The Dem Candidates on Edward Snowden

For John, BLUF:  Try him by a jury of his Peers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

"The CNN Democratic debate transcript, annotated", from The Washington Post.

COOPER:  Governor Chafee, Edward Snowden, is he a traitor or a hero?

CHAFEE:  No, I would bring him home. The courts have ruled that what he did -- what he did was say the American…

COOPER:  Bring him home, no jail time?

CHAFEE:  ... the American government was acting illegally.  That's what the federal courts have said; what Snowden did showed that the American government was acting illegally for the Fourth Amendment.  So I would bring him home.

COOPER:  Secretary Clinton, hero or traitor?

CLINTON:  He broke the laws of the United States.  He could have been a whistleblower.  He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower.  He could have raised all the issues that he has raised.  And I think there would have been a positive response to that.

COOPER:  Should he do jail time?

ClINTON:  In addition -- in addition, he stole very important information that has unfortunately fallen into a lot of the wrong hands.  So I don't think he should be brought home without facing the music.

COOPER:  Governor O'Malley, Snowden?

O'MALLEY:  Anderson, Snowden put a lot of Americans' lives at risk.  Snowden broke the law.  Whistleblowers do not run to Russia and try to get protection from Putin.  If he really believes that, he should be back here.

COOPER:  Senator Sanders, Edward Snowden?

SANDERS:  I think Snowden played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined.

COOPER:  Is he a hero?

SANDERS:  He did -- he did break the law, and I think there should be a penalty to that.  But I think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration before he is (inaudible).

COOPER:  Senator Webb, Edward Snowden?

WEBB:  I -- well, I -- I would leave his ultimate judgment to the legal system.  Here's what I do believe.  We have a serious problem in terms of the collection of personal information in this country.  And one of the things that I did during the FISA bill in 2007, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was introduce with Russ Feingold two amendments basically saying, "We understand the realities of how you have to collect this broad information in the Internet age, but after a certain period of time, you need to destroy the personal information that you have if people have not been brought -- if criminal justice proceedings have not been brought against them."

We've got a vast data bank of information that is ripe for people with bad intentions to be able to use. And they need to be destroyed.

Thinking about the answers:

Governor Lincoln Chaffee—An American Hero.  Bring him home so we can thank him.

Governor Martin O'Malley—Put a lot of lives at risk, making him a criminal and perhaps (he doesn't say it) a traitor.

Secretary Hillary Clinton—Secretary Clinton believes in the tooth fairy.  She believes that Mr Snowden could have been a Whistleblower, with the protection of the Federal Government.  But, she does think he did wrong, making our secret information available to others; "very important information that has unfortunately fallen into a lot of the wrong hands."♠

Senator Bernie Sanders—He should face punishment, but what he did to open the eyes of "the American people to the degree to which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined" should be mitigating.

Senator Jim Webb—The former Senator thinks Mr Snowden should be dealt with by the judicial system, but at the same time acknowledges the Federal Government is collecting too much information and not destroying it in a timely and appropriate way.

Four out of five realize Mr Snowden did wrong and deserves punishment.  Perhaps their advisors pointed out that if we won't punish Mr Snowden, who would we punish.♥

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Sort of like leaving your server unprotected while running State Department EMails on it.
♥  Apparantly the British have stopped 24 /7 surveillance of Mr Julian Assange, editor of Wikileaks.