Before I get into this in the interest of full disclosure I should say that I like Glenn Greenwald. I used to like him a lot more before he become the new darling of the left, and started hawking his bush hating book. His online demeanor certainly seemed to change around that time.

Nevertheless Glenn’s was one of the first blogs I ever read, and he was one of the first bloggers I ever emailed. Certainly the first on the left (he still claims he has some conservative views). He responded the same day and was friendly. We have had several exchanges both on the blogs and via email.  

I thanked him here for adding me to his blogroll. Glenn was also the first left of center blogger on my blogroll and remains today.

Glenn certainly pissed me off the other day, when he called me a coward here on my blog (it is the first comment below the post). I took it to email and made it clear he had crossed a line. In the end we still disagree but I felt the discussion was productive.
Which brings us to the latest news; Ace has a post up today that is really funny, and not very kind to Glenn. In a way only Ace can he accuses Glenn of creating “Sock Puppets” to defend himself at Ace of Spades and it appears Ace has the goods to prove it.

Dan Riehl follows with a post of his own saying Glenn has done the same thing at Riehl World View using the handle Ryan. He goes on to rightly challenge Greenwald’s constitutional expertise, and his often stated claims of being a centrist.

I did transcribe and provide a layman’s analysis (I am not an attorney) on the only pseudo-debate I have ever seen between Glenn and a bonafide constitutional scholar (Glenn appeared on C-Span with Constitutional Law Professor Robert Turner) in three parts here, here, and here. I found Glenn to be greatly outmatched.

I encourage anyone to read the transcripts and point out where Glenn cited any court precedent, constitutional articles, or writings from the founding fathers to support his position concerning the secret NSA program. I found none. Conversely Professor Turner offered volumes of evidence supporting his arguments. This brief exchange illustrates pretty well how the debate went overall:

Greenwald continues: The Founding Fathers would be shocked to learn that they created a system of government where we have a President who can without what Bush Defenders call interference from the Congress

Professor Turner:

Glenn says that this would have shocked the founding fathers. I have with me a copy of one of the volumes of Thomas Jefferson’s papers. Jefferson April 24th 1790 wrote a letter to President Washington and he said “Under the Constitution the President is given the Executive power. The transaction of business with foreign nations is Executive altogether. It belongs then to the head of that department except for such portions as are specifically submitted to the Senate” and exceptions were to be constrained narrowly. Three days later George Washington wrote in his diary that he had had some conversations with Representative James Madison and Chief Justice John Jay. They agreed with Jefferson that Congress had no right to interfere in this business it being executive and entrusted to the President.

 pwned. 

Dan goes on to challenge Greenwalds legal experience and question the length of his employment with the prestigious NY law firm Wachtell, Lipton.

Dan Riehl:

Were I a patriot who plunked down two bits for his best selling book, I might be angry. Fortunately, I’m a patriot but no fool. The larger issue may be that if Greenwald is little more than an ever-increasingly shrill scam, what damage will he do to blogging on the Left - and possibly even on the Right in the end?

Oof that is certainly going to leave a mark at least to those truly in the center, or right of center. Quite possibly in the MSM as well. Given Glenn’s recent celebrity status, I doubt anything said about him true or not will damage him with the left.

What I have to wonder is did Glenn let his new found celebrity go to his head?

Did he choose to sell out for a few moments in the spotlight and a few bucks?

**Update**

Patterico has more.

Because these comments are, after all, from three completely “different” people. Again: the first comment is from a guy named “Ellison.” And the second is from a different guy, named “Sam Mathews.” And the third is from a different guy still — one named “Wilson.”

Why, just compare the IP address in this Ace screenshot of a comment from “Ellison” to the IP address in this Patterico screenshot of a comment from one Glenn Greenwald.

They sure seem like the same IP address to me. And I’m guessing that the evidence will continue to roll in as the day goes on. 

Not good.

Glenn has responded to all of these claims including the “Sock Puppetry” claim. Here is how Glenn responds to it:

Those in the same household have the same IP address. In response to the personal attacks that have been oozing forth these last couple of weeks, others have left comments responding to them and correcting the factual inaccuracies, as have I. In each case when I did, I have used my own name.

So Glenn isn’t using sock puppets his partner or his maid is. I will say in his defense whenever he has posted here, it has been under his own name.

 

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