The on-air talent at Fox 'News' generally understands that their role is to regurgitate all the right wing talking points espoused by the political party which they serve. The Republicans' biggest election victories have been achieved in the last century by creating a climate of fear that a foreign bogeyman will be ruining America for everyone. There's no bigger foe than ISIS and Eric Bolling and his Cashin' In crew are well aware of this.
Ed Henry, however, may not have gotten the memo, as evidenced by this exchange.
BOLLING: Fork over cash to fight terror? U2's front man, Bono, singing a controversial tune on Capitol Hill this week on how we can help beat extremism.
The Irish rocker/activist says that we can no longer afford to view financial aid to these desperately poor regions as charity, it is a matter of security and the only effective way to combat the extremism that has emerged in war torn areas. It is the best 'bulwark' we have against violent extremism. First off, Bolling asks Ed Henry his thoughts on Bono's commentary.
BOLLING: So Eddie, Bono wants to throw money at the problem.
HENRY: I think he's right. **Bolling clutches pearls** I think he actually is right. Part of the reason why people are joining up with ISIS and other terror groups is because they are in desperate poverty, they have no other option...don't get me wrong, of course first we have to battle them militarily...
BOLLING: So, kill 'em first then throw some money their way.
HENRY: You're going to make fun of it, but here's the thing: you want to take out a bunch of cockroaches and then you don't deal with the long-term problems, you're just going to get more coming back. Take out the terrorists, but deal with the problems long term...
BOLLING: *interrupting* Sounds like President Obama at one point. Deal with the.. climate change.
Most of the Cashin' In buffoons were giggling at this point, naturally because they see something as contrived as man made climate change as a causation for economic decimation as utterly preposterous! So what if Syria has been impacted by the consequences of man made global warming, still reeling from the worst drought ever recorded. Good Fox pundits know that reality has a liberal bias and scientific facts are immaterial. This is Fox 'News,' Ed Henry, stick to the script.
The lone liberal, Juan Williams, of course, supported Henry's shocking observation and this may have emboldened Ed to defend his earlier point.
HENRY: Bono's not saying give aid to ISIS terrorists, and if he is, we would all disagree with that. He's saying go after the terrorists but give the other people who are caught in the crossfire some other option other than picking up arms.
Andrea Tantaros counters his facts with her opinion that it's not an economic matter at all. It is entirely religiously motivated and suggests Bono 'get back to singing.' Jonathan Hoenig concurs that it's Islamic Extremism, which is the mandatory phrase that Fox pundits use to describe the violent chaos in the region. Islamic extremism is what we're supposed to focus on, and at this point, Bolling must really be wondering what happened to Ed Henry's copy of the talking points memo.
The effects of the 2006-2011 drought on Syrian agriculture have been devastating, but these inconvenient truths get in the way of the narrative. Besides, how can the GOP win an election if the problem is not solvable by dropping bombs on poor people? We need to fear ISLAMIC EXTREMISM, not environmental disasters, and Ed Henry had better watch himself if he wants to keep his gig on this network.
