damn_registrars's Journal: And I thought the conservatives LIKED Snowden...

I thought - especially from all the positive coverage he gets here on slashdot - that Edward Snowden was a popular figure with conservatives. After all, he did blow the whistle on a government activity that has only slightly higher approval ratings here than the bubonic plague. However, it appears that at least one slashdot conservative feels otherwise . Note that in the linked comment, it is claimed that President Barack "Lawnchair" Obama will be granting a pardon to Snowden on his way out the door. This requires a rather high degree of reality shredding to believe in, including:

• Snowden would have to come back to the states to face charges before he could be pardoned
• This would have to unfold before Obama leaves office in 2017
• Obama would have to have some reason in mind for doing this (which he has never to date expressed)

lol

[Captain Splendid]

Its your own damn fault for trying to map politcal trends using only slashdot, because otherwise you'd have known exactly how confused and conflicted conservatives were over the whole Snowden affair.

Re:

[damn_registrars]

To be fair, I only look to slashdot to see what conservatives have to say about any given issue, as they swarm this site site moths to a light any time the discussion is the slightest bit political. I have plenty of liberal friends and colleagues who I can query to see what other lefties are thinking.

Regardless though, slashdot does indeed have a strangely skewed conservative base. The overwhelming majority of slashdotters - at least those who comment on political matters - are the type of conservativ

Why?

[BarbaraHudson]

Why would Snowden have to return to the US before receiving a pardon? It's just a letter bearing the president's signature (see the Nixon pardon). I'm sure the US can get it to him via diplomatic pouch.

Re:

[damn_registrars]

Why would Snowden have to return to the US before receiving a pardon? It's just a letter bearing the president's signature (see the Nixon pardon). I'm sure the US can get it to him via diplomatic pouch.

You're probably right on that. The point I was after in this JE, though, is that certain conservatives are now beating up on Snowden - which was news to me. I'll admit I do have somewhat mixed feelings about Snowden myself although I can't really confidently imagine a more useful way for him to blow the whistle (which needed blowing) than the way he chose.