“Fox & Friends” host Elisabeth Hasselbeck grilled White House press secretary Josh Earnest Wednesday morning on the “cavalier” statement of President Obama that last week’s terrorist attack in Paris was just a “setback” in the war against the Islamic State, a stinging comment that put Earnest on the defensive.
Hasselbeck asked Earnest why Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have used some of the words they have used to describe both last week’s deadly terror attacks in Paris and the January attack on Charlie Hebdo, which Kerry called “understandable.” She said those words paint Obama and Kerry as “aloof, apathetic and quite cavalier about these lives being lost at the hand of ISIS.”
“To call this just a setback seems awful, at least to the American people,” she said.
“Well Elisabeth, I think what I’d ask the American people to do is to go look at the transcript of the president’s remarks, where he described this situation as sickening, where he expresses profound sorrow at what exactly had occurred, and I think what I would encourage you to do is to spend just as much time focusing on the presidents actions as you do his words,” Earnest replied.
Hasselbeck interrupted him, prompting the two to spar on TV to get a word in over each other.
“His words matter, I have to stop you there,” Hasselbeck said.
“If you’re going to have me on your show … to talk about a serious issue, then give me an opportunity to answer the question,” he shot back.
“I’m letting you know that our president’s words matter, not just to me, not just to the American people, but to those around the globe who are very concerned right now,” she said. “Our president’s words matter. He called this a setback. Why?”
Earnest then repeated his line that Obama has called the attacks “sickening.”
The interview was tense from the start, as host Brian Kilmeade asked why the U.S. hadn’t yet hit the targets in Syria that France has been pounding for days now. “If these targets were so right, how come we have been at this for a year and haven’t hit them?” he asked.
“They [the French] were relying on intelligence information that was provided by the United States, they were relying on logistical information provided by the United States,” Earnest said, before adding that the U.S. has conducted thousands of airstrikes in Syria, and as time goes on, more targets present themselves.
