We've all heard people say things like: you're a lying, conniving, no-good SOB—no offense! That was the sort of lame attempt at covering her tracks that Alisyn Camerota resorted to on CNN's New Day this morning. The subject was the death of two immigrant children at the border. And after pointing the finger at the President, Camerota broke out her dodge:
"I mean, Nia [Malika Henderson], he's the President. The Republicans control the House and the Senate. These children died on his watch. I mean, not to cast any blame."
Right. Not casting any blame. None at all! It's just that, you know, Trump's the President. And it happened on his watch. So . . . draw your own conclusions. But casting blame? No, not gonna do it! That would be wrong!
Camerota cast blame at President Trump in the context of arguing that it was wrong of him to ascribe the fault to the Democrats because of their weak immigration policies that encourage people to attempt the dangerous long trek to the US.
New Day panelists Karoun Demirjian of The Washington Post, and Nia-Malika Henderson of CNN, all sang from Camerota's page. Demirjian claimed that assigning any blame to Democrats "leaves a bad taste in people's mouths." No doubt true, if the people in question are the liberal media. And Malika Henderson cast Trump as trying to "frame" Democrats. Hey: if the frame fits, wear it, and what have Dems been doing but encouraging the maximum number of people to enter the US, legalities be damned?
CNN
New Day
12/31/18, 6:24 am ET
ERICA HILL: Karoun, any surprise this is the message we are getting?
KAROUN DEMIRJIAN: Well, not really given that it is the President. However, when you're talking about the deaths of the children, to take a stance that just is kind of pointing the finger at the Democratic party and twisting facts about what the circumstances were that led to their deaths, I think it leaves a bad taste in people's mouths in a way that is kind of surprising, even though President Trump is prone to doing this sort of thing. And also just because I think the [unintelligble] just don't support what he's saying. I think there was a decade, in the last decade where there were no deaths of children at the border, and now two in a month. And this has been at the same time there has been very harsh criticism of the policies the Trump administration is pursuing at the border. So clearly he's going to try to deflect, but to deflect it in an attempt to put it on the other party is only going to cause a backlash that does not look good. Again, when you're talking about little kids who shouldn't have had had to die in these circumstances.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: I mean, Nia, he's the President. The Republicans control the House and the Senate. These children died on his watch. I mean, not to cast any blame. But the idea that he thinks that he can somehow blame the Democrats for this, it just doesn't wash.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: I think that's right. And remember, this is a President who as a candidate said what no other presidential candidate has said before. He said that he alone could fix it. And by 'it,' he meant virtually everything. So this idea that now he can cast blame on Democrats, it is typical of this President. This isn't a buck-stops-here administration, it's not a buck-stops-here president. It's a president who likes to cast blame. He likes to frame Democrats and whoever else is standing nearby, he likes to cast blame on them. He's not somebody who likes to take responsibility.
