CNN’s Jack Cafferty Blames President Bush For Hamas Takeover of Gaza

On Thursday, Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds was curious how quickly Israel would be blamed for Hamas’ activities in Gaza, with the answer expeditiously coming from the Boston Globe.

Well, CNN’s Jack Cafferty one-upped the Globe Friday by actually blaming Hamas' takeover of Gaza on – wait for it! – President George W. Bush.

Color me unsurprised.

In his normal spot on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” Cafferty exhibited some of the most extraordinary Bush Derangement Syndrome yet as he blamed every problem in the Middle East on the current White House (video available here):

When there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, President Bush immediately seized on the idea of bringing freedom and democracy. How is that working out for you, Mr. President? The United States also pressured the Palestinians to hold elections. They elected Hamas, a terrorist organization. How is that working out for you, Mr. President?

Hamas has now seized Gaza, the Abbas government has been dismantled and Hamas militants has been on a rampage, pillaging government institutions. It's very unlikely they'll be dipping their fingers in ink wells there anytime soon. A week ago, Condoleezza "Photo Op" Rice babbling about Bush's democracy agenda being morally right and politically necessary. How is that agenda working out for you, madam secretary?

And when you look around the rest of the neighborhood, freedom, democracy, endangered species in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Hamid Karzai's democracy in Afghanistan hanging on by a fingernail as the Taliban works furiously to make a comeback there. The argument could be made that the Middle East is closer to conflagration right now than at any time since we tried to force people in that part of the world to see it our way.

The ignorance of history exhibited by Cafferty in this segment was so breathtaking that my wife has just called 911 to rush respirators to our house STAT!

After all, just when did this “[forcing] people in that part of the world to see it our way” start, Jack? You think that began when we invaded Iraq? Or, do you think governments all over our planet – including prior to the formation of the United States of America – have been imposing their will on this region for centuries nay millennia?

Furthermore, Jack, when did the al-Aqsa Intifada begin, and who was president at the time? And who was president when Osama bin Laden first declared war on America, or bombed our embassies in Africa, or the U.S.S. Cole? And who was president when the Islamic Revolution occurred in Iran?

In reality, a dolt like Cafferty would probably answer “Bush,” “Bush,” “Bush,” “Bush,” and “Bush.”

Honestly, how does someone with so little knowledge of world history rise to such a lofty position at CNN?