In a classic example of phony political jujitsu, an MSNBC contributor has tried to turn the patriotism issue back against Republicans. Appearing on today's Ed Show, Steve Clemons attacked the "patriotism" of GOP congressional leaders, accusing them of "undermining the security of the nation."
This because Republicans have attached amendments to the DHS funding bill denying funds for President Obama's executive amnesty. Of course neither Clemons nor Schultz revealed that in a potential DHS "shutdown," all essential personnel, including those at TSA, Customs and Border, Secret Service, FEMA and Coast Guard, would continue to work. Only non-essential personnel, mainly office workers, would be furloughed.
So Clemons caterwauling was nothing but phony scare-mongering: an attempt to use "patriotism" as a weapon to cow Republicans into funding President Obama's amnesty scheme.
STEVE CLEMONS: We just had threats against the Mall of the Americas [sic] in Minnesota. We have concerns about sleeper cells in the United States. That's just the beginning, the tip of the iceberg of the kinds of things the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for around the country. It would be nice, Ed, if Rudy Giuliani would come on the show and question the patriotism of those GOP leaders that are undermining the security of the nation and have him ask them do they really love the United States? That would be a nice turnaround . . . The point Ed is we have many people in congress that are willing to sort of walk away from a responsible stance about the security of the nation over a small-ball issue that's being dealt with in the federal courts. It's outrageous. And when you talk about in this climate people's love of the United States, their degree of patriotism, I think that focus needs to fall directly on those people that are threatening to defund the DHS.
