If you need any further proof that the Lean Forward network is all in for the Democratic Party, look no further than the weekend program Disrupt. The newly-minted show is hosted by Karen Finney, frequent MSNBC contributor and former Director of Communications for the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Finney decided to rewrite history on Sunday, suggesting to guest Heather Hurlburt that NSA surveillance is acceptable under the Obama administration, but was unacceptable under the Bush administration, because fighting a “global war on terror with these unseen foes” is the “new normal.”
I’m not sure what’s “new” to Finney about the decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden, or the extensive search for al Qaeda operatives hiding all over the world, but our nation has been fighting “unseen foes” since the War on Terror began.
Finney’s comments came after the host showed clips of Vice President Cheney’s criticism for Obama on Fox News Sunday and of the president’s May 23 speech on national security. The former DNC staffer then blasted Cheney for his remarks, while coming to President Obama’s defense:
It appears the communications director is confused by her own convoluted defense of the Obama administration’s NSA surveillance – practices she would surely be against if they were performed by the Bush administration.
Disrupt is probably the wrong name for Finney’s new hour-long promotion of President Obama’s agenda. May I suggest Doublespeak?
See the relevant transcript below:
MSNBC
Disrupt
June 16, 2013
4:04 p.m. Eastern
KAREN FINNEY: Heather, I’m going to shift gears just a little bit. Because we had sort of an interesting back and forth with the former vice president [Dick Cheney] today, talking the War on Terror and whether we are still in a war on terror or is the War on Terror over. Let's take a listen. [Start videos.]
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Lethal yet less capable al Qaeda affiliates. Threats to diplomatic facilities and businesses abroad. Homegrown extremists. This is the future of terrorism.
(...)
As we shape our response, we have to recognize that the scale of this threat closely resembles the types of attacks we faced before 9/11.
(...)
VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Well, first of all, he's wrong. It’s not winding down. I mean, if you look at the part of the world now that’s available as safe harbor, sanctuary for terrorists that can plan and train and launch attacks across the United States – it now runs across north Africa. All those places that, for example, the Muslim Brotherhood have come to power. So the threat is bigger than ever. [End videos.]
FINNEY: You know, Heather, what struck me about that response from the vice president, and also when you listen to what the president was talking about – I felt like the president was basically saying look, this is the new normal. This is the reality and we have to be prepared to deal with this on a day-to-day basis. That's why we have these NSA programs, for example. Versus, it felt like, during the Bush years, the rationale for the things that they doing in secret depended on this idea we have this [sarcastically] global war on terror with these unseen foes, if you will. Whereas, I think now we are in a different place right now.
