I don't agree with Ron Paul on a lot of issues, but one of them I do agree with him with is our military presence in the Middle East being one of the causes of terrorism. Ben Stein acts like he's never heard such a thing and the conversation gets pretty heated with Sheila Jackson Lee stuck in the middle. I have a very hard time believing that Ben Stein has never heard that argument made before. Saying you disagree with it is one thing. Pretending you've never heard the argument made is ridiculous.
I agree with something Rep. Lee managed to get in the end there as well. President Obama should do a recess appointment for the head of TSA to combat the Republicans obstructionism.
Transcript via CNN.
KING: Ron Paul, you want to respond first to the congresswoman and then Ben.
PAUL: Yes, I do.
KING: Go ahead.
PAUL: One thing that is missing here is never asking the question what is the motive? He said why he was -- he did it. He said it was because we bombed Yemen two weeks ago. That was his motive. Osama bin Laden said that he has a plan for America. First, he wants to bog us down in the Middle East in a no-win war. He wants to bankrupt this country, demoralize us, as well as have us do things that motivate people to join his radical movement.
It seems like we've fallen into his trap. Why is it off base? Today, when the gentleman indicated that he did it because of the bombing, you know what the administration said? They dismissed it. It can't possibly be so. If you dismiss motivations for why they hate us, we can never resolve this. There's hate on both sides. You have to ask the question, why do they hate? And they usually come up with a reason. And we're foolish not to take that into consideration.
KING: Ben?
STEIN: Well, that's -- I have never heard anything quite like that in my whole life. What he's saying, basically, is we are doing something wrong by defending ourselves. Look, if these terrorists are trying to kill the government of Yemen, we've got to help defend them. They're our friends. We can't just let al Qaeda run wild. If we try to stop them --
PAUL: Why?
STEIN: Why should we stop them? Because they are terrorists and murderers and they're very anti-American.
PAUL: Why are they terrorists?
STEIN: Surely congressman --
PAUL: Why are they terrorists?
STEIN: They're terrorists and murders because they are psychos.
PAUL: They're terrorists because we're occupiers.
(CROSS TALK)
STEIN: No, we're not occupiers. That's the same anti-Semitic argument we've heard.
PAUL: Now that is a vicious attack. You --
(CROSS TALK)
STEIN: It's not a vicious attack.
LEE: Larry, I'd like to respond to some of these points that are being made.
KING: Let's go back to Sheila.
(CROSS TALK)
KING: Look at this, folks. Two republicans going at it. This is fascinating. With a democratic liberal in the middle.
LEE: I can referee between the two of them.
(CROSS TALK)
LEE: Let me referee, please.
KING: All right. Sheila, say something.
LEE: Yeah, let me referee, please. That is interesting.
KING: Both have good points, right?
LEE: They have good points. Let me clarify and try to say that Congressman Paul has a point on our positions that we took in Iraq, which obviously created a very terrible atmosphere, and we all asked the questions what were the results. And, of course, Afghanistan is still a question. But we must be reminded that the terrorists acted under President Bush's clock. And so this can't be an issue of the president's inactivity, per se, and a lack of commitment to the homeland.
But we have to do better. And I believe we need to have behavioral assessment. There was no reason for this individual to have a visa that still was in place until 2010 for them to be able to travel. There was no reason for him not to be detected because of his behavior. Behavioral assessment. We need to make the homeland security of the nation focus. Secretary of Homeland Secretary should be the point person and that person should establish a road map that then allows us to fund and to put resources accordingly. And finally, the president --
KING: Guys, we're out of time.
LEE: The president should put in place the NTSA administrator by way of a recess appointment.
KING: Death, taxes and these three are going to be back tomorrow.
