Apparently the NBC News political team ’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Carrie Dann thought it would be a good idea to compare the fear and “political freak out” of the Ebola crisis in 2014 to the Paris terror attacks of 2015.
How could such a comparison be made? Easy. Todd and his crew are practically mocking the fear, concerns and suspicions Americans have of Syrian refugees entering the country to the same fear and “panic” displayed during the Ebola scare. Of course, a deadly disease is one thing, allowing ISIS terrorists posing as refugees is a totally different level of fear.
Check out the passage from their First Read on the Meet the Press website:
Americans are frightened and suspicious of foreigners entering the country from abroad. The political press is blaming President Obama for not doing enough. Rival politicians with presidential ambitions are seizing on the issue. Sounds like the political aftermath after Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris, right? But those same descriptions -- fear, suspicion, blame, and political opportunism -- apply to what happened just a year ago during the Ebola scare.
While it's difficult to compare the 129 who died Friday in Paris to the handful of U.S.-based deaths due to Ebola, remember the overall political environment in the fall of 2014 right before the midterm elections. Politicians were demanding a shut down of the U.S.-Mexico border due to Ebola concerns. The political press was criticizing Obama's too-cool crisis management. And New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was quarantining that American nurse who had returned from West Africa even after she tested negative for Ebola. Bottom line: Panic and fear don't bring out the best in our super-charged, highly polarized political system right now…
Count on the fact that the voters rejected the Democrats in 2014 as the NBC team’s idea of “panic and fear” winning.
They can’t handle the fact that Obama doesn’t have the public’s support on his terrorism policy. It was Obama who said last Friday morning that ISIS “was contained” (just like they were once a “JV team”) only to look like he had egg on his face later that evening when Paris was attacked by that “JV team,” and that at least one of the terrorists posed as a refugee.
With those facts, you’re darn right Americans are a little hesitant to bringing in thousands of people who are hardly vetted. America’s “been there done that.” Let’s not forget, the Tsarnaev brothers were “refugees” that later bombed Boston; unless Obama somehow declared that attack as another case of workplace violence or some sort of “teachable” moment.
But guess what? It’s not only Americans and the GOP who doubt Obama’s incompetency when it comes to his handling (or should we say mishandling) of ISIS. Many democrats are also breaking ranks with the inept Commander in Chief – hardcore Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) being one of them. Feinstein disagreed with Obama’s claim that ISIS was “contained,” telling MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that she’s “never been more concerned,” and that the intelligence she’s read makes her believe it’s not contained, but “expanding.”
If Todd and his cronies thought the show of concern and fear from everyday Americans on Syrian refugees were conducive to a “political freak out,” then Feinstein’s comments constitute major political panic.
