The degree of pressure on reporters and politicians from the White House and Democratic leadership in the Snowden controversy was in full and embarrassing view yesterday when Rep. John Lewis walked back from an interview that he gave to the Guardian praising Snowden. He appears not to have gotten the memo: Snowden is not to be praised in the media or by members of Congress. Various reporters and new organizations have held the line in mocking Snowden or refusing to call him a “whistleblower” rather than a “leaker.” After all, the fear seems to be that Snowden has to be a traitor or Obama would look like a tyrant.
Lewis is quoted as comparing Snowden to those who engaged in civil disobedience in the the civil rights movement and said that Snowden may have felt that he had to follow a “higher law.” Many of course believe Snowden was defending the Constitution and view him as a hero.
Lewis noted that “[s]ome people say criminality or treason or whatever. He could say he was acting because he was appealing to a higher law. Many of us have some real, real, problems with how the government has been spying on people.” He is quoted as comparing Snowden to figures like Gandhi. However, such views are not supposed to be uttered, particularly by a Democrat.
Lewis seem to be frog marched back before cameras within 24 hours and denied everything short of his name, rank, and serial number: “News reports about my interview with The Guardian are misleading, and they do not reflect my complete opinion. Let me be clear. I do not agree with what Mr. Snowden did. He has damaged American international relations and compromised our national security. He leaked classified information and may have jeopardized human lives. That must be condemned.”
Whew, that was close. Snowden is back being a traitor and Lewis is back on script.
By the way, as some of our commentators have noted, Happy Whistleblower Day. While the Senate passed the resolution below, I expect that they view the day as referring to a dog whistle that only they can hear:
By a unanimous resolution the U.S. Senate declared July 30, 2013 as “National Whistleblower Appreciation Day.” The National Whistleblowers Center strongly supports the Senate’s historic action and calls on every American reflect upon the tremendous contributions whistleblowers have made to American democracy, as well as the struggles and sacrifices they have endured By a unanimous resolution the U.S. Senate declared July 30, 2013 as “National Whistleblower Appreciation Day.” The National Whistleblowers Center strongly supports the Senate’s historic action and calls on every American reflect upon the tremendous contributions whistleblowers have made to American democracy, as well as the struggles and sacrifices they have endured.
Thanks Elaine….
Barb,
The Patriot Act and bipartisanship
Senate Democrats use a classic Bush/Cheney strategy to demand quick passage of the bill
By Glenn Greenwald
5/23/11
http://www.salon.com/2011/05/23/bipartisanship_8/
Excerpt:
Several days ago I noted that Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell had agreed to a four-year extension of the most controversial provisions of the Patriot Act — a bill Democrats everywhere once claimed to revile — without a single reform (despite the long and documented history of its abuse and despite Obama’s previously claimed desire to reform it). Tonight, a cloture vote was taken in the Senate on the four-year extension and it passed by a vote of 74-8. The law that was once the symbolic shorthand for evil Bush/Cheney post-9/11 radicalism just received a vote in favor of its four-year, reform-free extension by a vote of 74-8: only resolutions to support Israel command more lopsided majorities.
As I’ve noted several times, I once thought that the greatest American political myth was “The Liberal Media,” but I realized some time ago that it’s actually the claim that “there is very little bipartisanship.” Washington is driven by overwhelming amounts of bipartisanship, as today’s vote (and the Reid/McConnell agreement that preceded it) yet again demonstrates. The 8 Senators voting against cloture were Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democrats Jeff Merkley, Mark Begich, Max Baucus, and John Tester, and GOP Senators Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, and Dean Heller (GOP Sen. Mike Lee announced he’d vote NO but missed the vote due to inclement weather). Sen. Paul, along with Sen. Tester, took the lead in speaking out against the excesses and abuses of the Patriot Act and the vital need for reforms.
BarbF, You are flat ass wrong. It is not Republicans here castigating Obama and Lewis. That’s just the lame partisan boilerplate response. Is that all you got?
What I’d like to see is a single conservative acknowledge that the Patriot Act has gone too far and infringes on our constitution.
It’s real easy to blame Obama, and in fact he should accept some blame, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the Patriot Act is the single piece of legislation that enables all of these reprehensible actions.
So, before you fine people of the right castigate and criticize Obama and Lewis, you’d better serve the American people by criticizing and be willing to change the Patriot Act.
Which of you is willing to do that?
“Or, one could watch and listen to the famous scene in Easy Rider where Jack Nicholson explains to Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda what freedom means to the average American. The first two minutes or so of the video pretty much covers the essentials.” -Michael Murray
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc11mJGre10
01:37 – “neh neh neh neh neh! Swamp!” (insightful speech) 😉
@itchinBayDog – If you have a subscription to PACER you can look it up. It’s very cheap. It’s run by the feds.
Re: Who the enemy is that Mr. Obama is listening to with NSA PRISM (Snowden’s big revelation)? Ask yourself who has 5-agents dancing under a bridge only miles from a world disaster, filming it BEFORE it happens. Then they high-five and dance an ethnic dance while watching the disaster.
Who sends kids to sell art paintings around US Federal buildings as if casing the joint? Who sets up perfume and toy helicopter merchants in US shopping malls near military bases to suck in unsuspecting military personnel on leave? Who plots to do something so horrific in a US big city and then blame it on someone else so the US will go off like a raging bull like it did in Iraq? Who feels that “they” control US through a lobby meant for a tiny country not an corporation lobby S.I.G. which is the typical kind in the Beltway. Control us through Hollywood, Banking, Textiles, etc. Who plants stories with American journalists that make them a PRISM target too? Who runs a enigmatic meta-data telecommunications company in Washington DC that is connected at the hip with our own IC?
Do the math. Al-Quaeda is the enemy yes. But like a wise mobster once said in a movie: “Keep your friends close but your ‘enemies’ closer!”
Michael Murray – What I meant was the Snowden did not reveal any TOP secrets yet. Mr. Putin already knows we’ve been listening to their SIG/ELINT traffic ever since Operation Azorian (aka Jennifer) in where we borrowed Howard Hughes’ boat to tap into an undersea cable in the Pacific. How did he know? The KGB was everywhere, even in the CIA.
So Snowden’s secrets are just a big yawn to Putin. He told Snowden he could stay if he STOPS slamming USA with his “secrets”. Mighty generous of him. Mr. Obama is not reeling over the apple cart being upset. Why? He knows the “package” Snowden has is minimally toxic. Not enough to send in ST-6 to go get him (as he could do that as he did in Pakistan for UBL).
When I say we “already knew” I wasn’t talking about Joe the Plumber (the clueless American). I was referring to the “enlightened” ones who read books, newspapers, magazines, and depends very little on FOX NEWS and other MSM for their revelations. Mr. Obama is only going after Snowden because he broke the rules. What should we just say OK Snowden your free to go. You did nothing wrong but break your Non-Disclosure Agreement and a host of other intelligence community/contractor protocols.
I’m sure his employer is reeling over the lost federal/MIC contracts they enjoyed BEFORE Snowden. I mean who’s the next Snowden from that company or other companies like that? It’s hard enough to keep or IC spooks on the reservation without contractors doing it too.
Snowden is getting just desserts for breaking the rules NOT making political waves for Mr. Obama and his cabinet. I’m sure the NSA is yawning too. They know MOST people know PRISM is just ECHELON’s modern grandchild. They probably may be a little worried about what else he has in his package – but Putin has pretty much killed that with his ultimatum to Snowden recently.
MM,
A great video clip from a great movie.
There is a Complaint on File in the federal court in the Eastern District of Virginai. It is filed by the government and alleges some reference to some statutes but the allegations are attached in a Sealed Affidavit. That Sealed Affidavit might tell us Who the Enemy is. Do we need to give Obama an enema before he will reveal who the Enemy is?
Show us your papers on Snowden Obama!
And its one, two, three, what are we fightin for?
Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn..
Next stop is Viet Nam!
And its five, six , seven, open up the Pearly Gates.
Aint no time to wonder why..
Whoopee, we’re all gonna die.
–Country Joe and the Fish
Who is thine enemy?
sonofthunderboanerges,
Thank you for the fine example of Orwellian doublethink in action:
If “we already know” what Edward Snowden has disclosed, then that would make his revelations public knowledge and not a “classified” secret — unless you believe in the oxymoron, “public secret,” better known as “what everyone knows but doesn’t (or, shouldn’t).”
And if Mr Snowden has only told us what “we already know” and none of this already public knowledge has harmed us in any way, then the U.S. government has no cause to persecute Mr Snowden for not harming us with what we already know.
Sir Francis Bacon famously said that “knowledge is power,” but the Orwellian state brazenly proclaims: “Ignorance is Strength.” The Orwellian state thinks it can keep all knowledge — and therefore all power — to itself. But any state that can only remain in power by keeping the citizenry ignorant and misinformed does not deserve to exist. In fact, the government of the United States has now brought upon itself an existential crisis of legitimacy. Edward Snowden did not bring about the crisis. He only dispelled a little of the government-imposed ignorance so as to put the power of knowledge into the hands of the people, where it belongs. Now the people need to act on this knowledge and put their overreaching government back in is proper place.
Joy,
Yes. As President Putin has truly said: “The United States doesn’t want allies. It wants vassals.” President Obama just can’t seem to get his own foot out of his own mouth, but rather keeps shoving the shoe in even further while gnawing away at it in helpless frustration. What an unsolicited gift for President Putin, indeed.
President Obama has made an international fool of himself and hasn’t the self-awareness to realize it. As the military historian Martyn Van Crevald has said: “When the strong beat down on the weak and win, they look like a bully. When the strong beat down on the weak and lose, they look like an idiot.” In his vicious, vindictive jihad against the weakest of America’s whistle blowers, President Obama has managed to look like both a bully and an idiot at the same time, without winning anything but the hapless acquiescence of those vassals he already owns. Not an edifying spectacle.
As Jacopo said to Edmond Dantes about the dissolute aristocrat Fernand de Mondego busy squandering his inheritance at the casino roulette wheel: “He’s losing, and they’re not even cheating him.” True for President Obama and — sad to say — now true of Congressman Lewis as well. And with every new government document disclosing the lies and lawlessness of the United States government, the credibility of the United States and its officials sinks even further. Can’t win for losing — and to the weak at that. Superpower Syndrome.
Putin is having another good laugh. Even he can’t make this crap up.
OK I guess I’m confused (again) 🙂
Now where does Snowden fit in that definition? Exactly what “wrongdoing” has he exposed? I think the NSA has shown that their 50+ year program was NEVER illegal nor wrong. Why? As it was designed to keep an eye on our “enemies”. At the time of it’s inception it was the USSR and Red China we wanted to keep tabs on for obvious reasons. Now we “claim” it is listen to foreign terrorist chatter.
During the TWO Bush Administrations it was being used to break the law as the targets were clearly domestic targets like journalists and politicians that were dissident to Bush rule and of course big-mouth anti-Bush “whistleblowers”. In the later I would agree that Snowden was a whistleblower. However, I do not think he has ever made a distinction between Bush’s and Obama Admin alleged “wrongdoings”.
I clearly see that it’s use under FISA review is still very resourceful, in light of the incident in Houston TX in 2009. Of course the latest intercept re: Yemen was simply a red herring to throw us into a tither; which worked by the way. I mean ALMOST everyone knows by now that the bad-guys don’t really use phones and Internet anymore (i.e. UBL’s comm-methods discovered by CIA-ST6 at Abbotobad Compound?).
Mr. Lewis’ recanting was NOT a recanting. Everyone hear is all in a tissey that John was strong armed by Obama goons to recant. That simply did not happen. As the MSM states he was MISQUOTED and taken out-of-context by the Guardian reporter. He simply said Snowden acted out of conscience. That doesn’t mean his conscience was right or even smart. Now Snowden is stuck in Moscow under Putin’s finger. Not a very nice finger to be under. And for what? Telling us something we ALREADY knew? IMO a very typically dumb move by a twenty-something-American (if that’s what it REALLY was and not really some really retarded disinfo op for Putin’s sake – if so he’s already seen thorough it…).
Michael Murry wrote:
“Likewise, I fail to see why Edward Snowden should suffer an injustice at the hands of the U.S. government just because Congressman Lewis once did. I find such “thinking” not only perverse, but more of an apology for injustice than a demand that it cease.
We only have one life to live here on earth and not one of us should have to give it up for the ease and convenience of petty, thin-skinned autocrats who cannot distinguish the reporting of a crime from the commission of one. Stay free and happy, Edward Snowden. You’ve earned your freedom many times over for putting it at risk to inform your fellow citizens of that which they have every right and duty to know, even though many of them would love to see you in solitary confinement for disturbing their somnolent complacency. Pearls before swine, and all that.” -Michael Murry
Said so very well. Thank you.
“Or, one could watch and listen to the famous scene in Easy Rider where Jack Nicholson explains to Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda what freedom means to the average American. The first two minutes or so of the video pretty much covers the essentials.” -Michael Murray
One minor point of disagreement. Given my view of the U.S. these days, one needs to watch the full clip.
Sorry, I gave the wrong link in my previous post.
He was the Chariman of the committee doing that oversight:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/storynew?id=7122282&page=1
nick spinelli 1, August 8, 2013 at 9:35 pm
Folks, That was just a fly by the seat of my pants hypothetical. I was going to the other hypothetical of them offering him some dough for his district. I know it can get nasty and tough, but for a transgression like Lewis’s, more likely a go along to get along; “we need you on this and we got some cash for your afterschool program.”
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Lewis crossed the line way back when he fingered Bush II zombies for sending TARP money to the oil sheiks in the U.A.E.
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/1600-pa.-avenue/29643487#29643487
They are fed up with his uppity goings on and will retaliate, and they are not all “in the closet” about it, no, they put it too him straight.
He can be clean as a whistle and they can still pull his strings.
Remember the wife of John Conyers and the son of Jesse Jackson. Prison for Mrs. Conyers, good by politics for Jackson’s son.
This was done while Conyers was committee chair rocking the boat.
It is now “Conyers who?”
If Lewis has children, friends, etc. that he cares greatly for, they know it and know how to play it like a fiddle.
And yes, it could also be that he has changed while in office into a hollow flip flopper.
Like you Nick, I don’t leave either option out.
Just sayin’ …
Michael Murray, I’m not sure if you want thanks for your service or not. That is what I do, not out of rote. My dad and 5 uncles served in WW2. A good friend of mine, Chuck Manarel, died in Viet Nam. So, I always say that w/ them in mind. Your comments are insightful, eloquent and appreciated.