Opinions, Context & Ideas from the TPM Editors TPM Editor's Blog
The Snowden Prism  AP Photo / Charles Dharapak  That's fair. It
goes with the job. But it's led me to try to think through what
those different assumptions and values are that makes people
react to this so differently. I think the key issue is how
different people understand their relationship with the state
(in this case the US government) and the national political
community as a whole and the relationship between the two.  For
me the story starts with the Bradley Manning case. This story
has been going on for years and though I generally haven't
written much about it, when I have, I've made clear that I don't
see Manning as a hero or a whistleblower or really anything
positive at all. At best I see him as a young and naive kid who
got way in over his head.  When I first heard about the Manning
case - or first understood that Manning was the likely source of
the Wilileaks trove - I was frankly surprised that anybody saw
him as a whistleblower