I'm not of the libertarian left, the leak discussions didn't interest me much back then, except for the occasional false hope people kept spreading about how * was about to go down. After a while I realized it wasn't going to happen and lost interest.

I think if you go back in time, you'll find the same people who were vocal about the leaks/NSA/etc. back then are still vocal about it now, and the people who said little or nothing about it may be speaking up now (due to being a pro-Bush troll, or due to the disingenuous framing of the debate or annoying worship of Snowden).

BTW, I don't have a fond opinion of Snowden because he's a right winger. Last I checked, I'm not required to adore right wingers who do one or two things right.

He's almost George Zimmerman-like in his constant comments, etc

Yeah, the blind adoration & allegiance to a repubtarian (and a guy who recently defended a KKK wizard) is pretty stunning.

So many teabaggers have no idea that the Medicaid & Medicare benefits they and/or their families rely on are from the government. Furthermore, they think it's ok to use it themselves, but everyone else who relies on it is a lazy "taker." It's impossible to reason with people who are racist, ignorant, and most importantly selfish.

This idea that all democrats have to do is toss a significant portion of our base under the bus to pick up ignorant folks who still won't get it is preposterous! I used to think that way to back when Howard Dean was running.