No one—not even
Tom Clancy himself—could have predicted that
President Obama would try to use
Gitmo detainees as a
bargaining chip.
Obama's executive action was entirely without precedent; never before in the history of the United States has a black president done anything like that.
Equally unexpected was Obama's refusal to apologize for what he did.
In fact, the only unsurprising thing about the president's decision to negrotiate for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is the GOP's reaction to it.
If he had bothered to follow Republican lawmakers like John McCain or Rand Paul on Twitter, Obama probably would've been better prepared for the ensuing backlash.
That is, assuming he hadn't read their old tweets before they deleted them.
Meet The Press: Preempted by coverage of the French Open.
Face The Nation: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA); Former Taliban Prisoner David Rohde; Roundtable: Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal), Harvard University Prof. David Gergen, Michael Gerson (Washington Post) and Tom Friedman (New York Times).
This Week: Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); Seattle Mayor Ed Murray (D); Nate Silver (FiveThirtyEight.com); Roundtable Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), Republican Strategist Matthew Dowd, Alicia Menendez (Fusion), Paul Gigot (Wall Street Journal) and Katrina vanden Heuvel (The Nation).
Fox News Sunday: Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey; Former Vice Chief of the Army Gen. Jack Keane; Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Amy Walter (Cook Political Report), Former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Secretary of State John Kerry; Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Berggdahl Roundtable: Retired Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis, Retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin and Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton; Political Roundtable: Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile, Republican Strategist Ana Navarro and Jackie Calmes (New York Times).
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an investigation into how many of the recent mass shootings were preventable tragedies, symptoms of a failing mental health system (preview); an interview with Bassem Youssef, the "Jon Stewart of Egypt" (preview); and, a report on the million-plus near-Earth objects in space big enough to destroy a city, of which the location of only one percent are known (preview).
On Comedy Central...
Jon Stewart set his sights on Texas gun nuts.
The Daily Show
Monday: Author Philip K. Howard
Tuesday: Documentarian Sebastian Junger
Wednesday: Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)
Thursday: Actor Christopher Walken
And Stephen Colbert weighed in on the latest Bergdghazi allegations.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Author Esther Perel
Tuesday: Director John Waters
Wednesday: Software Engineer Rob Rhinehart
Thursday: Former Sen. James Webb (D-VA)
Elsewhere...
Brain surgeon Ben Carson took his Obamacare demonization to its logical conclusion.
Dr. Ben Carson has called Obamacare the "worst thing that's happened in this nation since slavery" -- but in a recent interview with The Daily Beast, the Tea Party favorite claimed that the health care law was worse than even the 9/11 terror attacks.
According to the piece published Thursday, contributor Evan Gahr followed up on the slavery comment by asking Carson why he thought President Obama's health care law was worse than 9/11. Carson responded that the terror attacks were an "isolated incident."
Gahr continued to pepper the retired neurosurgeon with follow-up questions and wrote that he was frequented interrupted by Carson's business manager.
Meanwhile...
The city of Keller, TX experienced its own 9/11, of sorts.
A newly elected school district trustee in Texas is under fire after she posted comments on Facebook disparaging registered voters who didn't go to the polls for allowing a Muslim to be elected.
According to WFAA, Place 5 representative Jo Lynn Haussmann posted the following on her Facebook page last week:
"Do you realize because SO FEW voters took the time and responsibility to VOTE in the municipal elections – YOU NOW HAVE A 'MUSLIM' on the City Council!!! What A SHAME!!!!"
She deleted the post and later apologized for it. In her apology, she took pains to note that she made the statement after she was elected, but before she was sworn in.
And, in other religiously-affiliated news...
Tony Perkins wondered whether Christians will be the Jews in Obama's ovens. Or something.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, spoke Thursday with the attorney of a baker who lost his court battle to refuse service to LGBT customers who ordered cakes to celebrate their legal same-sex marriages.
The state's Civil Rights Commission last week upheld an administrative judge’s finding that Christian bakery owner Jack Phillips had violated Colorado's anti-discrimination statutes.
Attorney Nicolle Martin, of the Alliance Defending Freedom, told Perkins the ruling was part of an ongoing "witch hunt" against Christians, reported Right Wing Watch.
Perkins reached for a more recent historical analogy to compare the state's actions to Nazi Germany.
"I'm beginning to think, are re-education camps next?" Perkins wondered aloud. "When are they going to start rolling out the boxcars to start hauling off Christians?"
Never again.
- Trix