Talk about politics gone off the deep-end.

Thanks Jonathan for the update, but this is just a part of the story.

Friday Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) apparently decided it was better to use Christopher Soghoian’s website as an excuse to fire a shot across the bow of the Bush administration than to stop and think long enough to consider the effects of his hystrionics on Mr. Soghoian.

Friday, Markey issued the following as part of a statement, on Friday,

“The Bush administration must immediately act to investigate, apprehend those responsible, shut down the website, and warn airlines and aviation security officials to be on the look-out for fraudsters or terrorists trying to use fake boarding passes in an attempt to cheat their way through security and onto a plane.

“There are enough loopholes at the back door of our passenger airplanes from not scanning cargo for bombs; we should not tolerate any new loopholes making it easier for terrorists to get into the front door of a plane.”

What had this guy been smoking?

First of all, we all know that manipulating boarding passes is nothing new. Period.

Second, we also know there is an election less than two weeks away.

But wait, Mr. Markey is not a Republican. He wasn’t calling on his administration to smite down this threat to our security.

He’s a Democrat.

So what gives?

Re-reading the statement that Markey’s office issued on Friday it’s clear that someone thought it would be cute to jump on the posting of the boarding pass as an example of the weakness in the administration’s airport security programs.

But that is not how I took the statement when I read it. And neither did anyone else.

No, I read it as the Congressman accusing Christopher as essentially being in the same league as a terrorist.

And apparently that is exactly what the FBI thought as well.

The FBI apparently first visited Soghoian on Friday and told him to take the site down and Soghoian complied. That following morning shortly after midnight, his home was once again raided by the FBI and his computers along with other important items were gone.

Oh, and for his part, Markey put his tail between his legs in a statement Sunday, backing off his earlier bulldog stand, as he said, “Subsequently I learned that the person responsible was a student at Indiana University, Christopher Soghoian, who intended no harm but, rather, intended to provide a public service by warning that this long-standing loophole could be easily exploited. The website has now apparently been shut down.”

Yeah, now what? Okay Mr. Markey. Does this mean you are going to pay Christopher’s legal bills? Are you going to pay for his computers, all of which the FBI apparently took with them Saturday?

Speaking of, if any of you would like to contribute to Christopher’s legal defense fund, (and remember the whole reason behind all this was to show how lame current TSA procedures are) you can click here for more information.