The Other McCain

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Administration’s Counter-Terrorism Chief Does Three Network Sunday Shows

Posted on | April 29, 2012 | 10 Comments

Coming up on the first anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, it will be victory-lap time on Fox News Sunday, CNN’s State of the Union and ABC’s This Week, with counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan as the guest. Andrew Malcolm writes:

You remember Brennan as the one rushed out to the White House briefing room the next day to provide the hungry media with their cherished tick-tock account of the commandos’ penetration into Pakistan and the slaying of the instigator of 9/11.
Unfortunately, so eager was the administration to tell its story quickly, that Brennan’s premature enunciation of the event contained numerous details later adjusted or contradicted, detracting from the anticipated accolades.
By now, however, most of the raid confusion is cleared. And everyone knows that the successful killing was mainly the result of Obama’s brave decision, although the SEALs, the stealth helicopter pilots and the Air Force electronic cloaking crews probably helped a little.
Oh, look, it’s an election year!

Sarcastic much? Allahpundit says you should skip the three-network BrennanFest in favor of Bob Schieffer’s lineup on Face the Nation:

CBS looks like the better bet for OBL coverage, though. They’ve got David Ignatius, whose new column argues that the Islamist trend in the Arab Spring has given Bin Laden the last laugh, and Peter Bergen, who interviewed OBL four years before 9/11 and has a new book on the manhunt for him out on Tuesday.

From that David Ignatius column:

Egypt is a case in point: This has been a year of mostly nonviolent democratic revolution. But it has brought to power some Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood groups that share common theological roots with bin Laden. And the al-Qaeda goal of driving the “apostate,” pro-American President Hosni Mubarak from power has been achieved. . . .
What we’re seeing now in Egypt is something that might be called electoral bin Ladenism. Take the group Gamaa Islamiya, which under its spiritual leader, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, made the first unsuccessful attempt to destroy the World Trade Center in 1993. Today, the organization has formed a Salafist political party with the benign name Building and Development Party. This organization, which like al-Qaeda traces its roots to the Islamist theorist Sayyid Qutb, has 13 seats in the new Egyptian parliament.

You might also want to check William Jacobson’s argument: “Obama got Osama, but lost the Middle East.”

While you browse your local TV schedule for Sunday show times, a couple more points: CNN’s also has House Speaker John Boehner, while NBC’s Meet the Press goes straight to the presidential campaign, with Ed Gillespie for the Republicans and Robert Gibbs for the Democrats — plus Hilary Rosen and Rachel Maddow!

If any of these people make actual news, I’ll let you know.

Category: ABC, CBS, CNN, Election 2012, Fox News, John Boehner, NBC, Terrorism

Comments

10 Responses to “Administration’s Counter-Terrorism Chief Does Three Network Sunday Shows”

  1. Pathfinder's wife
    April 29th, 2012 @ 10:07 am

    I’ll pass and opt to clean my horse stalls and dog kennels today.  It’ll leave me feeling cleaner.

  2. richard mcenroe
    April 29th, 2012 @ 11:22 am

    Why do we still have a counter-terrorism chief now that the war on terror is over?

  3. Charles Martel
    April 29th, 2012 @ 12:13 pm

    Just in case another one starts.  You can’t be too careful!

  4. The Really Do Think We’re Stupid | The Lonely Conservative
    April 29th, 2012 @ 1:39 pm

    […] safer today as a result,” he said. (Read More)This is the same guy who appeared on three network shows this Sunday morning. And we’re supposed to think they aren’t politicizing it? Just like we aren’t […]

  5. Adobe_Walls
    April 29th, 2012 @ 2:41 pm

    The DHS was created to morph into a minority green justice Department because we just don’t have enough “kinds” of justice in this country….what you didn’t really think the Social Democrats voted to fight a war on terror do you?

  6. Adjoran
    April 29th, 2012 @ 3:27 pm

    Having the top counter-terror expert go on TV for political gain just underlines what a filthy worthless PIG Obama is.

  7. Proof
    April 29th, 2012 @ 6:19 pm

    Twice in the Fox interview, Brennan said he doesn’t “do politics”, and yet that doesn’t stop him from parroting the talking point that “by all accounts (Obama’s decision) was a ‘gutsy call’…” , but does stop him from venturing any sort of opinion on the questions put to him where an honest answer might embarrass his boss.

    He says he’s not a Republican or a Democrat. I believe him. He’s a HippoCrat.

  8. Adjoran
    April 30th, 2012 @ 12:22 am

     Somebody has to go on television and pretend Obama is a strong President.

  9. Bob Belvedere
    April 30th, 2012 @ 8:49 am

    [singing] It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood…

  10. Bob Belvedere
    April 30th, 2012 @ 8:50 am

    And Axelrod is the Walrus.