Is Edward Snowden a closet republican?

[AndreaCG]

I apologize for not being able to post a link but there was a fascinating article on Addicting Info that quoted old Snowden posts on other forums that made him out to be a Ron Paul disciple. I don't know if it is true but it's worth checking out. The author seemed to point out that Snowden didn't like leakers during the Bush administration.

[sadbear]

1. Nearly all the (L)ibertarians I know vote straight-ticket republican.

[asjr]

2. He is a closet Zimmerman. He wanted attention

to show how clever he is and he got it.

[zappaman]

3. Here ya go

Have We All Been Fooled By Edward Snowden?

"He was gung-ho for it when Bush was president. Which brings up an interesting point: his opinion of such programs abruptly changed when Barack Obama took office. In the chat room, which Ars Technica calls “Officially unofficial” – the online equivalent to “the back room occupied by drinkers who feel the front (of the bar) is just too stuffy for them,” Snowden felt free to speak his mind even if everyone in the room would disagree with him. And he could be ugly about it.

Snowden revealed that he was a Ron Paul supporter and championed a return to the gold standard along with short selling stocks. Social issues also reveal a Libertarian bent when it came to personal freedoms. He also bought into Obama conspiracy theories such as the one that said Obama was going to devalue U.S. currency, leading to higher unemployment, something he saw as a “correction” and “a necessary part of capitalism.”

His disdain of President Obama and his policies was apparent and he bitched about them with “increasing frequency.” But there are two issues where, I believe, where Snowden’s true colors shine very clearly..."

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


http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/06/have-we-all-been-fooled-by-edward-snowden/#ixzz2YJDWohKa

[AndreaCG]

5. Thank you for the link!

I read it on Facebook and didn't know how to link it. I still don't know if it's true.

[graham4anything]

53. +1 as Arte Johnson used to say "VERRRRRRY Interesting". Thanks. nt.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. Whatever his motives, he exposed a grevious ill of our government.

Do you think that the usupation of the 4th amendment is... okay?

When you attack the messenger without addressing the message, you fail to resolve anything.

[LukeFL]

8. Oh please

We all KNEW the NSA was a spy agency and that we were AlL being monitored and watched.

How naive your ( all sonwoden adoring lefties) reaction to it is what's shocking.

[OneAngryDemocrat]

18. SEDITION

I owe my loyalty as a citizen to the US Constitution.

You?

[AgingAmerican]

21. You already knew Obama was doing this?

And you didn't speak up?

[Cooley Hurd]

29. No I fucking didn't. I voted for him to STOP such horseshit.

[AgingAmerican]

38. I agree completely

n/t

[wandy]

59. I hear you. I understand. For a moment try seeing it like this............

Like Iraq.
Like Afghanistan.
Like Guantanamo Bay.
Like Citizen United changing the meaning from 'one person = one vote' to 'one dollar = one vote'.
Like Corparate welfare.
Like the sudden and apparently popular rebirth of Jim Crow.

The NSA is just one more runaway fright train brought about by the BFEE.

How much damage can we undo in how short a period of time?
If, we can undo that damage at all.

[Cooley Hurd]

39. We thought it would stop after the paranoia of 9/11.

ESPECIALLY after a Democratic POTUS was elected.

[Kahuna]

13. He didn't expose anything. This is old news. Google

is your friend.

[Cooley Hurd]

40. He showed that the person I elected as POTUS didn't stop it.

[Kahuna]

49. It's a LAW and POTUS is not an emperor. nt

[winter is coming]

27. ^^ This. n/t

[graham4anything]

56. SCOTUS ruled on THIS VERY ISSUE back in 1979. Smith vs. Maryland. 34 years ago. nt.

[veveto]

62. Oh yeah? the 1979 court ruled on dragnet metadata collection?

How about...no?

[OneAngryDemocrat]

6. A Better Question: Are 1/2 of the Posters @ DU Closet Republicans?

If it was wrong under Bush, it ain't right under Obama.

[LukeFL]

9. exactly!!!

[WovenGems]

26. Don't you mean

If it was wrong under LBJ then it's wrong under Obama. The NSA has been around for quite a while. What most thought they did prior to Snow is a good question. I coded drug talk when discussing weed in the seventies. Care to guess why?

[Kahuna]

50. Apples and oranges my friend. The difference is...

bush didn't bother to go through the FISA court. That seemed to be the outrage at the time. Obama does follow the law. Also, since that time we've seen how the internet seems to follow our every move and even anticipate our next move. I would rather curtail my isp, google, amazon and facebook invading my privacy when all they are trying to do is sell me stuff than the government who is trying to avoid death and destruction to the American people.

[GeorgeGist]

7. Old news here.

Its all part of Snowden's CIA cover.

[cali]

10. tell me why I should care. really.

[99Forever]

11. It's called character assassination.

And I can post a link. So for your edification:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_assassination

[Cleita]

12. He's a fugitive right now and frankly a non-American at this point so he can't be

a Republican. I think that getting your passport revoked is kind of like taking your citizenship away and rendering you stateless. Strange that the countries that will take him in are all being run by socialists and he's in Russia right now the mother ship of communism and socialism.

[pitohui]

36. no taking your passport away does NOT remove your citizenship. he's NOT stateless

otherwise every person accused of a felony would lose their citizenship, that doesn't happen

when there's a felony warrant out yes they're supposed to revoke your passport so you don't flee to other countries

snowden is a usa citizen, and he knows that he's a usa citizen, he has plenty of lawyers, so that only leaves he's a damn liar when he says he is stateless

the usa wants him to come home, yes, he would have to answer the felony warrant just like anyone else who executes and then boasts about a premeditated crime but he's still a citizen

his choice to run and hide is his choice

did you know the majority of americans don't even have passports? yet, guess what...they are still citizens...they are just not welcome to take international travel

this is 5th grade citizenship so i'm amazed so many people don't know this

you are not required to hold a passport to be a citizen in america, you get it automatically by virtue of being born here (and a few other ways we wont get into right now)

getting a passport is a privilege that plenty of citizens are not entitled to, either because they're too cheap to apply, don't care to apply, or they are charged/convicted of some offense and have had it taken away so they'll show up in court...

[Cleita]

37. Good. I'm glad. However, I do know it's a dire thing when people lose their

citizenship and it hardly ever happens. I do know people who are residing in the USA don't have passports until they plan to travel. I didn't have one for thirty years from the time mine expired and then I applied for another one. But this man had his passport taken away from him while he was in a foreign country. It means he can't travel and if he steps out into Russia he's undocumented. He is stateless.

You do understand how passports work? The point is so that the country you are traveling to knows you are a citizen of a certain county. Also, when you return to your native country, they need to know that you are indeed a citizen. Edward Snowden can't do that anymore voluntarily. He can't vote and participate in the democratic process. You think he's going to get an absentee ballot while in whatever country offers him asylum? No.

If not officially, he for all intents and purposes has had his citizenship revoked so I doubt if he will be signing up for a party. Just MHO.

[graham4anything]

57. Well, Fox is run by Australian Rupert Murdoch, a bastation of republican/teaparty/libertaria voters.

Ed is still a voter as he is still a citizen. Revoking a passport is NOT revoking his citizenship.

Non-Americans though routinely choose political sides though.
Bibi Netanyahoo from Israel openly supported Mitt Romney in 2012, something I was aghast to see a foreign leader so openly
taking one side over another, don't think in history that ever happened before.

[Mass]

14. More importantly, does he tell the truth

Yes, Snowden is a libertarian. The only reason I would care is if I wanted to make him a god or a saint. I do not.

I have no feeling one way or another concerning this person.

What I'd like to see, however, is the beginning of a discussion about surveillance and information collecting in this country, whether it comes from the government or private companies. It seems however, that this discussion is impossible because we do not seem to be able to forget the messenger to speak about the message. (As often, it is valid for the two sides, those who want to attack him and those who want to defend him).

Note: We need the discussion, not the character assassination of Snowden OR Obama.

[Ed Suspicious]

19. +1

[MH1]

24. He apparently misrepresented himself when he got hired by Booz-Allen.

At one point he indicated he'd already decided to do this when he applied for the job. So he was being dishonest then.

[Mass]

41. But he is not the issue. Privacy is the issue.

What rights do we want to give our government and private companies when it comes to having information on us.

For example, right now, I have an ad above this post about a company I patronize from time to time and searched on line. This is not by chance. Google is using my searches to send me ads.
Also, why does the government outsource surveillance to private companies? Particularly when they seem to do a pretty bad job at vetting people?

This is what we need to talk about, not whether we trust Snowden or not. The fact that these functions are outsourced is part of the issue.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

15. Does it matter? Spying on everyone is non-partisan.

[madinmaryland]

16. He is a teabagger who is going to relocate to a socialist country. (Assuming that he moves to

Venezuela).

[Ed Suspicious]

17. Does it matter?

[leftstreet]

20. Who gives a shit?

What if he has no particular political affiliation (like half the eligible voters in the country)?

[Chef Eric]

22. Why should I care if he is a Republican? nt

[brush]

23. Try teaparty member/libertarian

As recently as 2009 he wanted leakers shot in the balls.

What turned him around . . . maybe a black man in the White House, who knows? But he's certainly no progressive.

[AgingAmerican]

25. Character assassination is a fallacy

If falls under the Ad Hominem group of fallacies. Fallacies are not valid arguments

fal·la·cy
/ˈfaləsē/
Noun
A mistaken belief, esp. one based on unsound argument.
A failure in reasoning that renders an argument invalid.

If you wish to be taken seriously you need to start making valid arguments.

[brush]

42. Guess you haven't been following that closely

There's a post online of an online interview with Snowden. He actually said "leakers need to be shot in the balls."

A fact not a fallacy.

Look it up on Google since you're looking up word definitions.

[AgingAmerican]

44. Character assassination is still a fallacy

Whether it's you doing it or someone else

[brush]

45. Just google it

Snowden said leakers should be shot it the balls.

He was a hard right leaner in 2009 when he said that. I don't know what his motives were for exposing the NSA operation but he did a service to his country.

Then he fled and committed treason by disclosing classified info to foreign countries, as disservice to his country.

Whatever we are to make of him, time will tell.

But character assassination? No. It's fact. He's not the hero you seem to be suggesting.

[AgingAmerican]

47. Character assasination = attack the person rather than the argument

More character assassination does not disprove character assassination. Sorry.

[brush]

58. Call it what you want

I wrote:

" . . . but he did a service to his country."

He did do that, but then he committed treason by turning over info to foreign countries.

Ignore that all you want but it's still a fact.

He sounds like a confused young man in over his head who got some bad advice. He should have fled. Should have stayed and stood up for principle.

That would have been something to admire.

But committing treason . . . no!

[AgingAmerican]

60. It's what people do when they cannot present a cogent arguement

...or in this case...defense of policies.

[brush]

61. Nobody's defending the gov. policies

But you sure seem to be defending someone who fled the country and then disclosed classified docs to a foreign country when he could have stayed and been hailed as a hero.

[former9thward]

28. First it was he was a Libertarian.

Now its he a Republican. Tomorrow it will be that he probably has a Nazi uniform in his closet with cards and all. The Smear Machine comes up with new shit everyday.

[zeeland]

30. The desperation is so thick you can slice it with a knife. n/t

[sibelian]

31. la la la la...

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/55899697/Swole+Patrol+deadhorse.jpg

[pitohui]

32. there's no "closet" about it is there?

he's made it pretty clear that he hates everything that's important to our team from our president to social security

he has accused the obama administration of taking his citizenship (a lie) and he has told at least one country that the usa is going to execute him (a lie)

he's not on our side, he's on whatever side benefits from hate, confusion, and anger...for me it doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the math about who put him up to this

[Coyotl]

33. He donated to the Ron Paul campaign, I read somewhere.

I'm pretty sure you can research this question or read threads on DU with the info already there.

[warrior1]

34. what I find still so strange

is how Du'er are still on board with this dude.

I saw through his crap when this first broke.

[Jamaal510]

48. Here here.

[graham4anything]

55. +1 nt

[Douglas Carpenter]

35. it doesn't matter what he is politically - he is forcing a discussion about the actions of the

Intelligence Industrial Complex - Something we would not be having were it not for him

[RedCappedBandit]

43. Not much in the closet about it given the things he allegedly has said

Doesn't matter, though.

[Ellipsis]

46. Who the fuck even reads these bulllshit threads?

Last edited Sun Jul 7, 2013, 02:54 AM - Edit history (2)

What a fuckin' post and run bullshit OP.

[MNBrewer]

51. Is Barack Obama a closet Republican?

http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/Politics/obama-considered-moderate-republican-1980s/story?id=17973080#.UdlTYD772jI

[burnodo]

54. No closet there

[reformist2]

52. The smearing of Edward Snowden hits a new low!

This is worse than the accusation that he scowls at his neighbors!

[Madam45for2923]

63. Good question! "0. Is Edward Snowden a closet republican?"

AndreaCG
0. Is Edward Snowden a closet republican?

I apologize for not being able to post a link but there was a fascinating article on Addicting Info that quoted old Snowden posts on other forums that made him out to be a Ron Paul disciple. I don't know if it is true but it's worth checking out. The author seemed to point out that Snowden didn't like leakers during the Bush administration.