During tonight's Democratic presidential debates, candidates often had to bend over backwards to find differences between themselves on most issues. Not so when it came to Edward Snowden.
On the NSA whistleblower's fate in the United States, the Democratic candidates are decidedly divided. Unfortunately for Mr. Snowden, the only one who wholeheartedly supported welcoming Snowden back to the US, penalty-free, was longshot (and hoo boy do we mean longshot) candidate Lincoln Chafee, former governor of Rhode Island.
"I would bring him home," Chafee said. "The courts have ruled that the American government was acting illegally."
Frontrunner Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, painted Snowden as a criminal and a thief, who didn't take the steps he should have taken to become a whistleblower. "He could have gotten the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues he’s raised, and I think there would have been a positive response to that," the former Secretary of State said. "He stole very important information that has unfortunately fallen into the wrong hands, so I don't think he should be brought home without facing the music."
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley wasn't far behind. "He put a lot of Americans' lives at risk," he said. "Snowden broke the law. Whistleblowers do not run to Russia and try to get protection from Putin."
Meanwhile, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose anti-surveillance stance aligns him more closely with Republican candidate Rand Paul than some of the other Democratic candidates, said he believes Snowden ought to face a penalty, but that "what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration."
Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, pretty much ducked the question and said he'd leave it to the courts.
Snowden, a new and already prolific Twitter user, hasn't yet chimed in on the debate, but we're dying to hear what he has to say—if only to see if his epic social media sway could raise Chafee from the dead.
