Speaking in a wide-ranging Q&A session at this year's Netroots
Nation conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was booed by
progressive activists Saturday for defending President Obama on the
NSA's surveillance programs and suggesting that alleged leaker, Edward
Snowden broke the law...
Pelosi said it's unfair to equate Obama and
former President George W. Bush on the issue of surveillance. "People on
the far right are saying oh, this is the fourth term of President
Bush," the California Democrat said. "Absolutely, positively not so." As
Pelosi was saying the country needs a "balance" between security and
privacy, Marc Perkel, a 57-year-old activist from Gilroy, Calif.,
started shouting at Pelosi during her answer and was escorted out of the
room. "It's not a balance. It's not constitutional!" he yelled. "No
secret laws!"
Others in the room began shouting as well, saying things
like "Leave him alone!" or "That's what a police state looks like right
there!" The moderator, Zerlina Maxwell, worked to quiet the crowd by
saying audience members needed to submit questions via Twitter rather
than shouting them out, but Pelosi said she didn't mind. "I welcome the
challenges that people pose because I think that those questions must be
answered," Pelosi said. She was further booed when she said Snowden did
break the law by leaking the information he revealed. "As far as
Snowden: he did violate the law in terms of releasing those documents,"
she said. Some of the crowd erupted in boos, with one man screaming,
"You suck!"
