Monday, February 2, 2015

THIS IS NEWS — A not so glib President Obama had a tough time with an NBC News interviewer — Savannah Guthrie — But, personally I feel a lot safer because President Obama said this: “... You know, I – I think it's fair to say that anything related to these terrorist actions I take a look at....”

Punching way over her weight class, NBC's Savannah Guthrie had President Obama on the ropes and covering-up 

Guthrie: “Critics Say You're 'Delusional' And 'Passive' on Terrorism....”

Obama: “That's not accurate....”

After this exchange, what’s left to say:

Guthrie: "But aren't there things you could be doing right now, short of a huge presence of ground troops inside Syria or Iraq, that would help this goal of what you say is to defeat ISIS happen more quickly? Couldn't we be doing more?"

Obama: "Anything that we're doing – anything that we could be doing, Savannah, we are doing."



According to MRC Newsbusters, “In an interview aired on Monday's NBC Today, President Obama discovered that speaking to an actual journalist was a bit tougher than having YouTube celebrities lob softballs at him. In the exchange – conducted prior to the Super Bowl on Sunday – co-host Savannah Guthrie grilled the President over his handling of the war on terrorism: ‘You said in your State of the Union that American leadership is helping to stop the advance of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. But your critics say that is delusional, that in fact they've gained more territory since the air strikes have begun.’  ***    Obama defensively replied: ‘That's not accurate. In Iraq what we've seen is the Iraqi security forces and Kurdish forces continue to push back against ISIL. And those same critics that you suggest I imagine would have us redeploy tens of thousands of U.S. troops-‘  Guthrie interrupted:  ‘But isn't that kind of a straw man? You often say that-‘  He testily shot back: ‘Hold on, Savannah, let me – it's not a straw man. Let me finish what I'm saying.’..." (See “NBC's Guthrie Grills Obama: Critics Say You're 'Delusional' And 'Passive' on Terrorism” by Kyle Drennen [With video link to a clip of NBC’s coverage and  full text of Guthrie-Obama Interview], 2/2/15, MRC Newsbusters [http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2015/02/02/nbcs-guthrie-grills-obama-critics-say-youre-delusional-and-passive]).

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE PRESSED THE PRESIDENT

Guthrie was obviously not satisfied with such assurances, so she kept up the pressure, like this: "The criticism that I hear a lot of you, even from your political allies, is you came into office, you were the president that was going to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and that you are so focused on doing that and not getting the U.S. entangled in another war that you are sometimes slow to react, that you're passive."

Kyle Drennan, the Newsbuster's author, observed that the President  again showed his frustration at having anybody try to hold him accountable, with Obama saying to Ms. Guthrie,  "Savannah, you've repeated that comment three different ways..." He then tried to deflect things by taking a shot at some of the critics of his anti-ISIS tactics and strategy, people who the President says, "... want us to shoot first and aim later" and "typically get this country into really bad situations."

Guthrie later pointed to what she saw as a reality in the Middle East: "Haven't the forces of militant extremism, Jihadism, grown stronger on your watch? If you look at Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen – a place where Al Qaeda's – that branch is so active and vicious and now the government, our ally, just collapsed."

SORT OF AN ADMISSION BY OBAMA

After that, the President admitted that "Yemen's a tough situation..."

OBAMA EXHAUSTED BUT NOT KO'D BY GUTHRIE

Guthrie finally asked: "Are we safer under your watch?"

Obama claimed: "I believe we are safer."

6 comments:

  1. What you didn't mention about that interview is that we found out Obama brews his own beer! And he wants to make community college free for students. Awesome. And Savannah Guthrie is absolutely beautiful.

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  2. RESPONSE: THE "OBAMA TAKE-AWAY" EDITION

    Probably, Mr. President would want the beer and community college part of the interview to be the main take-away from his part in the exercise.

    When do you think Savannah will get her next shot in the ring against Obama ?

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  3. FLASH UPDATE: THE "WEAK BEER PRESIDENCY OF BARACK OBAMA" EDITION

    President Obama just made a pathetically weak response to the barbaric murder of the Captured Jordanian pilot.

    Delivered with a completely flattened affect, the President of the United States said that he sees the gruesome killing as "... just another example... bhah-blah, blah-blah, blah, blah ...."

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  4. Just wait until Hillary starts brewing her beer in the White House. She'll put Guiness and Harp out of business.

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  5. UPDATE: THE “FOX NEWS GETS IT — THEY GET WHAT I MEANT BY MY COMMENT ABOVE” EDITION

    FOX NEWS BURNS OBAMA AFTER NEWS OF ISIS’ BURNING THE JORDANIAN PILOT

    FOX ASKS: WHEN IS POTUS GOING TO LOOK AND SOUND LIKE HE CARES ABOUT THE THREAT OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM — THEN SAYS THAT OBAMA MUST ADDRESS THE NATION

    FOX WAS SINGULARLY UNIMPRESSED BY AN “ANNOYED” BUT DEADPAN BARACK OBAMA SAYING THAT “ISIL” SHOWED THAT IT WAS AN “ORGANIZATION” THAT HAD A “BANKRUPT IDEOLOGY” — “...LIKE HE WAS ADDRESSING UNHEALTHY MENU CHOICES AT A FAST FOOD [JOINT]”


    This is how the folks at Fox put it: “America wants to know, when is President Obama going to get angry? When is he going to slam his fist on the desk, demand vengeance, put aside his incessant campaigning and call out the Islamic radicals of ISIS as the animals they are? ***
    Interrupted in the course of yet another photo-op on the benefits of ObamaCare, the president looked almost irritated Tuesday to be asked his reaction to the murder of the Jordanian pilot, shown on an Internet video being burned alive by ISIS....” (See “ISIS Burns Jordanian Pilot: Mr. Obama, when will you get angry about radical Islam?” by Liz Peek, 2/3/15, Fox News/ FoxNews.com [http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/02/03/isis-burns-jordanian-pilot-mr-obama-when-will-get-angry-about-radical-islam/]). The print version of the Fox coverage ended with this: “President Obama, you need to address the nation, and condemn Islamic radicalism – something you have been unwilling to do. The time is now.”

    And this line by Fox about President Obama’s response to a question about the murder of the Jordanian pilot is just too good to leave out: “...He talked calmly about the “bankrupt ideology” of this “organization,” like he was addressing unhealthy menu choices at a fast food company. Where’s his outrage?...”

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  6. Barry O is digging a deeper and deeper hole for Hillary Clinton.

    In spite of some little nooks and crannies that she possibly carved out as Barry O's Secretary of State, the current feckless foreign policy flowed from the very similar foreign policy when Hillary Clinton ran the State Department.

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