Discussion: Colbert Talks To Greenwald About That 'Snowden Fellow' (VIDEO)

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Discussion for article #222709

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I’m impressed TPM posted this. It’s a well-balanced interview. You can tell he’s providing both praise and criticism. It’s clear that the good and the bad are both all wrapped up together in this story. Things are rarely just black or white.

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Mental health issues?

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Yeah what a hero, we never woulda known about NSA surveillance without Snowden. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm

Meanwhile, what about the vast amounts of data about how NSA listens to foreign governments, does US need to know all the details about that?

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Bah! The mere fact that you dare to suggest that this story isn’t all black and white demonstrates that you are a mindless tool of someone or other, because clearly the story is, in fact, entirely black and white. You’re with us or you’re against us and if you’re not part of the problem you’re part of the solution. Or something.

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I’d say this interview gave the Dudebro contingent about all the respect it deserves.

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This is probably the toughest interview Greenwald will have to face on his book tour. For a guy that likes to rail against the ‘establishment’ he’s not really all that different with regards to his own self-awareness, critical thinking skills, myopia, or propensity for fear tactics, hyperbole, propaganda, and spin. His brand of anti-authoritarianism is just as reactionary and anti-progressive as the kind of authoritarian beltway insiders he’s made a career of attacking (post 2005). The term ‘repressive desublimation’ comes to mind.

“Because the benefit of Tim Russert was that not only did he let them control the message, but he cast the appearance that they were subjected to really rigorous questioning. So it was the extra bonus of propagandizing while convincing the public that they weren’t being propagandized,” – Glenn Greenwald”

Will Greenwald keep this standard in mind while he engages with interviewers that cast they appearance of subjecting him to rigorous questioning? Will Greenwald’s fans keep this standard in mind when Greenwald himself engages in rigorous questioning of his source? Will Greenwald keep this standard in mind the next time Snowden appears with Putin to question Russian surveillance and human rights violations?

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Two of our sharpest minds - great interview.

Glad to see GG make the point about the great yawning gulf between the public proclamations made by tools like James Clapper, and what the documents themselves say

They want it ALL. So they can SNIFF it. Like some depraved motherfucker looking through your laundry and smelling your undies.

To keep you safe, of course!

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That was one big NothingBurger. Just more of the empty personal attacks on GG.

Ho-hum.

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Glenn was also on Democracy Now this AM:

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Greenwald and his partner ferried classified material across international borders to aid what Snowdon was up to. That is quite different to what Ellesberg did. Greenwald also helped get Snowdon to Russia. These are not the actions of a whistleblower or even an ethical journalist.

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As usual, the lying POS Greenwald lied about his claims. GG claimed that the NSA “routinely receives – or intercepts . . . devices . . . before they are delivered to international customers.” That is a LIE, and his own documents prove it: There is nothing “routine” about it – it is only done for international deliveries to NSA targets only. In other words, if a terror suspect orders a server or router, the NSA may plant a device, NOT for just some random dude ordering a server or router. At no time did GG ever offer those fundamental qualifiers and caveats to his claim. In other words, he LIED. As usual.

Oh, and when asked by Colbert about Colbert’s own server, GG snarkily claimed that maybe the NSA had bugged his router, too. Another LIE.

So, to sum up, Greenwald is a lying POS. As usual.

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You don’t say?

Watch Edward Snowden and Laura Poitras Accept the 2014 Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling

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LOL. I love watching the apologists squirm with nonsensical BS like this.

Wasn’t it awesome to see Colbert and Greenwald together? - you could sense the massive respect they had for each other, both truth-tellers in different realms.

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You must have watched a different interview, or completely missed the underlying message in Colbert’s line of questioning.

Last night, NSA whistleblower and Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald appeared on “The Colbert Report.” There, Colbert raised every point that critics routinely jab at Greenwald and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Rather than a talking-head non-response, viewers got the fully formed answer from Greenwald himself. (If you had any sneaking doubts about the NSA leaks, this interview does a thorough job of answering them.)

In a spirited debate (that will be missed from the character “Stephen Colbert”), the two discuss all aspects of the surveillance state: whistleblowing, privacy, journalism, the obligation to disclose information and, of course, the perils of blissful ignorance.

The interview is full of biting jokes, but the truth underlying it is extraordinarily unsettling. The entire interview can be viewed below:

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Mostly I’m speaking about Greenwald not Snowdon.

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You really struggle with satire all the away around, don’t you dear? Poor thing.

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I really don’t understand all the detractors of Snowden who pop up in comments. If there is a massive agency that routinely violates the spirit of the 4th amendment by spying on Americans without probable cause, this is the sort of thing Americans are entitled to know. But then, there were people in East Germany who thought that the Stasi existed to protect them.