New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet couldn’t care less if Edward Snowden is a traitor or not, he just regrets missing out on getting an exclusive. He told PBS host Charlie Rose, on his November 9 show, that he would’ve gone as far as giving Snowden a “back massage” to land the story for the Times.
Baquet went on to cite President Barack Obama for rationalizing his willingness to apply his masseur skills: “No matter what anyone thinks of how much surveillance a government should be able to do, President Obama himself said, after the Snowden revelations, that there wasn’t a debate about it. There wasn’t a debate. Government made a giant decision with no debate and no discussion, and Edward Snowden’s revelations revealed that.”
On the November 9 edition of PBS’s Charlie Rose show, Baquet revealed the following:
Charlie Rose: “Suppose Edward Snowden had gotten on the phone to you?”
Baquet: “I would have met him anywhere. I would have given him a back massage. I would have done whatever he wanted.”
Rose: “Because?”
Baquet: “Because I think Edward Snowden’s revelations were really important to an international debate and I wish they had been in The New York Times first.”
Rose: “About how far we’re prepared to invade privacy —
Baquet: “Yeah.”
Rose: “— in the interest or the guise of national security?”
Baquet: “No matter what anyone thinks of how much surveillance a government should be able to do, President Obama himself said, after the Snowden revelations, that there wasn’t a debate about it. There wasn’t a debate. Government made a giant decision with no debate and no discussion, and Edward Snowden’s revelations revealed that.”
