in the sub-basement of the Obama Campaign HQ are now hacking into personal emails and posting them for all to see. Reminds of President Nixon's CREEP activities in 1972. Is this the type of Nixonian dirty tricks we can expect from an Obama White House?

Lies, lies, lies. What we're not being told is 5 men are responsible for all of the dirty tricks currently being seen in this election. Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-McCain-Palin have the same goal--discredit President Obama in whatever way possible such that he is distracted from governing this great nation and running his reelection campaign at the same time. In his forthcoming book "Hacked," Bob Woodward will show that the hacking of Gov. Palin's email account, in this case, was orchestrated by the 5 Texans (Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-McCain-Palin) in order to force a populist backlash against leftists and President Obama in general. Their ploy will fail again and President Obama will win reelection handily !

First, what is the governor of a state doing using Yahoo mail for state business? No question about that, particularly in light of her chosen user name on the account. Gov. Sez it all. As does some of the content, including a warning about using private email instead of state email for government business.

I stopped using Yahoo for anything but news site registration (and the like) when I found someone else's calendar entries (complete with 4 letter words) in *my* calendar -- even though it was a private calendar with access supposedly only for one. I'd never *really* trusted it but that was the last straw. A clueless company.

And a clueless governor.

Look at the people McCain is picking: a clueless political/economic extremist (Phil Gram) for his economic adviser; a failed -- and fired -- CEO for his tech biz liason; and a trailer trash politician, former beauty contest winner.

Yeah... a winning team, all right.

The hackers were non-partisan anarchists from the GROUP Anonymous. You can find them under /b/ in 4chan.org - they have gone after Scientology this past summer. Quit blaming Democrats & liberals for a hack done by a group out for the LULZ. Last night I watched them manipulate the results for the online Fox News poll during Greta von Sustern's show on this very issue (btw, I'm not a member - I followed the link to the group from other news reports).

I have read most of these post, not all of them, and have one thought in my head, I can't believe that poeple are this stupid. I am not even going with ignorant, just stupid. When it come to government, there should be no such thing as private. Citizens are private not government officials. This is why news is always full of scandals. She should have known better and so should you. We impeached Nixon for this same type problem. I don't know what was in her email and don't really care because I am not in Alaska. But she should have released this information, and should be held accountable for not, when the request was make for the FOIA release. But then again all government official should be, they are no longer private citizens, they are our employees

This story is NOT getting the press that it would be given if Joe Biden or Barack Obama's email had been hacked. The Obama Cult plays very dirty. They are well known for their vicious and hateful attacks. The personal and hateful attacks on Sarah Palin's children are prime examples of this. They even go so far as to make personal attacks on the opposition calling them all idiots and racists. While campaigning in Nevada yesterday Obama assured
donors and voters that "he's been schooled by Chicago politics." Obama and his corrupt Chicago Political Pals are the experts at corrupt politics and crooked campaigns. With the Media in the tank for Obama it is not surprising that this story is getting very little coverage.

I cant wait to get out of here. I am just finishing up my PH.D. (I know I'm an elitist) and bye, bye. McCain Palin will get someone to attack us by stupidly waging a new war. They will cause a depression and start a draft. But, you all vote for them. No empires last and, if humans don't destroy the Earth, this period of time will be written about like the fall of the Roman Empire. And, you know what, you'll still have some people blaming liberals!

Hey Mr. Fitgerald:

We've won the war. Deal with it.

The troops are coming home. The only question is timing; McCain wants to do it when it's safe, and Obama wants to do it whenever it will help him politically (he reportedly even tried to get the Iraqis to delay agreement on a time table until after the election!).

They will do so in honor and in victory- unless Obama wins, and manages to cast it as a defeat.

I know it's hard, but deal with it. America won. So can we talk about Palin's email being hacked now?

It's unbelievable that Palin and her cohorts used Yahoo e-mail accounts on the web to conduct government business. Ever since the media published Palin's Yahoo e-mail addresses that she was using to shield her communications for government businesss, it was just a matter of time before someone hacked the account. McCain can't even use a computer, and Palin is woefully ignorant of safeguarding government data.

Palin, and all the republicans, are getting a little too comfortable.. I think they occasionally need the rug pulled out from under their feet to get them back on their toes. Our country was a little too comfortable when we were attacked on 9/11. Now we are on our toes again, like we should be. We pay politicians to be on their toes at all times, it is their duty!! I am not nearly as important as Palin, however I would not conduct WORK over a unsecured account like yahoo or aol. DUH!! It is pretty common sense. If you leave your keys on top of your car, don't cry when it's stolen. She is an idiot. And I really wish people would stop being racist and change. We cannot afford another Bush or even worse the "Mavericks"!! Mavericks are so Team America. How can anybody take them seriously???

Brainless trolls posting negative and unsubstantiated comments about an opposing candidate. No laws have been broken or unethical activities undertaken by Gov. Palin. On the other hand, the Obama campaign hacker's have certainly violated federal laws and should be prosecuted to the fullest.

I guess the 30 + lawyers sent by the Obama campaign to Alaska can't find much with thier legal wrangling so they resort to criminal activities via "send in the hacker's". Heck, since thier made up, fantasy smears aren't working on Gov. Palin and her family, desperation is clearly setting in.

These are the very same tactics Sen. Obama has used in past elections to get elected. The Chicago Democrat playbook on winning the ugly way is all Sen. Obama has known. He's a product of the Chicago Combine of dirty politic's. He's won every election he's entered so far using smear and fear tactic's and he's trying to win this one the exact same way, through smear, fear and intimidation.

This is not Chicago Barry and the Chicago Corrupt Democrat Combine can't get you elected to National office.

Get over yourself Dave! Combine is a term used in political circles to describe a; syndicate, cartel or organization. Look it up yourself!

This just goes to show what kind of people are for Obama... Nothing good will come out of him being President. People if you think we are in trouble now just wait to see what happens with Obama running the SHOW.

You guys obviously don't know of this "Anonymous" group. These people aren't Obama cronies, they're part of an online community that anyone can join. The thing is, however, everyone is anonymous; no one knows who is posting. They're just a group of like-minded individuals joined under the same name: "Anonymous."

Having said that, they've never even gotten close to the scale of hacking a vice-presidential cadidate's account. The people who did this were probably bored college kids with a bone to pick with Republicans. They are definitely NOT terrorists. And you people who are associating the group Anonymous with mainstream liberals are ridiculous. Or republicans. Meh, same thing.

People, Sarah Palin issued MEMOS stating that govt business should not be sent to her work email address, rather to her personal email address. They did this specifically so that they could not be accessible under FOIA. (So much for her highly touted open government). It is a fact that it's ILLEGAL, and that's why people are annoyed. And how is it Obama's fault that some bored 13 year old computer genius hacked into her email account. She should have known better than to conduct business on a non-secure, private email. Even I"m not that dumb, and I'm not running for VP of our county.

Please please please let the hacker be someone on the inside of the Obama-pinko regime. Please say it is so!

The so-called "independents" who claim that this incident has caused them to decide to vote for McCain are obviously McCain partisans posing as outraged independents. The Repubicans are well known for manufactured outrage as a political tactic.

Anyone who knows anything about the internet (I know this excludes McCain) knows that hackers don't have any political loyalties, but hack for notoriety, and an anarchic sense of bringing down the powerful. If Obama or Biden were irresponsible enough to use a yahoo or hotmail account for campaign or government business, the same hackers would have done the same to them. While hacking an email account is a crime, and I am opposed to that kind of activity (I have an email account on one of those free public services as well), Sarah Palin should have known better than to use such an account for any state business.

I am also aware that Sarah Palin is under an ethics investigation, and that the McCain camp has retained attorneys who are working to derail this investigation. I wonder why Republicans hate attorneys so much, yet use them so readily for political purposes.

Where does it say that the hackers were liberals? It is also posibble that the hackers were conservatives (Just because Mccain cant use a computer doesnt mean everyone cant).

I see a lot of comments here that indicate the reader is blinded by their faith.

1. She didn't do government business on her Yahoo account.

2. Her Yahoo got hacked, not a personal account you can protect.

Smells like Chicago politics.

The facts of the case are limited and quite simple to understand.
Gov. Palin's account was hacked.
The hacker(s) should be prosecuted
No party affiliation has been linked to the hackers, therefore all attempts to describe them as Obama supporters or members "inside his regime" are specious and potentially libelous.
Those people who are describing liberals or conservatives as "the lowest form of life on Earth" are merely demeaning themselves. We are all Americans who, regardless of who wins the election, need to support the next POTUS. I hope and believe it shall be Barack Obama. Should we have the misfortune of being saddled with McCain, the end result will indeed be the same as under Bush. That does not make his supporters "the lowest forms of life on Earth" (and worse) that I have seen on this and other boards. They are neighbors and Americans. Stop acting the fool... both sides.
The anonymity of the internet does seem to invalidate social mores for some people.

A pity.

"...a friend whom Palin appointed to an advisory board on issues involving alcohol and drug abuse wrote to the governor Sunday saying she was praying for Palin. "Don't let the negative press get you down!"

Wow -- that IS a threat to national security. Or, perhaps is just another mountain created from an anthill.

I think it's somewhat premature to state that she has been using her personal email for official business. Talking about the government, or your personal life dealing with the government or the press with your private email is entirely legal. It's also perfectly legal for government officials to talk to one another (even if it's foolish and looks bad), as long as it's for personal and not official reasons. You can't tell the content's of an email by the subject line.

It may very well prove true that she was using her personal account incorrectly, but those who've claimed that she has with absolutely no evidence to support those claims and are already condemning her for it should probably ask themselves if their political ideology is clouding their judgment.

OK so let's make it fair. Obama, Biden, and McCain should all surrender their email accounts to be investigated. What would you find in Obama's email. This is a stinking joke. Focus on the issues, not what is in someones yahoo mail.

I have read most of these post, not all of them, and have one thought in my head, I can't believe that poeple are this stupid. I am not even going with ignorant, just stupid. When it come to government, there should be no such thing as private. Citizens are private not government officials. This is why news is always full of scandals. She should have known better and so should you. We impeached Nixon for this same type problem. I don't know what was in her email and don't really care because I am not in Alaska. But she should have released this information, and should be held accountable for not, when the request was make for the FOIA release. But then again all government official should be, they are no longer private citizens, they are our employees

Posted by: joshua | September 18, 2008 10:44 AM

I agree but I have to add:
What on earth has this country come to? You have tried and convicted Obama saying he had something to do with this. What happen to ‘Innocent until proven guilty'? You folks are really sick. You’re nothing but a group of bigots. You have so much hate in you that you can’t even see straight!

Centrist guy here, gotta say that at this point I think the whining of the conservative freaks is now vastly drowning out the whining of the Liberal freaks.

I'm just as sick of listening to this crap from either side, it is just so old and vile.

And all this SarahP email carping? Of course it was bad, illegal, disrespectful, whatever. But it does highlight her naiveté, again, just like when she wanted us to believe she knows something about Russia because she can see it from her window !

McCain, I like you, but you are old. The likelyhood that you will need a strong person with a broad worldview and deep understanding of our complicated and combustible times is, well, higher than I would like.

Palin supporters are on the loony fringe, they are paranoid beyond believe of the fact that ordinary people are now vetting Palin, a job that McCain failed to do. This issue has nothing to do with Obama, the only person responsible for this is Palin for her carelessness. With each passing day it’s becoming apparent that Gov. Palin is as clueless President Bush. In a way I feel sorry for McCain because he had absolutely no control over picking Palin for the number two spot. This was all a work of the so called “NeoCons” who pushed us into a war without any evidence of WMD. This “Yahoogate” is just another indicator of the Palin’s sophomoric executive decision abilities. I think fair minded republicans should be concerned at the blatant criminal disregard for FOIA. She has put the people and State of Alaska at risk by using a email account yahoo for official state business. The people of Alaska should demand for an investigation into this matter.

Bob Waters - tell me what we have won? Tell me what we have accomplished? What was our goal for the war? Should NEVER have been there in the first place! BUSH secured oil and no-bid contracts for his PERSONAL business/cronies, and removed a dictator that had beef with his father. And Our soldiers were looking for weapons of mass destruction and hunting bin ladin remember??? Success my butt!

"Liberals are the lowest form of life on earth....America is tired of this nasty, hatred these people (Don Fitzgerald) spew everyday! Welcome to the White House....Mr. McCain!!!!

You will post this (above) personal attack, but you won't post my last thing, where I don't even insult anyone, directly. Get a sense of humor and quit kowtowing to the extreme right.

Anywho, here is the deal. This was set up by the Republicans, expecting a reaction. It is so transparent, thank goodness this is not actual news and not getting air time on any real news outlets.

Once again, if you are from Illinois (And it is clear that at 75% of conservatives on this board are not from Illinois) it is in your interest to vote for Obama. The local economy (including Indiana and Wisconsin) will definitely get more jobs and improve the local economy. Bush got congress to build a border fence and stole the underground carbon storing project from Illinois. Both benefit Texas.. Get it????

Who would you choose?

With America facing historic debt, multiple war fronts, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, skyrocketing Federal spending, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc. etc., this is an unusually critical election year.

Let's look at the educational background of the candidates and see what they bring to the job:

Obama:
Occidental College - Two years.
Columbia University - B.A. political science with a specialization in international relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

& Biden :
University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 out of 899 (meaning that, like George Bush, McCain was at the bottom of his class)

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire to lead the most influential nation in the world?

Don't be a bigot Support and vote for the change we need... Vote Obama

The two communications used as examples do not look like state business, but personal communication between two who are in state government. Communication between two officials is usually not a violation of open meeting laws. Stealing anyone's property, including e-mails, is theft.

As the reality of the banana republic style of governance in Alaska is revealed to us lower 48’ers, the seductive invention of Sarah Palin is starting to be seen for what it really is, a vile deceit skillfully wrapped in Republican virtue.

PS: Mr. Silva, I believe you meant to write "propriety" instead of "proprietary"..

Crap. Note to self - clean up my Yahoo account... and change password from 'johnwayne'.

Mr. Bob Waters, what rock have you been sleeping under for the last six years?? We have “won”??? Not even the Iraqi government wants us there, and we have lost billions of dollars that could have been used here at home to build much needed infrastructure. In addition we have lost over 4,000 young men and women in a war we never should have been in. The only people who want to continue staying in Iraq are the companies that received the no-bid contracts. I guess if you consider that victory then we have won.

Interesting that wikileaks.org is no longer available. Wonder if the traffic crashed it or if the government zapped it.

Maybe she should have made her password something that someone couldn't easily guess. "1 2 3 4 5? That's a code an idiot would have on his luggage"

My friends, don't read other peoples' e-mails. The government hates competition. The gov't has been reading e-mails, US mail, and budding in on Americans' telephone calls and contacts for a good while now. Just ask Cheney and Bush who twisted arms until they were given FISA Bill immunity for doing so without warrants, or the good and lawful common sense of the courts. Palin seems to be covering up matters re her emotional and personal use of official power. Why, in this case, is the attempt to gain sunshine for citizens' knowledge called "hacking", and the gov't's unlawful hacking of law-abiding citizens' information called "national security"? I think it's a great matter of national security to get all information out about Palin. She is too new, and too unknown to allow ONLY the glacier-paced workings of gov't "investigations" to bring out the light within 50 days before the elections. It would be a shame to let a possibly dangerous sleeper into the OVP due to not allowing all the sunshine to shine upon Ms. Palin.

Throughout the entire primaries and the general election, the Obama campaign has played dirty politics. In addition to the never ending vitriol of the Obama bloggers on the internet, nearly every time I have posted a supportive blog for Hillary Clinton ... and, then for McCain/Palin ... my computer's mailbox has been inundated with hundreds of pieces of email spam. Another example of under handed behavior by Obama's henchmen, is that they have been organized to approach retirement homes, as volunteer community speakers ... only to visit multiple times spewing lop sided pro-Obama, and negative McCain propaganda to elderly people, to get their votes in November. And, now we can see unprincipled politicians and bias media hacks using the race card ... telling people " if you don't vote for Obama, you must be a racist". Usually, when Americans uncover such despicable tactics, they can count on the mainstream media to expose it to the public ... however, in this case, most of the mainstream media is in the tank for Obama ... so, they either look the other way, or they make phony biased excuses to mischaracterize what's really happening.

After reading most of these posts, I'm very disturbed about several things.

1. Can the ends justify the means? Most Obama supporters here seem to think hacking Palin's e-mail is okay because they feel some impropriety was uncovered (which it wasn't).

2. Isn't anyone here fearful that this event will be traced back to high placed Obama operatives or even Obama himself (I believe it eventually will be if the media would actually do their jobs)

3. Where in the h*ll is Obama during this whole affair? It's hard to believe he would not condemn this type of action - WAIT, MAYBE IT'S NOT, HUH?!?!?

People, open your eyes - Obama will bring change. The type that will ruin our country!

Top Republican says Palin unready

Senator Chuck Hagel could be influential with independent voters
Senior Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has voiced doubts about Sarah Palin's qualifications for the vice-presidency.

John McCain's running mate "doesn't have any foreign policy credentials", Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald.

Mr Hagel was a prominent supporter of Mr McCain during his 2000 bid for the US presidency, but has declined to endorse either candidate this year.

He was opposed to the Iraq War, and recently joined Mr McCain's rival Barack Obama on a Middle East trip.

'Stop the nonsense'

"I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States," Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald newspaper.

And he was dismissive of the fact that Mrs Palin, the governor of Alaska, has made few trips abroad.

"You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything."

This kind of thing will have an effect on independents

BBC North America editor Justin Webb

Justin Webb's America
Mr Hagel also criticised the McCain campaign for its suggestion that the proximity of Alaska to Russia gave Mrs Palin foreign policy experience.

"I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia'," he said.

"That kind of thing is insulting to the American people."

BBC North America editor Justin Webb says Mr Hagel's opinion of Mrs Palin will have an effect on independent voters.

A senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Hagel was a close ally of Mr McCain, but the two men parted company over the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Mr Hagel skipped this year's Republican National Convention in favour of a visit to Latin America.

Mr Hagel's decision to accompany Mr Obama this summer on a trip to Iraq and Israel, as part of a US Congressional delegation, led to speculation that he would throw his support behind the Democratic nominee.

However, a spokesman for the Nebraska senator insisted in August that "Senator Hagel has no intention of getting involved in any of the campaigns and is not planning to endorse either candidate".

Has it ever occurred on anyone that this could be an obstruction of justice case? This whole thing might just be a subterfuge in concealing state evidence - there might be damaging contents or information against Palin in those emails that people trying to protect her are trying to hide. And now, it would be difficult to prove that since the hacker(s) (he/she/them could be paid political operatives) change the password and de-activated the account. I hope they still could retrieve those emails from the Yahoo servers to really know the truth. But if they are able to do that, it will take time. And by that time, the election could be over. Another dirty trick, it sounds like to me. Calling on Mitnick!

I was originally going to vote for McCain but after this and realizing how stupid or brainless Palin Barracuda is, I'm going for Obama/Biden now.

Did she plan to use vp.palin@yahoo.com to send secure emails to our allies? LOL! Those two (McCain/Palin) if they ever get elected would set technology back to the stone age. I admit this is a total violation of privacy and should NOT be tolerated. There ARE legal ways to obtain these emails. They're called subpoenas. This action was a violation of Palin's constitutional rights... and EXACTLY the same thing Bush has been doing to ALL of our e-communications, phone, and cell phone communications for years! So why is that OK? If Palin can't make a secure Yahoo password, should we the people trust her with missile codes or becoming president if something bad happens to McCain??? I shudder to think. You also have to question Palin's capacity to make sound decision. HMMMM...Let's see, use a government email account which is harder to hack or use a free Yahoomail account? DECISIONS DECISIONS. WHAT TO DO. WHAT TO DO. That is as tough a decision as going to war with Russia over Georgia that no one gives a hoot about. What is she - a high school student? This is straight from the Rove playbook. His claim or make that, climb to fame was triggered when he planted a phony bug in his candidate's office and then raised a media storm that the opponents did it. The discussion became about the the bugging (in this case the hacking) and his candidate won in a landslide. Would you put it past any party to hack themselves and then use it against the opposition? The lipstick thing didn't work, maybe this will. It will be difficult to determine who hacked the account and whether they were politically motivated. Hackers hack to hack. That's just what they do. My money is that the right-wingers did this (look how innocent the emails are) to raise suspicion with the Dems.

What about the fact that at ANY time the government can look at YOUR personal e-mails or tap into YOUR personal phone calls. Why is that not such a "VIOLATION OF PRIVACY"? Rather it is meant to "EXPOSE AND EXTINGUISH CRIMINAL ACTIVITY" But, when the tables are turned it's not so patriotic as it is unconstitutional....