Mike Huckabee might be down in the polls, but he's still up to throwing a good political punch.
On this evening's MTP Daily, Chuck Todd suggested, by way of advocating the admission of Syrian refugees, that the US is better than Europe at "assimilation." Retorted Huckabee, speaking of one of the Boston bombers, "he really assimilated, until he blew up the Boston Marathon with a pressure cooker." Boom!
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder's position on halting Syrian refugees in light of the Paris terrorist attacks is "A gut punch to Syrians in Michigan," according to a headline for a Washington Post story in today's paper which was thoroughly one-sided on the issue.
CNN's Dana Bash hounded Senator Ted Cruz on Tuesday's New Day over President Obama slamming the Republican presidential candidate at a press conference earlier in the day. Bash touted how "President Obama called you out...and he said it was shameful for saying that there should be, effectively, a religious test for refugees — especially since...your family benefitted from the policies of America — allowing refugees in."
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.”
Morning Joe featured on Tuesday, an interview with Congressman Peter King. Early into the segment, Mika Brzezinski began a war of words with Congressman King. After Brzezinski introduced the topic, King stated, “I'm extremely concerned because what the President is telling us is not true.” Brzezinski interrupted the Congressman, saying that “there is vetting,” and arguing that he was wrong. What followed was a tense segment where the Morning Joe crew questioned King on his statements and his argument’s credibility.
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."
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."
On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski went off on a number of governors who have vocally expressed their opposition to allowing Syrian refugees into their state without a proper vetting process, calling their views “hateful” and “stupid.”
If Mike Barnicle were around at the beginning of WWII, perhaps he would have written "we better not fight back. It might make Hitler mad."
On today's Morning Joe, the cringing former Boston Globe columnist, second-guessing a united front against terrorism, worried "wouldn't . . . creating a NATO force just add fuel to the recruiting fever that ISIS employs within Europe?" Maybe Mike should start referring to ISIS as Borg. After all, he apparently believes that resistance is futile.
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.
All three of the major broadcast networks' evening newscasts tonight covered the largely-Republican pushback against President Obama's plan to move 10,000 Syrian refugees on to American soil. But only NBC's Hallie Jackson noted that the move by state governors was bipartisan, with first-in-the-nation primary host New Hampshire's Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) objecting to the Obama administration placing refugees in the Granite State.
2015 is drawing to a close, so unless some dark horse comes out of absolutely nowhere, Chris Matthews is a mortal lock for the DisHonor award for the year's worst analogy. On this evening's Hardball, Matthews argued that we shouldn't blame Islam for ISIS terrorist attacks since, after all, FDR, despite despising Mussolini, "never declared war on the Catholics."
Just a little difference: Italian fascism had no ideological affinity with Catholicism. To the contrary, it was rooted in notions of the revival of the Roman Empire of the Caesars. In contrast, you can't spell ISIS without "Islamic." To say that we are at war with radical Islam is simply to acknowledge the manifest truth. For Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to deny it is dangerous.