I'm getting really sick of the whole "Comrade Eddie" BS from some

[DirkGently]

333. ^An excellent nutshell for the whole thing. I hope everyone reads it.

Obsessing over personalities and motives is destructive and beside the point.

Do we, or do we not, as liberals, progressives, and Democrats, think the surveillance state that has exploded since 9/11, is too opaque, lacking in informed, responsible oversight, and pursuing an egregious overreaching, particularly in the realm of digital information?

Do we support the idea of "whistleblowing" by insiders where legal means to reveal government wrongdoing are blocked?

If so, do we change our positions on these things based on whether we "like" the whistleblower, whether it potentially embarrasses a Democrat, or whether we suspect the person in question has personality issues or ideologies not exactly like our own?

It seems like what ought to matter is the truth. Did we gain something here? Are we asking questions long overdue? Are we pursuing reform as a result? Looks to me like we are. On the other hand was "America" harmed in some way if political embarrassment does NOT count?

If the argument here is that Snowden, Greenwald, et al, are political opponents of Democrats or the President, what is the relevance to all of the above? It's not as though the effect of all of this was primarily anti Democrat or anti-democratic. Rightwingers in our country are not coming at Dems on the basis of the NSA scandal. Republicans love the surveillance state. It's full of money and power and secrecy. Those are their hallmarks, not ours.

This type of whistleblowing is absolutely on our side of the fence, or at least it has been traditionally. But we're supposed to forget all that and circle the wagons because we suspect Snowden's motives? What kind of people are we if our priorities begin and end with not what people do, but who they ARE, or who we say they are? That's a rightwing attitude. Stealing's not stealing if you're a big bank. Lying's not lying if you're in politics. Spy agencies run amok get swept under the rug when our guy's in the Whitehouse.

I'd care about motives if it looked like Snowden was trying to really screw U.S. security. There is no evidence of that. This is not the way that is done. It would have been infinitely easier to disappear with that thumb drive without saying word or contacting the press. It could have been traded for a mountain of cash instead of a life on the run. And there are far unfriendlier and more extremely political mass media figures than Greenwald or the Guardian to partner with.

If we really care about Democratic politics and leadership, we should be obsessed with standing for what we say we do, not with whose ox gets gored in the process.