Many critics have unfavorably compared Edward Snowden to Daniel Ellsberg because he fled the country rather than stand trial. But Ellsberg now says that’s not a fair comparison because “The country I stayed in was a different America, a long time ago.”
Both as a rhetorical question and a real question I’m curious just what Ellsberg means by that. His basic argument is that he was able to stay out on bail and that wouldn’t have been an option for Snowden. On the other hand, the White House at the time was running a special operations team against Ellsberg out of the White House, including breaking into his psychiatrist’s office and at least some discussions of having him killed. So I’m not sure we can call those the glory days.
