Holy schnikes: was that really Ed Schultz, or has the soul of Norman Schwarzkopf suddenly assumed control of the MSNBC host's body?
On his show this afternoon, Schultz—discussing the latest ISIS outrages—stunningly declared that we are in a "religious war" in which we haven't been "strong enough," and repeatedly raised the possibility that ground troops might be necessary.
All kidding aside, it will be interesting to see what kind of firestorm Schultz's strong stand might stir up among his fellow MSNBC hosts and largely lefty viewers.
ED SCHULTZ: It was a weekend of terror around the globe. In Libya, ISIS released a video showing more bloodshed. The video released on Sunday claims to show the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians. The brutal act of violence is clearly a gross display of what ISIS is capable of, what they're motivated about, and what they are really all about. And I think this act of mass murder amounts to a religious war. Now we all have our own interpretations at this point. This continues to go on. At this point these people were targeted, as I see it, and murdered because of their faith . . . As I see it, the United States is going to have to have continual reviewal [sic] of its strategy. We can't sit back here and watch hordes of people get their heads cut off. And why would we tell ISIS there's no way we would ever put ground troops in combat situations? I think it has reached a point where we really have to have a very strong debate in this country. As I see it, it's a religious war. What is going to turn back ISIS?
. . .
Congressman [John Garamendi] I would personally come to the conclusion as someone who is following the news and seeing what's unfolding here, is that what we're doing isn't strong enough, isn't working. Now whether that means we need to put ground troops and get them involved, I don't know. I'm not a military expert, but when they are growing geographically and they are growing in influence and they are socially connected as they are -- I mean, this was almost like a movie production what they released. They are in lawless parts of the Middle East. How do you trot out 21 people with nobody else around and do something like that? It takes organization. It takes protection, and I think it has reached a level right now that we're the United States, we might have to have a conversation that special ops and some ground forces might be part of the equation, but basically we have told ISIS well that's not going to happen. We have told other countries who are getting hit by this group that we're not going to put ground troops in.
