Fox News host Gregg Jarrett and “military analyst” Tom McInerney exploited the very serious news that the Iraqi city of Ramadi might fall to ISIS in order to smear President Obama as an ISIS and/or Iran enabler. Apparently, they missed Jon Stewart’s devastating takedown that pointed a hilarious finger at Dick Cheney.
It was clear that the aim of this supposedly “fair and balanced” segment was to make Obama look bad rather than to enlighten viewers about Ramadi. For those watching the segment online, the first clue was the FoxNews.com title: “White House hampering efforts to weaken ISIS?”
McInerney wasted no time suggesting President Obama is empowering ISIS. He told Jarrett that ISIS appears to be strengthening, not weakening. And he immediately suggested it was Obama’s fault. McInerney called our air strikes “piddling.” He added, “We need to be up in four to five hundred strikes a day there and use our power effectively. We are deliberately not doing it. And that’s coming out of The White House.”
McInerney further claimed, “The Pentagon’s not running this, the White House is running this. And for some odd reason, the White House is not destroying ISIS, which we could do. I don’t have the answer why but I can tell you if I was the air component commander, I would be flying 500 strikes a day.”
Rather than press for more information about the White House strategy, Jarrett “asked,” “Well, do you suspect that it’s amateur hour over at the White House?”
Surprise! McInerney thinks it is.
McInerney called the Iraqi prime minister “an Iranian stooge” and “as bad as Maliki.”
And who turned Iraq into a pawn for Iraq? Why, it was the Bush/Cheney administration! Jon Stewart made that point brilliantly last night (video below).
But neither Jarrett nor McInerney seemed to think of it.
McInerney continued making it all about Obama. And Jarrett was there to help!
MCINERNEY: When we pulled out of there, Gregg, we in fact made Iraq an Iranian proxy and that’s not good.
…JARRETT: Would any of this had happened if President Obama had not pulled out American forces prematurely, which many people say, and without a Status of Forces Agreement?
MCINERNEY: This would not have happened. …We walk out, walked from success and gave ISIS and Al Qaeda victory there.
Jarrett moved on to blame Obama for ask about low army morale. “Army morale, according to a new report, is at its low right now. Why is that?”
MCINERNEY: It’s not only the Army, it’s the Navy and the Air Force and the Marines. It is because we have unilaterally disarmed.
…The Middle East has never – since the Crusades wasn’t even as bad as it is today. Look at the Ukraine, look at Eastern Europe, the problems we have there. Look at the South China Sea and what China is doing. And so our military people see this, Gregg, and they say, “Look, we’re not leaders any more.”
You can hear Jarrett agreeing and saying, “Right,” off camera.
Watch it above, from today’s America’s Newsroom and last night’s The Daily Show below.
Crossposted at News Hounds.
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