In a tirade on Monday, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith dismissed legitimate security concerns in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks as a “collective freak-out” that was potentially “dangerous.” He then proceeded to condemn anyone opposed to bringing thousands of Syrian refugees to the United States as “extreme forces within our own political system” that lead us “towards self-destruction.”
Middle East
By Matthew Balan | November 17, 2015 | 12:18 PM EST
Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera unleashed on President Obama on Monday's Hannity, after the American leader doubled down on his strategy against ISIS at a press conference earlier in the day. Rivera bluntly stated that "the President's feelings are way too squishy for me," and that "this is malignant wishful thinking on the President's part." He later contended that "to compare them to any organization, other than the Taliban before 9/11, is really sophomoric."
By Brad Wilmouth | November 17, 2015 | 11:06 AM EST
Appearing as a guest on Monday's CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem used tortured liberal logic to argue that, if the U.S. bars immigrants from Muslim countries, that it would actually make America less safe, not only because it "helps" the "right wing" in Europe, but also because it "gives a sentiment or a statement to ISIS that we are what they think we are," as if ISIS might admire America more if the U.S. takes in refugees fleeing ISIS in the first place.
She also asserted that "we certainly don't want" right wing governments to "rise" in Europe because "that's not going to be good for the long-term effort to fight ISIS."
By Brad Wilmouth | November 17, 2015 | 1:35 AM EST
Daily Beast Foreign Editor Christopher Dickey made another MSNBC appearance on Monday afternoon, this time on MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts, where he again went after the "right wing" over negative reaction to taking in Muslim refugees in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks. He also declared that it was "shameful" that some U.S. politicians are pressuring against Syrian refugees being allowed into the country, and predicted that the U.S. would "earn" the "hatred" of the world in not accepting them.
He also asserted that, in Europe, "racism and hostility" against Muslims has been "ginned up by the right wing and by fears of people," and dismissed reports by fellow guest Jake Wallis Simons of the Daily Mail that fake Syrian passports are easy to purchase and utilize to blend in with refugees entering Europe.
By Matthew Balan | November 16, 2015 | 5:15 PM EST
On Monday, CNN's Christiane Amanpour and two of her network's analysts blasted President Obama moments after he ended a press conference where he defended his anti-ISIS strategy. Amanpour underlined that Obama "something that was pretty incredible...that our strategy is working. People do not believe that to be the case. The only strategy that's working is the strategy that he tends to dismiss — and that's the ground troop strategy. Sinjar, Tikrit, Kobani — those are the only ISIS strongholds that have been taken back by a combination of American intelligence and air power, and local ground forces."
By Tom Blumer | November 16, 2015 | 4:22 PM EST
The obvious pull quote of the day from President Obama's contentious press conference in Antalya, Turkey is this statement: "What I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of American leadership or America winning or whatever other slogans they come up with ..." Obama then claimed that any ideas coming from those who believe in such a notion have "no relationship to what is actually going to work to protect the American people and to protect the people in the region."
Ed Driscoll at PJ Media believes that these words are "the president’s equivalent of Carter’s malaise speech" in the 1970s. Just in case he's right, related stories at the Associated Press and the New York Times have not mentioned Obama's statement, a clear indicator of his lack of genuine resolve, in their coverage.
By Kyle Drennen | November 16, 2015 | 4:10 PM EST
Following a press conference in which President Obama stubbornly refused to admit any failures in his strategy to fight ISIS, reporters on NBC and ABC were stunned by the commander-in-chief’s dismissive attitude toward the legitimate tough questioning he received.
By Scott Whitlock | November 16, 2015 | 12:06 PM EST
In the wake of the terrorist slaughter in Paris, one might expect coverage of the Obama administration’s announcement that five more detainees would be released from Guantanamo Bay. Yet, NBC’s Today show, despite a four hour run-time, ignored the story. The New York Times, which often is used by the networks to select story topics, covered the release.
By Kyle Drennen | November 16, 2015 | 11:06 AM EST
In an interview with former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Monday’s NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie was incredulous of his criticism of President Obama’s strategy against ISIS: “You wrote in The Washington Post that the President should wage war to defeat ISIS, quote, ‘not merely to harass it.’ That is pretty tough language. Let me be direct with you, are you saying the President is dabbling at war with ISIS?”
By Brad Wilmouth | November 16, 2015 | 1:40 AM EST
Appearing as a guest during Sunday's live CNN coverage of the Paris terrorist attacks, CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem worried that, if the United States refuses to allow Syrian refugees into the country, that it would bolster "very right-wing elements" in Europe, leading the Europeans to "close their borders" to more refugees.
At about 6:48 p.m., after arguing that it would be more difficult for an terrorist attack similar to Paris to happen in the U.S, because there is much more surveillance, she soon continued:
By Brad Wilmouth | November 15, 2015 | 7:43 PM EST
Appearing as a guest during Sunday's MSNBC live coverage of the Paris terrorist attacks, Daily Beast Foreign Editor Christopher Dickey declared that "I'm afraid" that the right wing in Europe "will continue to be on the rise" in the aftermath of the attacks.
By Brad Wilmouth | November 15, 2015 | 3:59 PM EST
On Sunday's Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN, host Zakaria suggested that it would be a "mistake" for the West to make a "swift and violent response" to the Paris terrorist attacks because doing so "further stokes the fires of jihad." He plugged an upcoming segment: "Coming up, it's an all too familiar pattern. A well-planned attack on the West, followed by a swift and violent response that further stokes the fires of jihad. Will the West make these mistakes again? That's next on GPS."