I admit this guy would not be my first choice for poster boy for a free press but isn’t this what a free press is supposed to do? This is a chilling hit on anyone else, poster boy or not, thinking of exposing this level of real evil government crap.
The guy is a super douchey attention whore, but he still did not do anything that was explicitly illegal. The press is free to run a story on information, classified or not, that is passed to them. Its true that technically Chelsea Manning violated the law for passing the information but the receiver cannot be faulted and he has a right to protect his sources.
Case in point, the NSA knew they couldn't go after journalists like Glen Greenwald for receiving the documents provided by Edward Snowden. So why should Assange be any different? Douchey or not, protecting Assange in this instance is protecting free speech and the freedom of press.
"Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it" -- Thomas Paine