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Well, you did say Note though that nobody in the administration has called Snowden a traitor; as though fears begin and end with the Obama administration.
by oinksoft 13y ago
Well, you did say
Note though that nobody in the administration has called
Snowden a traitor;
as though fears begin and end with the Obama administration. A premature and telling defense.
It's in the title: "The US Government," not "The Obama Administration."
- tptacek 13y ago"The US Government" employs 2.6 million civilians. There are 538 congresspeople and 100 senators. Surely some of them believe and routinely say something toxic. I find Speaker Boehner to be an all-around toxic person in general. But I am not particularly alarmed at him calling Snowden a traitor. There are people in his party in Congress who believe Barack Obama is a traitor.
- oinksoft 13y agoBut you can't deny the hard line separating those who take oaths of office and those who do not. A low-level HUD employee's comments have far less gravity than those of a US Senator.
- tptacek 13y agoI'm sorry, I just don't accept the point that anything some random Congressperson says represents the viewpoint of the whole US Government.
- oinksoft 13y agoThat's because there is no holistic US government viewpoint (we hope!). The comments of prominent members of the house are important as well.
- Cushman 13y agoAre you really calling the Speaker of the House, the representative of arguably the most powerful political bloc in the world and second in line for the Presidency, a "random Congressperson"?
- tptacek 13y agoYes. 200,000 Cincinattians elected him. 65,000,000 Americans elected the person who actually controls the NSA.
- Cushman 13y agoI think Cincinnati is OH-1/2, Boehner was elected by suburbanites. That aside, they elected him their representative. All of America, through their representatives, elected him Speaker. He's as close to the opposite of a "random" Congressperson as you can get. Among other things, like the fact that he runs the House, that means that if Snowden were a part of some plot, say, to assassinate the President and VP, he would become President. To be fair, that would also validate his accusations of treason.
- scott_s 13y agoI think Patrick is trying to distinguish between pure posturing, and posturing that can lead to action. When John Boehner calls Snowden a traitor, that's pure posturing because Boehner has no authority to prosecute Snowden as a traitor. But if, say, Eric Holder called Snowden a traitor, that would be different because Holder has the authority to prosecute Snowden as a traitor. Patrick's point, I believe, is that even with Boehner's status, he has no authority in the matter. So his words mean little.
- tptacek 13y agoThat is such an accurate summary of what I was trying to convey that I will change my name to Patrick to make the rest of your comment correct. :)
- scott_s 13y agoWell, crap. Sorry, Thomas. For some reason my mind keeps assuming there's a "Patrick" hidden somewhere in your username.
- 13y ago