The U.S. Secret Service expects to borrow more than 2,000 immigration officers and federal airport screeners next year to help guard an ever-expanding field of presidential candidates, while shifting 250 of its own agents from investigations to security details.

Burdened by the White House’s wartime security needs, the persistent threat of terrorism and a field of at least 20 presidential contenders, the Secret Service was showing signs of strain even before the Department of Homeland Security ordered protection for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as of May 3, the earliest a candidate has ever been assigned protection in an election season.

OK, we’re going to sacrifice national security so we can properly guard ALL the candidates and then a story like this, Private Guards Weak Link in Security pops up on the screen…

Why don’t we just let the MSM take over and tell our enemies our every weakness?? It might shorten the flash to bang time before this whole thing implodes on us, kinda of just go ahead and let them put us out of their misery, so to speak…

Its $110 million-plus budget for campaign protection — two-thirds more than the record $65 million it spent for the 2004 election — was prepared when the service did not expect to be guarding Obama or anyone else until January. The agency has already been forced to scale back its efforts to battle counterfeiting and cybercrime.

What the hell, counterfeiting and cybercrime are just no big deal next to keeping some windbag politician that has no chance of winning anything happy now is it?? We can waste BILLIONS in Iraq, what’s $110 million in the grand scheme of things, right??

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has doubled the number of officials granted Secret Service protection, from 26 to 54, including top White House aides such as the chief of staff and national and homeland security advisers.

And I can’t disagree with that, some folks NEED Secret Service protection, the title of their very job description gives all the explanation needed…

As recently as the beginning of Bill Clinton’s administration in 1993, no White House aides had such security details, although coverage had been extended before and was given later to national security advisers Brent Scowcroft, Anthony Lake and Samuel R. “Sandy” Berger, said former Clinton and Bush counterterrorism adviser Richard A. Clarke.

I guess Sandy Burglar didn’t have his Secret Service detail on him the times he stuffed his pants with papers… Just sayin’…

Personally, I feel that once the nominating conventions have been held and the official candidates that will RUN for POTUS and VPOTUS have been selected, you betcha, put protection all over them, but until that time, what have they done to deserve this kind of special protection??

And to already have Secret Service protection on the likes of Osama, uh, I meant Obama, well, that’s just ridiculous, let him fend for himself a while…

Our tax dollars could be spent much better protecting this NATION and not it’s politicians, and to sacrifice that protection for their sake is NOT something I can support…

Full Story Here:
WP: New strain on Secret Service