Honestly, how can anyone take anything President Obama said at a press conference yesterday seriously?
The President asserted that the debate about surveillance and spying would have occurred without Snowden’s leaks. In fact, he has the audacity to assert this notion:
“I called for a thorough review of our operations before Mr. Snowden made these leaks. My preference, and I think the American peoples’ preferences would have been for a lawful, orderly examination of these laws.”
As the Post points out:
In March, at a Congressional hearing, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper answered “no sir” when Wyden asked whether the NSA had collected “any type of data at all on millions of Americans.” We now know his statement was incorrect.
They say the statement was “incorrect,” but come on, it was a lie, which should incur perjury charges upon the Director.
It should be quite obvious to anyone that without Snowden’s leaks, we would most certainly not be having this robust debate about spying, the NSA’s activities and the power the executive branch asserts.
Is there anyone outside govt who believes we’d be better off without the NSA disclosures & just remained ignortant/deceived about all this?
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 9, 2013
And just to make the point further about Snowden:
If this is, as Obama says, an important conversation to be having, then isn’t Edward Snowden an American hero for forcing it?
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) August 9, 2013
But of course, Obama won’t say that. Politicians don’t deserve our respect.
Milam's Musings 