Yoo is confused
by digby
So John Yoo is widely considered to be a brilliant legal mind?
John Yoo, a former deputy assistant attorney general and author of the 2002 memos advising the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques, said the Pulitzer committee’s decision did not vindicate Snowden.
“I’m not surprised the Pulitzer committee gave The Washington Post a prize for pursuing a sensationalist story, even when the story is a disaster for its own country,” he said. “I don’t think we need automatically read the prize as a vindication for Snowden’s crimes. Awarding a prize to a newspaper that covered a hurricane does not somehow vindicate the hurricane, [and] awarding a Pulitzer for a photo of a murder does not somehow vindicate the crime.”
Huh? The stories for which these journalists won the Pulitzer weren’t about Edward Snowden or his alleged crimes. They were about the NSA’s secret activities. It’s the NSA that is the hurricane or the murderer in his scenario. If the award vindicates Snowden (not its intent, but rather its effect) it’s because without him there would be no story not because the stories were about him. What the hell is he going on about?
I guess it makes sense that this fellow would be hostile to the NSA story. After all, if someone hadn’t leaked the Bybee memo, we might never have known about the torture regime. And it’s obviously a good thing he was disgraced by the exposure of his sadistic view of American power to keep him off the bench. I feel kind of sorry for his students though.
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