An O’Reilly Factor discussion about the ever-present right-wing obsession with saying “Islamic extremism” combined with fear mongering about the Syrian refugees, begged an obvious question.
In a segment that was purportedly about President Obama’s “ISIS policy under siege,” conservative guest Rebeccah Heinrichs got right to blaming Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s failure to use the right-wing's magic words.
HEINRICHS: Until Hillary Clinton is even willing to use the words “Muslim extremists” or that these are radical Islamists, she won’t even identify who it is we’re at war with and until we get around to being able to use these words properly and identify the enemy, I don’t know how anybody can expect them to defeat them and ultimately kill ‘em.
Maybe Heinrichs should ask Osama Bin Laden or ISIS mouthpiece Jihadi John that question. Oh, that’s right. They were both killed by the Obama administration. With weapons, not words.
The other guest, Nomiki Konst did her usual terrific job. She did not wait to be called on and went on offense. For example, there was this exchange:
HEINRICHS: What the American people want, they want people to speak clearly, not treat them like children, not demagogue them if they disagree with their positions but to just explain things to them and let them know what’s going on. That’s how you gain the confidence of the American people.
KONST (interrupting): So why aren’t the Republicans doing that, Rebeccah? I mean this is an issue here. What Republicans are talking about – banning Muslims – the Republicans have no plan.
Later, Konst castigated Democrats for voting with Republicans to make accepting Syrian refugees even more burdensome. She noted that in 1939, a boatload of Jewish refugees was turned away from the United States after a poll showed half of the country didn’t want them. The sad result was that that the boat went back to Europe where a quarter of the refugees died in the Holocaust.
And how did host Eric Bolling respond? With scorn. “I keep hearing this over and over and over, ‘Look 1939, 1942.’ We got it. I understand what you’re doing here. ISIS wasn’t around then.”
Translation: I’m too scared to accept the refugees and I want other people to be scared, too!
But if conservatives really think that saying the words “Islamic extremism” or “Islamic terrorism” is so crucial to fighting the war on terror, maybe we could ferret out the refugees’ loyalties by asking them if they’ll use the expression.
I jest, of course. But that’s just how silly and meaningless this right-wing trope is.
Watch it above, from the November 20 The O’Reilly Factor.
Crossposted at News Hounds.
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