Edward Snowden steals the show

He’s given frequent interviews, set off an international manhunt by jetting from the United States to Hong Kong to Russia, and then Monday he took it even further by firing off a missive over President Barack Obama’s handling of his case — without a mention of his original cause. …

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said he wasn’t sure whether Snowden truly acted on his conscience or was “just someone who wanted to get his name in the paper.”

“I certainly am not going to count him as a folk hero,” Connolly said. “There’s enough in his past that makes me guarded about that.” …

“The majority of whistleblowers make their disclosures anonymously in order to keep the public focused on the message, not the messenger,” said Jesselyn Radack, national security and human rights director at the Government Accountability Project, a group that represents whistleblowers.

“Before he went public, our country finally began a long overdue, robust, substantive debate about mass domestic surveillance. As soon as Snowden became public, the government and media smeared him, and the vilification has continued ever since,” Radack said. “It distracts from his whistleblowing, but I blame those in power whose wrongdoing he exposed, not him.”