Sarah Palin Gets Justice She Was Seekin’ In Email Hacking Case

by Jon Bershad | 4:15 pm, April 30th, 2010

» 22 comments

It’s been a good week for Sarah Palin. Not only has the former governor made it into the Time 100 for 2010, she’s now received the justice she’s been seekin’ ever since her email account was hacked into during the 2008 presidential election. Fox News is now reporting that David Kernell, the 22 year old man responsible has been convicted on two of the four counts he was charged with.

From Fox News:

“A Tennessee jury on Friday convicted the man who hacked Sarah Palin’s e-mail account on two of four charges — computer fraud and obstruction of justice. The panel did not find David Kernall guilty guilty of wire fraud. It deadlocked on an identity theft charge.

The former University of Tennessee student faced as much as 50 years for breaking into Palin’s e-mail while the former Alaska governor was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008.”

Sarah Palin (or a member of her staff) was quick to post a response to the verdict on her Facebook page detailing her thrill with the verdict as well as comparing the crime to the Watergate break in. The full post reads as follows:

“My family and I are thankful that the jury thoroughly and carefully weighed the evidence and issued a just verdict. Besides the obvious invasion of privacy and security concerns surrounding this issue, many of us are concerned about the integrity of our country’s political elections. America’s elections depend upon fair competition. Violating the law, or simply invading someone’s privacy for political gain, has long been repugnant to Americans’ sense of fair play. As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates’ private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election.

I want to thank the public servants who worked so hard on this case, particularly the jurors who gave up precious time from their jobs and families to listen to the evidence and reach a decision.

My family and I appreciate the good people of Knoxville, Tennessee, who showed us true Southern hospitality. We can’t wait to visit again – but without having a subpoena in hand.

- Sarah Palin”

The time between the post and Palin’s online response was incredibly quick. Clearly, in the two years since the hack, Team Palin has gotten much, much better at using technology.

David Kernell, fox news, Palin Emails Hacked, Sarah Palin

http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-Callan/100000200979966 Joe Callan

It’s going to be so great when she’s the President.

She’ll have the Pentagon set the security question for LAUNCH FULL SCALE NUCLEAR ATTACK to: “What high school did you graduate from?”
Barney

The little leftard deserves the regular ass rapings he is in store for.
With his girly features, he is going to be VERY popular
m

Congratulations Palin on ruining a young man’s life for just typing your name backwards in the password field. Must make you feel good as a human being.
Grammie

m says:
April 30, 2010 at 4:46 pm

Congratulations Palin on ruining a young man’s life for just typing your name backwards in the password field. Must make you feel good as a human being.

That is pretty sick even for you, m.

What! No pity for the pitiful young, younger even then him, Willow Palin who got over two hundred threatening calls b/c the little jerk spread her number out on the net.

Selective pity and outrage?
Big_F-ing_Deal

in b4 michellef posts that breitbart link for the umpteenth time!!!! lmfao
Barney

The little fucktard admitted he was trying to damage the campaign with his hacking. He should get the 20 year max.

I read though the emails… ALL OF THEM… before I posted, and what I concluded was anticlimactic, there was nothing there, nothing incriminating, nothing that would derail her campaign as I had hoped, all I saw was personal stuff, some clerical stuff from when she was governor…. And pictures of her family

He had better start doing some sphinter stretching exercises. He is in for a gay old time in the pen.
PureFreedom

Jon, your overwhelming bias comes through. You condemn Sarah because she writes about it on facebook too fast. lol, …Get with the times of the modern age of news… It’s instant with twitter and facebook from any cell phone. I think your career is more inline with a local newpaper then the web.

This is a huge security and privacy issue and the liberals think its okay and wont put much effort into this report.
But Wire tapping on known terrorist is horrible and the ACLU would be the first ones yelling about privacy!
Where is the ACLU with Sarah’s privacy? The left loons are such a joke!
Grammie

PureFreedom says:
April 30, 2010 at 5:16 pm

Either you missed the mark completely here, PF, or I did.

Point out what here from Jon “This time between the post and Palin’s online response was incredibly quick. Clearly, in the two years since the hack, Team Palin has gotten much, much better at using technology. ” uses loaded words or criticizes her.

I see a declarative sentence of fact with no criticism or praise.
Jon Bershad

Ah, Grammie, you missed the subtle clues. I hid all my insults using an ingenious coding system. You need a Da Vinci Code style symbologist to figure it out.

In all seriousness though, Pure Freedom, if you feel there is an anti-Palin sentiment in this piece, I promise you I did not intend it. Sorry if you inferred any.
timzank

m says:
April 30, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Congratulations Palin on ruining a young man’s life for just typing your name backwards in the password field. Must make you feel good as a human being.

You’re kidding right? That’s too stupid even for you. He’s responsible for his actions, not the victim.
NixleRep

This is why you need an identity-verified system that is no one can hack–like NLETS. I’m surprised any of these politicians have social networking profiles at all. None of them have the security capabilities of Nixle. Nixle is identity verified by the biggest public safety communication system in America. All you politicians and celebrities should check it out:

http://www.nixle.com
http://lnsmitheeblog.blogspot.com LNSmithee

And, of course, you can’t have a story about something good happening to Sarah Palin without taking a shot at her, can you?

Thus “seekin’” rather than “seeking.” Can’t offend the Palinhatas.
MichelleF

No Tim, she’s not kidding. That’s the sad part.

And BFD, I only do that becasue mediaite refuses to post any story that doesn’t fit the leftist template. That it bothers you really doesn’t concern me. Although you do seem a little preoccupied with me. Shouild I consider a restraining order?
Rogue-Comic

Jon Bershad says:
April 30, 2010 at 6:19 pm
“Ah, Grammie, you missed the subtle clues. I hid all my insults using an ingenious coding system. You need a Da Vinci Code style symbologist to figure it out.

In all seriousness though, Pure Freedom, if you feel there is an anti-Palin sentiment in this piece, I promise you I did not intend it. Sorry if you inferred any.”

Bullshit.
“Sarah Palin (or a member of her staff) . . .”

Also, one would logically deduce, Palin (or a member of her staff ; ) would have a prepared statement ready to print either way after the verdict announcement.

On the other hand, it appears you at least have a copy of the AP style book.
Grammie

Rogue-Comic says:
April 30, 2010 at 9:33 pm

I strongly disagree with you on this.

If you want to freshen your memory of what biased writing really is reread a few of Glynnis McNicholls’, Francis Martel’s and today’s Tommy Christopher’s article,

Jon played this down the middle with nothing, to my mind, biased in either direction.
http://lnsmitheeblog.blogspot.com LNSmithee

Jon Bershad wrote:

In all seriousness though, Pure Freedom, if you feel there is an anti-Palin sentiment in this piece, I promise you I did not intend it. Sorry if you inferred any.

You promise you did not intend it. Uh huh. Please explain, Jon, the reason why you went out of your way to use “Seekin’” in your header rather than “Seeking” when Palin didn’t use the word in her statement.

Don’t chicken out. Answer the question.

Grammie wrote:

Jon played this down the middle with nothing, to my mind, biased in either direction.

Key phrase: “…to my mind.”
Grammie

LNSmithee says:
May 1, 2010 at 10:10 am

I consider this to be a judgment call by both you and me and I trust my judgment a lot more than I do yours.

I’ve seen bias here laid on with a trowel and have commented about it and directed comments about the bias to the editors, especially re Glynnis McNicholl and Frances Martel. Not only do I not see it here but I consider Jon to be the straightest shooter, nay the only straight shooter here.
Jon Bershad

In regards to the “seekin,’” I was referencing a quote that came from the woman herself and I linked to an article that used it as its headline. Since Palin so purposefully works to maintain her “down home” persona, I didn’t think alluding to it (and to her own quote) would be insulting to her. I understand why you would see that as an intentional swipe though since so many Palin detractors attack her for the very persona that her fans love her for. But trust me, if I really wanted to say something mean about Sarah Palin or anyone else in this article, I would have just said it instead of making subtle implications.

As for the mention that it could have been a member of her staff that wrote the Facebook post, that’s not an attack on her either, just a reference to the realistic fact that politicians (or former ones) do not write every blog post or Tweet with their name on it. I’d be more worried if they did since I would hope they had better things to do. Just like elected officials have speechwriters on hand, so do they have an intern or someone typing out Facebook posts. If I’m going to make a theme of this short piece be that Palin and her staff have gotten very successful at using technology to spread their message, I think it would be disingenuous to blindly assume that the woman herself writes everything. Just like I’m not expecting Obama to be sitting at his laptop, posting on MySpace.

I really do understand where you’re coming from. Palin is a divisive figure who has been both championed and attacked to extreme degrees. Therefore, any fan of hers would have to read content about her with a defensive eye. And I’m not going to claim that I love the woman or would vote for her in an election and if something ever comes up and she does something I don’t like, I will write about it in no unclear terms. I just didn’t do that here.

And Grammie, I really appreciate your kind words. I hope I don’t disappoint you or any reader in the future. And when I do (and it will happen, like it did for some here) you can always call me on it down below. I do try to respond and make my case more often than not.
Just don’t be mean about my grammer. I think my mom reads these comments and she just about dies of embarrassment every time there’s a typo…
Jon Bershad

Oh and please don’t take that as an invitation to nitpick every single thing I write just because you think I’ll respond. The site’s paying me to write articles. Not just bicker about my phrasing. :)

(Does anyone know of a way to quickly imply that you’re only half serious and writing in a friendly manner that’s better than a smiley face. I feel like a 13 year old with a LiveJournal every time I type it)
shearwater

I am glad the hacker got justice! That’s something democrats don’t understand when they are on the opposite side of the law. This will protect us from future slime from slimming us. Serves him right and serves the larger interests of justice. I don’t feel one bit sorry for those who believe and act above/outside the law.
http://none pyrope

The little jerk will never serve a day in prison, although it would be fantastic if he did. His father is a politician and will use his influence to get him off the hook.

@”m:” Please tell me just what part of guilty of a crime is it that you do not understand? This little twerp is responsible for his own actions.
kieronnpollard

I would like to thank the officials who have worked so hard on this issue, especially the jurors who gave their valuable work time and family to hear evidence and make a decision.
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