The attacks on Edward Snowden have increased today. CNN’s Jeff Toobin who previously denounced Snowden as a “clown” has added that he is a “a grandiose narcissist who deserves to be in prison”. In the meantime, Senator Dianne Feinstein and House Speaker John Boehner have denounced Snowden as a “traitor.” Other media organizations have barred their reporters from referring to him as a “whistleblower” in what has become a deluge of negative stereotyping of Snowden -even before we know the whole story. Indeed, the attacks began with folks like Toobin almost immediately after he came forward.
Once again, I am not saying that Snowden does not have to answer for any crimes, but the effort to portray him as a craven traitor is a bit too much too early in this story.
In Toobin’s case, it is worth noting that he has also belittled the objections to the massive surveillance program — the same position taken by Democrats and the White House. He has explained his view of those programs, which I disagree with but respect. However, for Toobin to call a man a “grandiose narcissist” is bizarre. As noted yesterday, this is a man who threw his life away to reveal what he believed to be an abusive surveillance program (as to many other citizens). This is one of the most narcissistic towns on Earth and its leading denizens in politics and the media often seem uncomfortable with people who are willing to throw away their lives on principle. It is the type of self-sacrifice that they would never consider in their own lives. We have many principled and honest people living in this town. However this is also a town with an abnormally high number of sycophants, self-promoters, adulterers and the rest. In other words, narcissists. It is not surprising that so many would find an individual like Snowden hard to understand or dangerous.
The labeling of Snowden as a traitor will only increase the likelihood that he will flee to another country. This individual and story is clearly more complex than dismissing him as a “clown” or “traitor.” He insists that he revealed this information protect the public and privacy. That is not the motivation of a traitor.
As for the refusal to call him a whistleblower, it seems part of the full court press to demonize Snowden or prevent favorable references to him. [It brings to mind the successful effort to convince media to call waterboarding “enhanced interrogation” in the media rather than “torture” as it has long been defined by courts] Snowden is a whistleblower in my mind. It is true that the Administration can argue that these programs were lawful to the Supreme Court’s precedent stripping pen registers of full constitutional protection in Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735 (1979). Many of us disagree with that ruling, but this is a new application of the precedent. While the government has long sought the information for individuals, the Administration is essentially issuing a national security letter against the entire population. Moreover, it does appear that violations have occurred in these programs.
Putting aside the legality issue, whistleblowers are defined more probably by public interest organizations. For example, The Government Accountability Project, a leading nonprofit handling whistleblowers, defines the term as “an employee who discloses information that s/he reasonably believes is evidence of illegality, gross waste or fraud, mismanagement, abuse of power, general wrongdoing, or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. Typically, whistleblowers speak out to parties that can influence and rectify the situation. These parties include the media, organizational managers, hotlines, or Congressional members/staff, to name a few.”
Snowden clearly fits that more common definition of whistleblower, even if the government contests the application of statutory protections. Many can legitimately question Snowden’s chosen means for objecting to this program. However, the hostile and dismissive treatment by the establishment reflects an obvious fear of the implications of this scandal. Even US Sen. Al Franken (D, Minn.) has tried to stamp out the outcry by insisting that he was aware of the program and “I can assure you, this is not about spying on the American people.” Democrats are scrambling to deal with the latest betrayal of civil liberties without their knowledge and consent. Franken knows that the issue is not how it has been used (though abuses are being reported) but its potential for abuse. It is a databank allowing transparency of every citizens calls and associations. Nevertheless, the establishment is joined together in mutual interest to deaden the reaction of citizens, as I discussed in a column this week.
The effort to discredit Snowden is an impressive effort and could well succeed. There is less discussion of the loss of privacy as the focus has shifted to the price of hotel rooms and annual salaries for Snowden. We are being told again, by people like Franken, to trust us and go back to sleep. Franken added “There are certain things that are appropriate for me to know that is not appropriate for the bad guys to know.” Of course, it was not just the bad guys who were not allowed to know. Citizens were also not supposed to know, but Snowden blew the plan. Now people are actually demanding answers and accountability – something secrecy was supposed to prevent.
Before we repeat the growing effort to label Snowden as a traitor, perhaps we should ask about the betrayal of our privacy and constitutional values by others pushing these labels.
A particularly nasty clown named David Brooks wrote a vicious opinion piece for the NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/opinion/brooks-the-solitary-leaker.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0
Having painted Snowdon as a thoroughly unpleasant person to begin with, he goes on to list the betrayals perpetrated by this most vile and treacherous of human beings.
I think that Brooks must have mounted a horse so high that the lack of oxygen way up there must have affected his thought processes.
Highlights:
“He betrayed honesty and integrity” – Unlike Clapper who had confirmed …. sorry! I misspoke….denied to Congress that such a thing was going on.
“He betrayed his employers. Booz Allen and the C.I.A. took a high-school dropout and offered him positions with lavish salaries. He is violating the honor codes of all those who enabled him to rise. ”
Ignoring the Constitution = “honor code” you see.
“He betrayed the cause of open government.”
The administration and NSA are really bent out of shape on this one. There they were on a holy crusade for openness, and then Snowdon ruins it by …..
For the next one, oxygen deprivation must have been really biting.
“He betrayed the privacy of us all. If federal security agencies can’t do vast data sweeps, they will inevitably revert to the older, more intrusive eavesdropping methods. ”
It’s shocking! If the NSA can’t indiscriminately suck up and store details of everybody’s calls, locations and Net activity, then they will have to employ many millions of contractors to monitor everybody’s communications in real time. They will inevitably do this. They will probably have to outsource this to India or China to reduce costs.
“He betrayed the Constitution.”
This might not be referring to the Constitution that has a Fourth Amendment. It’s probably some other Constitution.
“Snowden self-indulgently short-circuited the democratic structures of accountability,”
….. accountability..yup!
Diane Feinstein is too old to be in the Senate.
Reckon they’ll put him in a rack for public viewing or make him wear a Scarlet T around his neck…. Seems I’ve read stuff like that happening…. It will the plane he’s on blowup over Lockerbie ……
ALL of the voices in government being raised which paint this guy with every evil deed since Eve took a bite of an apple is nothing more than widespread complicity to deflect the bright light of their incompetence once again. Don’t you just love big government…and this fiasco isn’t limited to Obama and the Dems, Republicans are just as dirty. Many people warned of the dangers when the Patriot Act was born, and in that governments love to creep and take a mile if you give them an inch, this is the result. Now we’re just starting to get all the “expert witnesses,” the denials, dodging, fabrications, demonizing, why it’s George Bush’s fault – whatever is necessary to save their ignorant backsides because they kept an 800LB gorilla in the closet. Then someone opened the door and Whoa! There’s an 800 LB gorilla in here. What better villain than a whistle blower to take all the blame instead of elected officials who put the program in place. Ironically, We the people deserve this garbage government – we put these loonies in office, all of whom think they know what’s better for us than we do ourselves, and it doesn’t matter if they trod all over our rights and liberties as long as we’re “secure.” I guess, in perspective, I feel better about the other dozen scandals, $17 trillion in debt, Obamacare, a bad economy, high unemployment, government waste, etal and will just hope that that someone in Washington takes pity and eventually makes the decision for me….freedom or security. Gee, I hope it’s security. Who wants to be free.
Blow the Whistle On The igPays!
For CNN and other media outlets to jump on our Whistleblower incarnate is a disgrace. Tonight I am going to make a list of sponsors on CNN News and make a list. Boycott CNN and its sponsors. Watch out for the Cheater, Jeff Toobin.
Tony C,
So true….
Jeffrey Toobin is the “legal trial lawyer advisor” for CNN. The public is supposed to put some stock in his opinions. He has never tried a case in a courtroom in his entire life. He is known at CNN behind closed doors as
“The Cheater” because he cheats on his wife and had an affair with some women and sired her child. It is ironic that he calls Snowden a “clown” when “The Clown” is one of the phrases applied to him at work by the co workers. They play the song by Bob Kuban and the In Men: Watch Out For The Cheater. The lead verse is: Watch out for the cheater, make way for the two hearted clown.
It is irresponsible for the elected officials and those in the press to accuse and declare someone guilty before they have even been arrested. This is a witch hunt at it’s most basic level. The American people should be outraged.
I believe Edward Snowden is a hero that may well have sacrificed a very comfortable life for the greater good.
To me, Al Franken has become one more hope turned to bitter ash in my lifelong effort to help elect a principled politician that can resist being seduced by the dark side or cowed into submission by authority.
The current democrats, republicans and media attacks on Edward Snowden is extremely sad. They want us to believe that a guy is a traitor because he exposed the government for its secret spying campaign against its own citizens. Democrats are really forgetting what principles that have made them the party that they once were!!! Edward Snowden is a hero!!!
So when those in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches fail to do this, what does that make them?
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
Mr. Toobin’s comments tell us more about him than they do about Mr. Snowden.
The vitriol, the misdirection, and the half truths suggest that Mr. Toobin comes from the Goebbels school of journalism – ideology trumps integrity.
We (and the Constitution) are not well served either by many of the press, nor by our elected leaders.
The mainstream press laments its decline from dominant news source to failing industry. People like Mr. Toobin bear much of the responsibility for that change (as well as the lack of respect) that the press is experiencing.
As a personal commentary. I do not follow Mr. Toobin; I do however read about his shenanigans through this blog.
Good column professor, thank you. And thank you for outing Al Franken (a man for whom I had some modicum of respect) for me.
Well said! These people are scared. They cannot fight the truth by being truthful themselves. Their only recourse is lies, propaganda, threats and smears.
You can tell everything you need to know about people who engage in these types of actions, by their actions. They are speaking volumes about who they are and what they stand for. Keep on calling them out for who they are.
He is a whistleblower. Plain and simple. (Just like the minds of the idiots who think it’s ok for the government to behave this way)
As many of us as possible need to continue to keep the focus on WHAT was revealed and not the revealer. Maybe we can get some more folks to remove the wool.
I do not know Mr Snowden. He may not be a ‘perfect’ human being. That does not matter to me. I am grateful for his actions to tell citizens what he was seeing. Thank goodness some citizens take our democracy seriously.
Senator Feinstein sent a letter to Acting US Attorney General Mukasey – when they shut down the Los Angeles Public Corruption Task Force to bury the investigation into Mitt Romney’s case.
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/20/local/me-shakeup20
Then, Senator D went silent (and blocked my emails to her).
Add that evidence to the fact that she is working with McCain to close Gitmo (but MOVE the detainee’s to other places) [NOTE: I’d rather keep them there and fight for a REAL transparency than move them all over hell & back where we can’t keep track of WTF’s going on].
http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=cf92f5a0-4b2a-4c86-92c1-58f7dc612b67
Now, Senator D is in agree with Boehner on THIS issue.
I’m going to have a movement!
Depends on whom you ask….. Are we promoting terrorism…. By expecting the Constitution to be respected…..