Edward Snowden believes that he "should be shot in the balls".

[Cheap_Trick]

Oh wait, that was when other people leaked classified information during the Bush regime.

http://pullingtotheleft.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/edward-snowden-nra-supporter-who-loved-domestic-spying-when-it-was-bush-and-hated-it-when-it-was-obama/

It now appears that when Bush was president Edward Snowden SUPPORTED domestic spying programs and thought leakers of classified information should be shot, but when Obama became president he suddenly changed his mind.

Chat room transcripts reveal (detailed here) that Snowden was a big Ron Paul supporter and no fan of liberal policies.

He wrote of people who leaked classified information, “those people should be shot in the balls”

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/06/have-we-all-been-fooled-by-edward-snowden/

One of the biggest changes in his opinions is what he thought of leakers. Back then, he was not a fan. In January of 2009, the following exchange took place in the chat room:

SNOWDEN: HOLY SHIThttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/washington/11iran.html?_r=1&hp

SNOWDEN: WTF NYTIMES

SNOWDEN: Are they TRYING to start a war? Jesus christ they’re like wikileaks

User19: they’re just reporting, dude.

SNOWDEN: They’re reporting classified shit

User19: shrugs

User19: meh

SNOWDEN: moreover, who the fuck are the anonymous sources telling them this?

SNOWDEN: those people should be shot in the balls.

Well, he’s sure done a switch since then, eh? I bet he would rather that his balls remain unshot now. He went so far as to wish the NYT would go bankrupt. He also had no problem with Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program, saying:


SNOWDEN: these are the same people who blew the whole “we could listen to osama’s cell phone” thing the same people who screwed us on wiretapping over and over and over again [sic] Thank god they’re going out of business.

User19: the NYT?

SNOWDEN: Hopefully they’ll finally go bankrupt this year.yeah.


Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/06/have-we-all-been-fooled-by-edward-snowden/#ixzz2YkrF1Cbp

I don't support the NSA and its' domestic spying program, but I don't place 100% of the blame for it on President Obama either. It wasn't created by his administration. Does he alone have the power to stop it? And who is bankrolling Snowden? It ain't cheap to jet from country to country. Whatever else you can say about Eddie, he sure had impeccable timing. The Benghazi and IRS scandals were fizzling out. New scandal!!! Even though it was actually old news.

[allin99]

1. Obama doesn't have the power to change it until....

he has the power of the people behind him. And in order for people to ask for that change they have to know what's actually going on. And now they do.

[snappyturtle]

2. The President is well aware of the Constitutional rights

guaranteed to us. Why do we have to push him to defend it? He took an oath so to do. Just askin'.............

[allin99]

4. i wish we didnt' have to either...

but that's the way it goes. I mean, one reason could be when people have a great deal of power they tend to not give it up voluntarily. And if people don't hold our gov't accountable, why should they (if they want that power) I mean, i don't think obama really said he was going to go in and look at the patriot act section by section, i don't think he said he was going to modify fisa. But if he knows people are saying, enough is enough, as long as he's not against making changes, then he has the backng to make them and Republicans can go after him for it, but he has the will of the people behind him, which is a heck of a lot better than not having them behind him. In an ideal world, the perceived pre-president obama would the President obama, but he's not, but give him the chance to act on the will of the people, and maybe, just maybe, unlike GW, he will. I think he will, but he has to be pressured and he has to have support for the change. He is renewing the patriot in a few years, see if he and congress address section 215.

[snappyturtle]

6. This is my theory about all presidents (in the U.S.):

"Something" happens to them between their elections and the inaugurations. I think it is then they learn what is really going on.

I bellieved in the President 150%...voted twice for him and supported him as I could. His visions for the country in his speech at the 2004 convention was a thing of beauty. His heart was in the right place. NOW,,,,it's a balancing act and I don't envy him. I think he does the best he can with what he has to work with and to do differently would put him in some kind of jeopardy. Just my gut feeling about it.


edit: Some presidents, like bush 1 & 2, who are more aligned outside of office with the powers that be, can advance better while in office.

[djean111]

3. But - if we ask for change that means we are bashing Obama.

And maybe Snowden has a lot of frequent flyer miles or other people donated miles to him
Actually, maybe Russia let him ride for free, like airline employees might do, just to speed him on his way.
Or maybe he is using one of his laptops to pore over Kayak.
Nothing Snowden has previously said negates what he leaked. And perhaps he had a change of heart.

When Obama changed his stance on gay marriage, wasn't it accepted that he had a change of heart? Only the result matters. I don't care how he personally feels about anything, really. I don't care much about what Snowden said or did before the leak.

But everyone has the right to evolve from stances they previously held, N'est-ce pas?

[allin99]

5. exactly, people change when they see things...

in a different light, that's a *good* thing. Wouldn't we like to see a lot of pro-life people see that executing people is not pro-life, or that women suffer when they can't control their own bodies? Of course. usually people don't, but once in a while people actually do see things differently and, *gasp*, actually change their mind. I was actually pro-death penalty years ago, and for the most part always had been, and funnily enough it was Bloomberg that changed my mind. I forgot what he said, but ever since then i've been anti-death penalty.