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Popular vote conquerer and former Vice President Al Gore added his name to the list of top political figures who think Edward Snowden's revelations about NSA surveillance programs might outweigh his crimes. Speaking earlier on Tuesday at the Southland tech conference in his home state of Tennessee, Gore was asked the ye olde Snowden traitor-hero question.
After dispensing with the undeniable, namely that Snowden had broken the law, Gore deferred on designating Snowden either hero or traitor, adding that he would "would push it more away from the traitor side." Then came the red meat:
But what he revealed in the course of violating important laws included violations of the Constitution that were way more serious than the crimes he committed. In the course of violating important laws he also provided an important service because we did need to know how far this has gone."
Gore is not the first guy who was once at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket to lend Snowden's actions some support. Last year, former President Jimmy Carter offered that Snowden's actions were "beneficial" and echoed those remarks in March by declaring that he "would certainly consider pardon" if Snowden's damage to the American security apparatus were deemed minimal.