Former Bush speechwriter turned Washington Post op-ed writer Michael Gerson wants the viewers of CBS' Face the Nation to believe that the members of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's unit that have been coming out in droves to attack him in the media would not have been doing so if the Obama administration hadn't called his service "honorable."
Never mind that Fox regular and former Bolton and Romney adviser, Richard Grenell's PR firm is behind coordinating their media interviews, which I suspect had to be in the works well before President Obama or Susan Rice made any statements about the release and prisoner swap to the press, given how quickly they were ready to get them on the air.
No never mind that, the president made them do it.
BOB SCHIEFFER: You know I must say that I-- I do agree with Tom when he says, you know, we always have to go and get our people. We can never leave our people behind. But what happened after that is the part that I-- I kind of have a problem with is this Rose Garden ceremony and all that. Michael, you were at the White House--
MICHAEL GERSON: Sure.
BOB SCHIEFFER: --how did that strike you?
MICHAEL GERSON: Well, I think part of the problem here is the President told a simple moral story, the return of a hero when, in fact, it was a very complex moral story, ethical story, geostrategic story. So he gave a tragic choice, the trappings of victory and then he alienated a lot of people in the process, alienated members of Congress, who didn't feel consulted. But alienated members of the unit that the man came from.
PEGGY NOONAN: Yeah.
MICHAEL GERSON: By declaring him as having honorable service, they felt compelled to object because they know the meaning of honor. And it's different from what the administration was talking about. So I think the-- the President now is talking about this is a political football. I think they provoked these reactions that have undermined their own fairly reasonable choice.
