2 ms·

It is a common political trick to find a quote from somebody years ago and pretend that quote says it all about that person. It may even be effective at times.

• sneak 6y ago
  Whether or not he wants any specific individual person dead is less relevant to the matter than the fact that he called for the execution of a US citizen that had not yet been put on trial. That indicates his lack of belief in the basic concepts of our legal system and constitution: the presumption of innocence, due process of law, the right to a trial, et c. This is further corroborated by the fact that the things Snowden revealed were unconstitutional actions by the US federal government, the exposure of which is in his view worthy of the most ultimate of punishment. I have not seen any indication in the intervening time that he has become more concerned with due process or constitutional rights; in fact quite the opposite: he has recently deployed federal forces to violently attack peaceful protesters. A consistent, long-term pattern of unconstitutional behavior emerges, entirely independent of his specific opinion at this time about one Ed Snowden. I hope that I did not indicate that he can’t change his mind, simply that, in this instance, he has not. Should he decide to pardon Snowden, no one should be surprised if he subsequently commands some or all of the people under his command to deprive him of rights or life. Doing so would be entirely consistent with his old statements, as well as his recent ones.