To this day, many people don't seem to understand what the Watergate debacle was all about. While there are many ways of looking at the series of burglaries, wiretaps, forgeries, and obstruction of justice that spanned several years, I think one central lesson of Watergate was that the ends very rarely, if ever, justify the means. Even, given the context of the times, if you feel there are enemies everywhere trying to get you (sounds oddly familiar), it does not mean it is okay to employ "dirty tricks" to gain political advantage.
But perhaps the present generation needs to re-learn this lesson. This story in the Boston Globe, if true, says Republican staff members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee gained electronic access to confidential Democratic memos on a server shared by both parties. While the access may have been made possible through the error of a technician who set the permissions incorrectly, this does not relieve the staffers from responsibility. Think of it this way, if a bank employee inadvertently leaves the bank vault door wide open does not mean it is then legal, moral, or ethical to walk in and take the money therein. The money does not belong to you. Notwithstanding your ability to gain easy access to it. In other words, access does not mean you are authorized to take.
Perhaps as a way of blowing smoke, some Republican apologists are saying an electronic memo is not "property" and therefore can't be stolen. Hmmm, perhaps they better talk to their fellow travelers over at the RIAA because they would differ from their self-serving interpretation of law.
But the main point is, and the Republicans have not disputed this, is that documents were copied and that it was done over the period of at least six months and perhaps longer. In addition, some of said documents were given to columnist Robert Novak (yes, this is the same person who is under investigation for leaking the name of a CIA analyst).
Clearly, the taking of the documents were unethical. Whether the taking was also illegal is for others to decide. But the underlying feeling, on the part of the Republican staffers, is that they can do anything they want because the ends justify it.
A belated Gong Xi Fa Cai to all. Especially you monkeys out there, of which, I am one of.
Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!
