No, I think he was saying that normal people make moral compromises to improve their quality of life. A lot of people could walk or bike to work every day but drive instead. We recognize that choice as morally suboptimal, but we don't get worked up about it. We don't think people have an absolute obligation to always make the morally optimal choice.
As an ideologue and a moral gadfly, Stallman is less compromising than most. That's central to his role and value to the community. And it makes him annoying. Pike's statement was trying to swing sympathy from Stallman to him by pointing out that he (Rob Pike) is like us -- more compromising -- and Stallman is a purist who doesn't cut us the kind of slack we're accustomed to allowing ourselves.
Which does give me sympathy for him. Even minor moral compromises look dirty when you examine them closely. But there's value in the kind of intolerant, absolutist examination that a self-styled saint applies. That's Stallman's role, and I think he plays it well.
I took at as a sarcastic indication that he didn't think it was a valid moral claim.