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Sununu: President Obama Emboldened ISIS By Not Saying America Is Exceptional

Posted by Ellen -7859.80pc on May 21, 2015 · Flag

Sununu.png

Fox’s Greta Van Susteren set up Republican guest John Sununu to blame President Obama for the spread of ISIS. Then she helped validate his ridiculous answer.

Last night, Van Susteren hosted Sununu for a discussion that purported to “ask” whether Al Qaeda and/or ISIS will be stronger or weaker by the time President Obama leaves office. As if anyone could have doubted what the answer would be. It was all but prescripted with the choice of Sununu as the only guest. This former Romney campaign co-chair has a history of making racial attacks on President Obama that have included suggesting he’s not a real American.

But just to make sure, Van Susteren asked a question that guaranteed Obama would be blamed for the rise of ISIS.

VAN SUSTEREN: What do you assign as the reason this happened? Some people say because we didn’t leave troops behind in Iraq or that we pulled out of Afghanistan too soon. Do you agree with that? And obviously, this is the benefit of that 20/20 hindsight.

Notice that she didn’t include the misbegotten invasion of Iraq as one of the factors? Why, could that be because that happened during Republican George W. Bush’s presidency?

Sununu’s answer was the real stunner, though.

SUNUNU: I think the first thing that made a big difference is when President Obama started talking about the United States as not an exceptional place. He began to embolden them by giving a signal, in essence, that the United States was not going to project and exercise its power.

And the second thing that happened was 2011. You point out the withdrawal in Iraq but there was another event and it was the Arab Spring. And both of those were mishandled by this administration.

Rather than challenge Sununu’s outrageousness, Van Susteren moved on to suggest that Obama's naiveté was to blame. She opined that Obama thought he was going to change everything with his 2009 speech in Cairo.

Sununu piled on.

SUNUNU: It was almost the beginning of the problem because the way he handled dealing with the United States capacity to be a constructive partner in the region disillusioned our allies and, frankly, emboldened our enemies.

Again, Van Susteren didn’t challenge Sununu’s evidence-free attack. Instead, she helped validate it.

“Experience counts, doesn’t it,” she said, implicitly affirming Sununu.

Oh, and by the way? Obama has repeatedly proclaimed America’s exceptionalism. But Van Susteren never debunked the falsehood.

Watch it below, from last night’s On The Record.

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Brian McGill commented 2015-05-22 21:41:51 -0400 · Flag
I listened to the whole segment and didn’t hear once what they would do to solve the problem. Just wah wah wah and a book plug at the end. If experience is necessary which GOP hopeful has any? Hillary Clinton I guess, she was Secretary of State.
scooter commented 2015-05-22 12:15:40 -0400 · Flag
I am so sick of the right wing meme of “exceptionalism”. The blatant arrogance and hubris of this attitude defies belief.
truman commented 2015-05-22 12:07:20 -0400 · Flag
I though Sununu was dead. Must be wishful thinking. Old GOPiggies never die. They become Fux Noise contributors.
John McKee commented 2015-05-22 02:43:30 -0400 · Flag
Thanks Elbrod. It was just a passing thought as I contemplated the excellent work Newshounds’ editorial staff do and the (mostly) thoughtful responses from our regular friends. It’s a privilege to sit in with such a fine bunch.
mj - the same one commented 2015-05-22 02:07:59 -0400 · Flag
@ Jane S: “It continues to slay me that this idiot is repeatedly listened to respectfully about his opinions on foreign affairs”

Well, John’s a foreigner himself — born in Havana of an El Salvadoran mother and father of Palestinian descent; “foreign affairs” might be his one area of expertise.

Besides, since when has expertise in ANY field been a prerequisite, when it comes to bashing the President . . .

.
Jane S commented 2015-05-22 02:02:05 -0400 · Flag
It continues to slay me that this idiot is repeatedly listened to respectfully about his opinions on foreign affairs— the former governor of NH, for crying out loud.

Just think— this loudmouth moron was actually the chief of staff to a president of the United States.
Ellen commented 2015-05-22 01:51:10 -0400 · Flag
John McKee, it’s not up to me but our host, NationBuilder. You can request the feature to them by logging into your account, going to the NationBuilder control panel (in the right hand column), then going all the way to the bottom of the page, clicking on “support” on the right and then “suggest a feature.”
John McKee commented 2015-05-21 23:11:00 -0400 · Flag
Can’t we have a LIKE box, Ellen? Sure, I’d wear out my Like-checking finger, but it would be worth it for the pleasure of letting our little family of correspondents know that their views are appreciated and applauded :)
Joseph West commented 2015-05-21 21:12:40 -0400 · Flag
So if van Susteren really thinks “Experience counts,” who does she think the GOP nominee should be? There’s not a single one of those bozos with the “experience” necessary to deal with ISIS.

It’s also funny because what “experience” did Dubya have? I mean, aside from his record of FAILED businesses before becoming Governor of Texas (a position which has very little real power*), Dubya didn’t have much to offer, aside from his last name.

(*Just for comparison, look at the Wiki articles for the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Texas. The former has a grand total of 485 words—including 12 footnote indicators. The latter has a grand total of 608 words—including only 1 footnote indicator. Both totals exclude the article titles, the “From Wikipedia” byline, and miscellany like “References” and “See Also” and “Content Boxes.” Going simply by character/letter count, the article for Lieutenant Governor has some 800 more characters than the article for Governor.)
Elemental Fraction commented 2015-05-21 20:41:49 -0400 · Flag
John Henry Sununu (born July 2, 1939) in Havana, Cuba. His family came to the United States from the Middle East at the turn of the century. His paternal ancestry is Palestinian. As White House Chief of Staff, Sununu reportedly took personal trips, for skiing and other purposes, and classified them as official, for purposes such as conservation or promoting the Thousand Points of Light. Sununu’s jets took him to fat-cat Republican fund-raisers, ski lodges, golf resorts and even his dentist in Boston. Sununu had paid the government only $892 for his more than $615,000 worth of military jet travel. Sununu resigned his White House post on December 4, 1991.

Typical of fox news experts on (enter subject here).
truman commented 2015-05-21 18:15:31 -0400 · Flag
ISIS is the direct result of Dumbya Bush’s insane Iraq invasion.
NewsHounds posted about Sununu: President Obama Emboldened ISIS By Not Saying America Is Exceptional on NewsHounds' Facebook page 2015-05-21 16:27:31 -0400
Yes, he really did say it.








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