Sanders staffers make a mistake, so everybody is mad at Clinton?
From what I gather, the vendor NGP-VAN accidentally allowed all the campaigns to access each other's private data. According to this article in the NYT, this is critical data-- stuff the campaigns spend a lot of time and money gathering.
Sanders vs. Party: Why Voter Data Can Be So Important
When they realize this, they conduct an audit, and find that Sanders campaign staff have accessed Clinton's data. After initial reports that it was only one low-level staffer, it's revealed that it was actually four user accounts, including the campaign's national data director, issuing 25 queries in a short span. The since-fired data director claims he was only trying to understand the scope of the vulnerability. However, an audit of the queries shows that they looked for exactly the kinds of things you would want if you were hoping to get strategically useful information-- those voters most and least committed to Clinton in the early voting states.
Sanders Campaign Audit Sheet
I think any reasonable person would think here that at the least, some Sanders staffers saw a temptation and couldn't resist, and did things they weren't supposed to. Obviously the Sanders campaign thinks so too, because they fired one person.
Now, I admire Sanders a lot, and I'm willing to bet he had no idea that any of this happened. Campaigns are big organizations, and you can't be personally responsible for every person in them. (I also would bet that very few people would give Clinton any benefit of the doubt whatsoever in the reverse case.)
And yet the sharpest vitriol and outrage and anger I see online is directed at Clinton? I saw some comments on reddit about how this is the last straw, and they won't vote for her in the general because of this. I don't even know how she's related to this.
= new reply since forum marked as read
The classic eternal victim game. Oh po' po' Hillary.
Geebus, what a pile of hooey.
it-it, the, fl- flames flames...
