CNN intelligence and security analyst Bob Baer was on set for the network’s rolling coverage Thursday night of the terror attack in Nice, France but he seized on the tragedy to bash Israelis for responding to similar truck attacks by going “far to the right” along with those who support Brexit and the French political party National Front.
With the bodies still yet to scattered out on the streets, Baer complained to CNN host Erin Burnett that the Israelis have suffered tragedies like what transpired in southern France but responded by “driv[ing] Isareli politics far to the right and put the whole population at risk as well as knives.”
This knee-jerk reaction that NewsBusters readers are more than familiar with was again on display minutes later when Baer touted how “[a] lot of converts from Christianity have joined the Islamic State” in France before leaping ahead to the next presidential elections there in 2017 and blasting Marine Le Pen (instead of, say, ISIS for their atrocities):
It's a problem they can't get a hold of and what worries me is this is going to turn European politics very far to the Front, Le Pen — the far-right in France, yes — the candidate there for the presidency, the far right, this is going to boost them.
Somehow, Baer also brought in the British vote last month to leave the European Union and lament that the vote will be “boost[ed]” somehow in addition to any right-leaning ideologies in Germany or across Europe:
It’s going to boost Brexit. It’s going to boost the Germans and the rest of them because it can happen anywhere in Europe, but again, I go back to these weapons. Are they coming across boats from Libya? Are they coming from Turkey? We simply don't know and what we do is that the Islamic State — I’m not saying this was an Islamic State, we're going to find out soon enough, but that they can keep on going and they have this bottomless, you know, well of adherence, and that's what scares the Europeans.
With guns not being the weapon of choice for this terrorist, the issue of gun control was off the table and not an excuse the liberal media could deploy. Unfortunately, the media will likely seize on another narrative to drive home their agenda and this attempt to blame right-leaning politicians seems as though it’ll be one readers will want to watch for going foward.
(h/t: Townhall's Matt Vespa)
The relevant portions of the transcript from CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront on July 14 can be found below.
CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront
July 14, 2016
7:45 p.m. EasternERIN BURNETT: And Bob Baer, you know, talk about — as Jim is pointing this out so correctly, a new weapon and yet something that is not new at all. I mean, it's a truck. It was just a truck. Yes, it was loaded with explosives, but the explosives didn't even go off. This was just driving.
BOB BAER: Well, they just — you know, they're making sure that they cause casualties and they — by the way, they watched in Israel the damage done to the Israelis, just cars driving through crowds and killing people and has driven Isareli politics far to the right and put the whole population at risk as well as knives. So, if they can't get the guns, they move to trucks and they keep on switching tactics. The main thing for them is getting people that are determined to do things like this and there are a lot in France. I mean, the French, by the way, have really cracked down over the last year. I mean, they've been profiling, going after people and making raids, putting tons of people on things, listening to the phones, but these people are very disciplined and they do not talk on the phone and that's why they can get through and attack something like Nice.
(....)
7:50 p.m. Eastern
BAER: Well, exactly, Erin, that's what so bad for the French is they've got, you know, they've got a large population that's sympathetic to the Islamic State. A lot of converts from Christianity have joined the Islamic State. It's a problem they can't get a hold of and what worries me is this is going to turn European politics very far to the Front, Le Pen —
BURNETT: Yes.
BAER: The right is – you know —
BURNETT: The far-right in France, yes.
BAER: The candidate there for the presidency, the far right, this is going to boost them. It’s going to boost Brexit. It’s going to boost the Germans and the rest of them because it can happen anywhere in Europe, but again, I go back to these weapons. Are they coming across boats from Libya? Are they coming from Turkey? We simply don't know and what we do is that the Islamic State — I’m not saying this was an Islamic state, we're going to find out soon enough, but that they can keep on going and they have this bottomless, you know, well of adherence, and that's what scares the Europeans.
