This is indeed an epic fail... for, as it were, the Democrats. Unfortunately, this only has the potential to help the Republicans. Let's assume the 98th-percen

This is indeed an epic fail... for, as it were, the Democrats. Unfortunately, this only has the potential to help the Republicans. Let's assume the 98th-percentile scenario, from a Democratic perspective: a few mildly inappropriate emails are discovered via the hack. To us, meaning those who post on Hacker News, transparency and propriety matter a great deal, because we care about such "academic" issues. However, the average American (who spends 3 hours per workday surfing the internet, despite having signed an agreement that work computers were "for official use only") isn't going to be shocked or disgusted that a governor has sent a few emails in violation of propriety; it can easily be spun as a "one of us" crime, and the hackage will do nothing less than engender sympathy for Mrs. Palin.