State Department Hits the Trifecta

Last night the story was that someone in the State Department had been fired for peeking into Barack Obama's passport file, and the usual suspects immediately screamed that it was some type of dirty anti-Obama trick. Now comes word that all three presidential candidates had their files peeked into:

An embarrassed State Department admitted today that the passport files of all three presidential candidates -- Sens. John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton -- have been breached by its employees.

The bombshell announcement came within hours of the admission that Obama's personal file was improperly accessed several times earlier this year and no one was notified of the breach.

In a rapid series of escalating admissions, State Department Secretary Condoleezza Rice called Obama to apologize. She then had to call Clinton to apologize as well. And by noon, the department held a news conference to concede that McCain's personal file had also been improperly accessed.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice made it clear to the agency's inspector general that an investigation "is top priority."

McCormack also said, "We are going to take a look whether there are any systemic issues that need to be looked at."

McCain, the Republican presumptive nominee, and Obama, who is the Democratic front runner, both released statements calling for a full investigation. McCain said that any violation of passport privacy deserves an apology.

McCain blew his response to this story. While the Dems were playing the faux outrage game, McCain should have just come out with a statement something like "they shouldn't have done that, but no big deal - I didn't have anything to hide in there". It would have instantly created a suspicion about what Obama and Clinton might be worried about. That could have been fun.