Seriously...

The Huffington Post had a conspiratorial take on the information released today that the passport files of Obama, Clinton and McCain had been breached. Huffington notes that there is a "Clinton connection" to the story in that Ambassador Maura Harty, the recently retired Assistant Secretary of Consular Affairs, was Ambassador under Bill Clinton. And Huffington's readers have responded that she should be investigated.

That is really reaching.

The incidents did not happen while she was Ambassador. They did not happen while Bill Clinton was in office. In fact, Hillary's was accessed first, in 2007.

Clearly, accessing the files is wrong. All of us who have undergone consular training know that we are only supposed to access Americans' passport files under certain very specific circumstances.

My suspicion is that there was no malicious intent on the part of the contractors, who have been fired or disciplined. My guess it they accessed the files out of curiousity. No less wrong, but certainly less conspiratorial. But I guess that would be boring to those who are looking for vast right-wing or vast left-wing conspiracies. (Maybe this is a vast centrist-wing conspiracy, since the files of all three top presidential candidates were accessed!)