Does the U.S. need tighter security checks on refugees? @GerryConnolly & @CWS_global's Erol Kekic discuss https://t.co/FTPPpl4oRZ
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) November 20, 2015
PBS NewsHour
Does the U.S. need tighter security checks on refugees?
November 19, 2015 at 7:07 PM ET
Highly recommend you watch this video from last night's PBS NewsHour, and not just because it may be the only fair-minded discussion of the Syrian/Iraqi refugee debate I've seen on American TV this year, where someone who was arguing for both logic and accountability from the federal government wasn't sandbagged.
It features the insightful comments of Rep. Gerry Connolly, the new Democratic Congressman
who represents Northern Virginia, and specifically, Arlington County, where I lived for 15 years, roughly about 5 miles from Georgetown.
Rep. Connolly replaced bombastic, combative and often over-the-top longtime Rep. Jim Moran,
Moran, not unlike Mayor Joy Cooper in beleaguered Hallandale Beach, was considered by even
people who voted for him, to often be an insufferable egomaniac with a deep-and-abiding love for TV camera lights that challenged New York Senator Charles Schumer's widely-known love for the limelight, fancied himself a shoot-from-the-hips pol whose shortcuts with facts and logic often resulted in him shooting himself in the foot and getting into un-necessary and petty fights.
And for good measure, just like Mayor Cooper in Hallandale Beach, Moran has a pugnacious son with a penchant for criminality and mischief but who -surprise- considers himself above the law.
And for good measure, just like Mayor Cooper in Hallandale Beach, Moran has a pugnacious son with a penchant for criminality and mischief but who -surprise- considers himself above the law.
Gerry Connolly was a generally respected politician who stood out among Northern Virginia's lock-step liberal mindset when I lived in Arlington, back when I was still a DLC Democrat, because he was the sort of principled Democrat whom we have far too few of these days in DC, to wit, someone who thinks that well-thought out, fair-minded results that actually solve real problems mattered more than ideology or party. (Usually.)
This is the sort of TV performance that catches people's attention outside of his immediate area, and not just because you have to know that there were NOT exactly many among the 47 Dems who, having voted against President Obama yesterday on refugee resettlement in the U.S., didn't relish the idea of going on national TV and telling everyone why he and his supporters were wrong -again.
Especially when it's so much easier to just toe-the current DNC mindset and blithely assume the federal "bureaucracy" will handle everything correctly without any genuine accountability or benchmarks from Congress.
Like that's ever happened with positive results for most Americans.
Rep. Connolly's performance is also noteworthy precisely because he didn't fall for the usual trap of allowing the news media's own narrative to dominate the discussion, nor did he allow the discussion to drift off into other areas that would allow him to be trapped into a corner and painted as a heartless pol by the other guest, Erol Kekic of Church World Service.
Something that as I have gone on at length about here before many times, seems to frequently happen to most GOP members of Congress appearing on that sort of TV show pretty much without fail.
Usually because they are dumb enough to act like they will be treated fairly instead of aggressively by both host and fellow guests.
The recent history of the GOP, even when they are in power, is, seemingly, to never learn from history.
Rep. Connolly's concise and to-the-point logic and reason (re refugees) actually triumphed on
American TV. For at least one night anyway...
American TV. For at least one night anyway...
Sensible people across the U.S., like so many of you readers of this blog, should enjoy it while we can...
You can be sure there there won't be many more such examples before the end of the year.
Dave
Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://
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