# Is There Any Fairness Left In This Campaign? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 17, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025 "2008-09-17T20:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/81 "2008-09-18T07:27:21Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#): > > Is There Any Fairness Left In This Campaign? Good lord, I hope not. I’d hate to think we deserve the people who’ve been leading the country. ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/82 "2008-09-18T10:23:24Z")
Pity the “hacker” (her zip code? hahaha) went and posted the password instead of looking for incriminating stuff. 4chan winning an American election would’ve been all kinds of awesome. I guess technically it’s “wrong” but it’s such a stupid lack of protection I can’t muster up much sympathy. Plus the whole trying to avoid disclosure thing. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/83 "2008-09-18T10:54:39Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > If that’s true then he was an idiot too. So what? _shrug_ You asked. I answered. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/84 "2008-09-18T10:55:53Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Do you have a cite? Not that I don’t trust you, I just don’t recall it. I assume your proximity gives you more information. It was in the local papers back when he was in office. I’ll look, but their website may not go back that far. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/85 "2008-09-18T11:32:00Z")
> [@](#): > > You act like someone just hacked her personal email to make fun of her, Anonymous “hacked” Sarah Palin’s e-mail for the lulz that it has generated. They aren’t a politically motivated group. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/86 "2008-09-18T11:35:54Z")
I’m still seeing a big disconection between Zev’s comments and the thread title. It may be an honest mistake, but there’s no call to get all upset with people who find it confusing. I’m also not ready to jump on the “both sides are bad bandwagon.” It’s not only a pointless observation, since you will always find individual people expressing heinous ideas of all sorts, it has more than a whiff of false equivalence. As to the act itself - yeah, it’s not cool. I’m not going to get myself in a tizzy about condemning it, though. Keep in mind that Karl Rove once bugged his own office. It’s a little convenient that nothing interesting was revealed by these ne’er do wells. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/87 "2008-09-18T11:41:31Z")
Am I the only one who thinks Anonymous didn’t do anything more than try Palin children’s names and pet names as passwords until they got in? ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/88 "2008-09-18T11:43:56Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > Am I the only one who thinks Anonymous didn’t do anything more than try Palin children’s names and pet names as passwords until they got in? I’d guess that that was exactly what happened, hence why I put hacked in quotation marks. ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/89 "2008-09-18T11:45:21Z")
AFAIK they used the usual password recovery stuff, hers was her zip code…the first email was the “your password has been changed”, so doubt they were guessing. > [@some /b/-tard](#): > > PROTIP: > account recognizes > b-day 2/11/64 > ZIP code 99687 > for password change. > > The account is still locked, obviously, but if anon gets there 24 hours in the future when the account unlocks and the newfags have lost interest, he can get in w/o knowing the password. Problem was the original “hacker” posted the p/w before archiving it all, which is pretty much all the proof you need that it’s just someone trolling, not a political operative. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/90 "2008-09-18T11:58:44Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > Based on the level of sophistication I’ve seen from Palin, her password was probably something like “hockeymom”. Some high school kid probably hacked it within his first 10 tries of a password. Using a free service like Yahoo for anything personal is like changing your clothes in the middle of Times Square and then accusing everyone of being a Peeping Tom. You were close Spartydog. The password was["popcorn".](http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080917-palin-e-mail-hack-makes-case-for-sticking-with-gov-e-mail.html) > [@](#): > > According to a timeline compiled by users at the online chat board 4Chan, an anonymous poster appeared on the “Random” board known as /b/, claiming to have accessed Palin’s account. Skeptical posters apparently dismissed the claim as a hoax, until the hacker posted the password (“popcorn”), prompting groups of forum users to log in. One of these—who appears to be the source of the documents released on Wikileaks—subsequently changed the password and notified one of Palin’s assistants via e-mail. That user, however, inadvertently included the new password in the released screenshots, prompting a second flood that triggered Yahoo’s security lockdown. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/91 "2008-09-18T12:12:46Z")
You know what gets me. The same talking heads and their lackeys who defended this administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping and datatmining are the first to jump on the “invasion of privacy” over a yahoo account. Hypocrites. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/92 "2008-09-18T12:48:42Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > You know what gets me. The same talking heads and their lackeys who defended this administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping and datatmining are the first to jump on the “invasion of privacy” over a yahoo account. > > Hypocrites. I already composed the following before I saw your post, **Hamlet**. Oh well… [Glenn Greenwald](http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/18/privacy/index.html) offers an interesting juxtaposition between the reaction of the right to this event and their take on issues like FISA and warrantless wiretaps: > [@](#): > > The same political faction which today is prancing around in full-throated fits of melodramatic hysteria and Victim mode (their absolute favorite state of being) over the sanctity of Sarah Palin’s privacy are the same ones who scoffed with indifference as it was revealed during the Bush era that the FBI systematically abused its Patriot Act powers to gather and store private information on thousands of innocent Americans; that Homeland Security officials illegally infiltrated and monitored peaceful, law-abiding left-wing groups devoted to peace activism, civil liberties and other political agendas disliked by the state; and that the telephone calls of journalists and lawyers have been illegally and repeatedly monitored. > > And the same Surveillance State Worshipper leading today’s screeching – Michelle Makin – spent the last several years deriding those who objected to the President’s illegal spying program as “privacy crusaders” and “constitutional absolutists” and “civil liberties absolutists”. He also takes note of the many observations from the right about the criminal nature of this act, and the calls to see the perpetrators sufficiently punished, while simultaneously recalling how few on the right cared to see the lawbreaking of the telephone companies duly punished. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/93 "2008-09-18T12:54:30Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > You know what gets me. The same talking heads and their lackeys who defended this administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping and datatmining are the first to jump on the “invasion of privacy” over a yahoo account. > > Hypocrites. Totally different. Not sure how, but I’m sure they’ll tell you. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/94 "2008-09-18T13:29:27Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Totally different. Not sure how, but I’m sure they’ll tell you. > > -Joe If recent experiences are indicative of future results, no. They won’t. They’ll just wave their hands and say “libs r’ ascared of Palin!!” or “you sure are desperate!”, or “they said the same about Reagan!”. But actually deal with an issue? Nah. Ain’t going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/95 "2008-09-18T16:21:57Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > If recent experiences are indicative of future results, no. They won’t. They’ll just wave their hands and say “libs r’ ascared of Palin!!” or “you sure are desperate!”, or “they said the same about Reagan!”. You forgot “Why do you hate America?!?” ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/96 "2008-09-18T16:29:05Z")
The campaign is going to get worse. The repubs swiftboated McCain when he ran against Bush. The hero was picked apart as a collaborator and a mental defective. They set the bar so low that the dems can never get there. They swiftboated a real hero ,Kerry, and found people who questioned his whole military career. It is like doctors testifying in court. You can always find an “expert” to testify against the truth if you pay well enough. This campaign has not reached that level. McCain and the repubs will get there though. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/97 "2008-09-18T16:40:16Z")
> [@muttrox](#): > > You were close Spartydog. The password was["popcorn".](http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080917-palin-e-mail-hack-makes-case-for-sticking-with-gov-e-mail.html) “Popcorn”? Seriously? Who the hell uses a standard word like that as a password? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/98 "2008-09-18T16:51:43Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Keep in mind that Karl Rove once bugged his own office. It’s a little convenient that nothing interesting was revealed by these ne’er do wells. Another vote for Karl Rove. I find it somewhat far-fetched that neither the initial hacker nor subsequent accessers found anything worth the National Enquirer. Not that I’m surprised they didn’t find “OMG – I had to feed the body to my dog!” or other dramatic claim, but _at this point_ it seems extraordinarily mundane, especially for a personal account. I also find it surprising that the 4chan group showed such high ethics of breaking/accessing, but not really looking around/archiving. Good thing one of them changed the password so quickly! Isn’t electronic privacy and duplicity (using personal email for gov. business) rather up their ally chaos-wise? And if her password were so simple on that account, why didn’t any other account linked to her (what, they wouldn’t have been referenced in the email? Not as discernable as gov.palin@yahoo?) come under instant dictionary attack? Palin thought to change all those as quickly? All the above is tenuous, and largely framed by my expectations and outlook as to what kind of a monster Rove is. I’m not trying to persuade anyone that it must have been him, just using the Pit to vent a bit. It could very well have been innocent. But it is my _opinion_ that if it weren’t Rove himself (or a direct operative), there was the advice to clean out a personal account, change the password to something simple, and wait to play Gotcha Ya with the press. “See, there was nothing incriminating – therefore she is exonerated!” ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/99 "2008-09-18T16:54:41Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > “Popcorn”? Seriously? > > Who the hell uses a standard word like that as a password? \<.\< \>.\> \*off to change passwords ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025/100 "2008-09-18T17:16:44Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > “Popcorn”? Seriously? > > Who the hell uses a standard word like that as a password? [Article analyzing passwords obtained from a phishing attack on Myspace.](http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2006/12/72300) > [@](#): > > **Common Passwords:** The top 20 passwords are (in order): > > _password1, abc123, myspace1, password, blink182, qwerty1, fuckyou, 123abc, baseball1, football1, 123456, soccer, monkey1, liverpool1, princess1, jordan23, slipknot1, superman1, iloveyou1 and monkey._ “Monkey.” Heehee. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-fairness-left-in-this-campaign/464025.md?page=4)