A House panel convened today on Capitol Hill to question how the government is handling the Ebola virus. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a virulent anti-immigration politician made two early gaffes. The first was in her effort to tie immigrants coming into America through our borders with Ebola carrying terrorists. She confused The CDC Director Thomas Frieden's answer about questions of travel restrictions in three African countries to our own borders. And then she tried to grandstand her fearmongering of our borders by asking John Wagner, acting assistant commissioner in the Office of Field Operations at U.S. Customs and Border Protection if we closed our 'porous' borders, if it would help the Ebola situation now and was rebuked again.
Blackburn: Doctor Friedman, I wanna be sure I heard you right. You just said to chairman Upton that we cannot have flight restrictions because of a porous border. So do we need to worry about having an unsecured southern and northern border, is that a big part of this problem?
Frieden: I was referring to the border of the three countries in Africa Liberia....
Blackburn: You were referring to that border, not our porous borders?
Frieden: Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Blackburn: Mr. Wagner, would it help you all, the border patrol if we secured the southern border and eliminated illegal entry?
Wagner: Well, travel is coming across the southern border like the northern border. We're going to ask then their travel history, where they are coming from, how they arrived...
Blackburn: Yes or no was sufficient..
You gotta love her "yes or no" response. Apparently, If Rep. Blackburn hears the word "border," she immediately turns into a cross between Pat Buchanan and Laura Ingraham. Poor Marsha, she sure thought she had everything under control.
