John Brennan was the Sunday morning token Obama administration official making the talk circuit this week. The White House Deputy National Security Advisor made three stops with Fox News Sunday, This Week, and Meet the Press. He is the President’s top advisor on homeland security and counter terrorism, so I guess it would only be fitting that he would be out on the trail this week. Perhaps he should have been the President’s point man last week rather than Napolitano. She didn’t do too hot. Unless making statements that force you to spend a week in damage control is really your thing.
FOX NEWS SUNDAY WITH CHRIS WALLACE
Kit Bond (R-MO)- The “Somebody screwed up big time” guy discussed upcoming Senate hearings on the Underwear Bomber’s actions as well as the shortcomings of the intelligence community. Also on the program was White House Deputy National Security Advisor, John Brennan. He discussed a variety of topics related to his position as the President’s counter terrorism and national security point man.
Regarding last night’s decision to close the embassy in Yemen, he said “we made the decision overnight to make sure we are doing everything possible to support our post there.” He also said that Al Qaeda has been trying for months to launch an attack on the embassy and that all US citizens in Yemen will be at risk until the government there stabilizes and takes action. On a related note, he also slipped in that a number of tourists have been kidnapped in recent months. No biggie!!
In this clip he is asked if Yemen is a second front in the former War on Terror with Afghanistan Pakistan? His response = Nope. Its not a new effort at all. We have been working with Yemen since the beginning of our administration… but we still didn’t connect the dots on the Underwear bomber and shouldn’t have been expected to. Thanks.
Brit Hume on Tiger Woods – He says Tiger needs to find Christianity and dump Buddhism if he wants to repair his life and recover from his transgressions. Who knew Tiger was a Buddhist or that Hume was the end all be all moral authority on such matters?
THIS WEEK WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
Terry Moran sitting in for George. And let me tell ya. He does a bang up job. If you’re a flaming liberal or an administration apologist that is.
Highlights from the show…
John Brennan – “we are determined to destroy Al Qaeda.” Will you form a Joint task force in Yemen with the UK? Response = It is not a new front. It is one we have been focused on for months and we have been committed to working with their government to flush these terrorists out. (again but not one that should have led us to foiling the Christmas Day plot).
Rep. Hoekstra (R- MI) -( just retruned from Yemen) This is a real threat. It (the threat in Yemen) is a unique threat because it is a core group formed by former Gitmo detainees who when combined with a radical American-born cleric have provided a new dilemma - How do we deal with Americans who join Al Qaeda?
Rep. Harman (D- CA) – Regarding the released detainees from Gitmo now operating in Yemen and those about to be sent there from Gitmo – would you tell the President to at least delay release of them back to Yemen? Response – It should close, but we should review again where we will send them. I think it is a bad time to send them back to Yemen right now.
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) – Do you have confidence in Janet Nepolitano to do her job? I do, but her comments were innappropriate or poorly chosen in the aftermath. Nevertheless I believe that she is “working very hard” and will “work with us.” Not sure that was a great endorsement. Working hard and working with Congress is not exactly the definition outstanding job performance I had in my mind, but I digress.
Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) – Said last week that Yemen could turn into tomorrow’s war. Today he furthered those remarks by saying, “We are acting preemptively there now, so we are taking steps to make sure that it does not become our next war.” He also called Yemen “fertile ground” for terrorism.
In this video Representative Hoekstra gets hammered in this clip by Moran who is anything but unbiased with this surprise attack on the Congressman’s fundraising efforts.
Read the Transcript Here.
Watch the full video of Hoekstra, Harman, Collins, and Lieberman video here.
Gitmo should not be closed. Terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab should not be tried in Federal Court.
FACE THE NATION
Bob Scheiffer proudly opened the show by telling the audience of a long history of holiday round tables on Face the Nation where the top correspondents gathered to discuss the events of the year. He then whined about never getting to take part in one and announced that we were all going to be blessed with watching his dream finally come true.
In summary. This week’s episode was an absolute waste with nothing more than commentary from CBS commentators.
MEET THE PRESS
Brennan again reiterated that Al Qaeda is a “serious threat” as if we all needed to hear that for the millionth time. He did say that military action is a potential option for Yemen if the situation there deteriorates further saying “everything” is an option to prevent attacks on our nation. He also added that he thought Janet Napolitano has done a “tremendous job” and that her comments about the system working were taken out of context. When asked if we are safer as a nation than we were in the days after 911, he said that we are safer because we now have “systems” in place that help to protect us but said that we must continue to tweak said systems to ensure that they are working properly.
Brennan on the Closing of the US and UK embassies in Yemen
Ends with a rant about politics and partisan critics. Tells them that al qaeda is the enemy not the administration.
Brennan’s response to Former Vice-President Dick Cheney’s remarks on President Obama’s slow reaction to the Christmas day attacks
Former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff – was asked if it is “enormously difficult to pull off an attack” – bc we see low level people trying and failing? Response = We have seen occasion after occasion where we have thwarted plots, so yes??
Good Ole Greggory then asked if the Bush administration should be held accountable for the recent attack because it created the levels of government – that either did or did not fail – and then left office before proving that they were effective. - Lets just call this what it was – a piece of shit question.
Chertoff – They must have been working on some level as we weren’t attacked for seven years under Bush.
Greggory then asked Former CIA Director Michael Hayden about accountability for Bush administration officials for releasing Gitmo detainees back to Yemen. response = We did release a few who returned to the battlefield. Since 2006, we have known Yemen was growing as a safe haven for terrorism, but are we safer after 911? Yes. We just have to adapt just as the enemy is doing. He then accurately pointed out that the “information” was shared. It just wasn’t put together properly. He called the failure a human action that only appears easier to have accomplished in hindsight.
Greggory then asked Chertoff and Hayden if we are effectively “racially profiling”
Roundtable – Tom Brokaw, David Brooks, E.J. Dionne and Doris Kearns Goodwin.
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