Civil Rights Icon John Lewis: Snowden’s Actions In Line With Gandhi, Thoreau

[MADem]

147. Indeed, and that was in response to a query about the anniversary of the March on Washington.

They did a "mash up" of his responses and made it appear as if he was "praising" Snowden and conflating Snowden's behavior with that of Ghandi and others, as Lewis said. In actual fact, Lewis was saying "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

“ I never praised Mr. Snowden or said his actions rise to those of Mohandas Gandhi or other civil rights leaders. In fact, The Guardian itself agreed to retract the word “praise” from its headline.

It's pretty clear what this reporter did--he took two separate statements, about two separate issues, and pretended that it was all of a piece. It's a cheesy, sleazy thing to do.

I think Rep. Lewis's smackdown was succinct, though, and left no room for doubt as to how he feels about what they tried to do with his words.

Of course no one likes to be spied upon--but that doesn't mean that Lewis endorsed Snowden's cut-and-run, and that is what the Guardian, and many here on DU, insisted was the case. As Lewis has made clear, nothing could be further from the truth.

“At the end of an interview about the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, I was asked what I thought about Mr. Snowden’s actions. I said he has a right as an individual to act according to the dictates of his conscience, but he must be prepared to pay the price for taking that action. In the movement, we were arrested, we went to jail, we were prepared to pay the price, even lose our lives if necessary. I cannot say and I did not say that what Mr. Snowden did is right. Others will be the judge of that.”