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Chris Wallace Praises President Obama’s War On Terror During Fox News Segment

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When news broke earlier this morning that a U.S. missile had reportedly killed Anwar al-Awlaki, most reporters were focused on the details (and ethical questions) surrounding the news. But by this afternoon, cable news analysts started to consider what sort of impact this story has on the world of politics. Case in point, Fox News’ Chris Wallace suggested to Studio B host Shep Smith that the so-called “war on terror” is a political strength for the Obama campaign, noting his administration has taken down the “two greatest threats to America.”

RELATED: Watch: President Obama Comments On Death Of Anwar al-Awlaki

Shep introduced the segment, and Wallace said of the president’s record on fighting terrorism in the context of a political strength or weakness (rough transcript provided by TVEyes):

Remember, this was the guy who, when he ran four years ago, Hillary Clinton was saying, “what happens if there is a phone call at 3:00 in the morning?” There was talk of his dealing with former terrorists and all of that and now when it comes to the war on terrorism President Obama legitimately looks like a tough guy stepping up involvement in Afghanistan and kept us in Iraq but he plans to have us out by the end the year, and he has greatly increased the number and the effectiveness of drone attacks and not only in Pakistan but now as we see in Yemen, and he has taken out, you could argue the two greatest threats to America, Osama bin Laden and al-Alwlaki.

The notion that the fight against al Qaeda and Islamic extremists has been Obama’s most effective political attribute isn’t a new idea. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago another media and political analyst made THE VERY SAME point during an appearance on Fox News: yours truly!

RELATED: Mediaite Editor Tells Fox News’ Martha McCallum ‘Terror Policy A Political Strength’ For Obama

Yes, it was I that made the same point as Mr. Wallace (an individual for whom I have new-found respect and admiration for his smart political observations). Regardless of one’s political beliefs, President Obama has a terrific track record in terms of capturing and killing members of al Qaeda, and ostensibly keeping the “homeland” safe and secure. So why isn’t the White House using this as a political football?

Perhaps because they believe that “terrorism” is a more effective tactic when a group of people are afraid of random acts of violence. And to tout the record of keeping a nation safe from a clear and constant danger means that one must first reinforce the idea that we are constantly on the verge of being under another attack, which plays right into the strategic hands of the terrorists themselves. In practical terms, this is almost a catch-22: the safer President Obama makes Americans feel, the less his proficiency at it benefits him.

It’s honorable that the Obama administration hasn’t yet played the “war on terror” card, and yes, I will admit that the attacks on 9/11 are a personal story of which I have grown deeply cynical, in terms of a political strategy. Watch the clip below and see for yourself:

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  • Michelle

    Yes, thank you Obama for continuing the policies of Bush.   Thank you for realizing the policies of appeasement you liberals spout might sound great in theory, but are not realistic in real life.  I applaud you.

  • Anonymous

    Hypocrisy: the liberals are for the killing of an american criminal if Obama does it… but are against the death penalty in states that kill criminals that have republican governors.

  • Valkyrie101

    Obviously Wallace is a Rino.

  • Anonymous

    here  come the conservatives: “Bush totally would’ve gotten around to it, just like osama bin laden!”

  • TbagsRstupid

    I find it more funny when a “conservative” calls someone a rhino

  • Anonymous

    prisoners vs. active combatants. Doesn’t take that much thought process.

  • Michelle

    And yet:

    Americans Give GOP Edge in Handling Nation’s Problems

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/149783/Americans-Give-GOP-Edge-Handling-Nation-Problems.aspx

  • Anonymous

    just like he killed osama bin laden in toure bora oh wait, he let him escape.

  • Valkyrie101

    There are special rules that apply during war which permit one side to kill the other. Liberals are not passivists when it comes to war. But there is a wing of the liberal side which is simply anti-war, no matter who the president is. And they frequently make the argument that all killing is wrong. That same argument is also made on the right, by a wing of the conservative side, too. However, as a practical matter, when the bad guys are blowing up your cities, most liberals favor a stronger as opposed to weaker approach.

  • Michelle

    No, but if you are honest, you will admit the reason we got them is because of policies Bush put into place and Obama continued. 

  • Cain

    I would take Republicans more seriously if they were more fair to Obama. Give the guy credit when he does something good. 

  • Michelle

    I should get a life. My obsession with Obama is creepy.

  • Michelle’s Stalker

    I should get a life. My obsession with Michelle is creepy.

  • Anonymous

    I have no problem with the President killing a terrorist.
    In fact I sort of enjoy it.
    Well done sir.

  • Michelle

    I do.  Can you give Bush credit for putting the polices in place that allowed Obama the win?

  • Pablo’s Ex Husband

    Roger Ailes: Did you forget Wallace? Bush is no longer president. We stopped being the War on Terror network years ago!! Now, we’re gloom and doom Obama.
    Chris Wallace: I know sir. I was just calling it like I see it. Bin Laden. Al-Maliki. Libya. Winding down the Bush wars. It’s pretty amazing. Obama gets an A on foreign policy.
    Roger Ailes: Keep your opinions to yourself!! What do you think we are fair and balanced? Hahaha.
    Chris Wallace: I’m sorry sir.
    Roger Ailes: Now tell that broad I picked up in Las Vegas last weekend who is sitting in the lobby to come on in. She’s some real eye candy. I’m going to enjoy watching her give my news in the afternoon. Oh yeah.  

  • Cain

    I do but I also know that three years later our policies have evolved from his. 

  • TbagsRstupid

    HAHAHAHAHAHA

  • Exgoper

    “I do.”

    Then say it.

    “Can you give Bush credit for putting the polices in place that allowed Obama the win”

    Would that be the same president Bush who said “I
    don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s
    not that important. It’s not our priority”?

  • Exgoper

    Until they’re offered the opportunity to choose an actual Republican and not merely a generic Republican. Obama continues to lead Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich, Cain and all the other contenders in nearly all head-to-head match ups.

  • Michelle

    I should get a life. My Obama Derangement Syndrome is really creeping people out.

  • Anon

    lolllll

  • Anonymous

    Hmmmmm….did you ‘Thank’ POTUS Obama for the same following of POTUS Bush Domestic Policies..or would that be blaming Bush for the economy, yet giving praise for following War Doctrine???????

  • Judge Roy Bean

    I’d have ordered this strike from Vinegaroon but…I don’t have a drone.

  • Michelle

    Liberal stalker alert!!

  • Anonymous

    Colby is in orgasm mode that he can prop up his far left lover Obama. Don’t forget to wipe your chin Mr. Hall.

  • Anonymous

    Just as it is HYPOCRACY to say its ‘POTUS Bush’ policy that POTUS Obama’ is following on War…yet Obama is a Socialist for following policies that Bush pursued on the Domestic Economy…….go figure!

  • Michelle

    It depends on the poll you look at.  He doesn’t beat Romney in all polls, is barely beating Cain, and is nearly tied with PAUL.  It’s not looking good for Barry.

  • Anonymous

    Just as there are Conservatives that are activist(in favor) when it comes to the Death Penalty, whether one is possibly wrongly convicted or not, rt??

  • Anonymous

    And YOU, if you are honest….will admit that the Economy sucks, because of POTUS Bush polocies that continued into the Obama administration, rt?

  • Anonymous

    ‘YES’ POTUS Bush started the U.S. on this path……both paths to be correct….the one leading to the killings of terrorist, as well as the one leading to the economy falling….how bout you???

  • Michelle

    Dude, you are begging to be banned!

  • TbagsRstupid

    allowed?

  • Exgoper

    Most polls continue to show Obama ahead of all competitors. That’s in spite of the weak economy and the fact that he’s barely started his campaign. If the GOP can’t be 20 points ahead by now, that points to very serious weakness in their position going into 2012.

  • Concerned Citizen

    There’s the biased right wing news agency Fox News bashing Obama again….oh wait.

  • Roger_Fails

    You don’t understand how this works: when Bush royally screws up and Obama has to clean up the mess, Obama gets the blame. When Obama scores a victory, it’s Bush’s policies that get the credit.

    Get it straight, please!

  • http://profiles.google.com/fatlibertarianinokc Fat Libertarian

    Obama should be charged with murder.

    This guy TALKED about our policies and how much he hated them.

    There’s been no court case to prove his guilt.

    Seems like murder to me.

  • Anonymous

    Jonah Goldberg made a good point on the Fox panel tonight . The Obama administration thinks terrorists should be treated as criminals , but cops don’t assassinate criminals , they arrest them .

  • Norbit

    Where are the PROGRESIVE DEMOCRATS’ OUTRAGE?

    Where is the PROGRESSIVE MEDIA OUTRAGE?

    They froth-at-the-mouth over closing GITMO, yet when Obama rains death-from-the-sky over neighborhoods in four different counties, the SILENCE of the Left screams PURE HYPOCRISY!

  • Valkyrie101

    Sure. Who would deny anyone the right to be active?

  • Redleaf

    Did you not read Roger Ailes’ interview with The Daily Beast?
    He recently told his anchors to tone down the rhetoric.
    Wallace likes working and feeding his family, so he got the message. 

  • Anonymous

    Boulder dash, Colby can take a good (ribbing).

  • Valkyrie101

    Actually several people on both sides have been commenting on Cristy’s weight, but no one is calling him a rhino just yet.

  • Texan

    Almost as funny as when a neoprog calls a dem a dino. Not quite, but, almost.

  • Texan

    The neoprogs hypocrisy and obsession with Christie’s weight is pretty funny you have to admit.

  • Texan

    Namejack much, robert?

  • Texan

    Biden already took the blame. Sorry, you lose, again.

  • Texan

    At this point, when obama is slipping fast in the approval polls, he’s willing to do ANYTHING to get re-elected.

  • Michelle

    You my friends are one heck of a spin-meister!  You’d give Tommy a run for his money.

  • Michelle

    I’d agree if he hadn’t already banned me 4 or 5 times. If I disappear again, you’ll know why.

  • Anonymous

    Really they have banned you? i haven’t seen any of your posts that needed banning, I guess they can’t handle the truth!!

  • Anonymous

    Is this the moderate tone that Ailes had talked about?   Even Ailes knows he can’t have the train going to far right that it comes off the rails during the general election.

  • http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

    Didn’t Chris Wallace get the memo from Fox News that no one, and I mean no one at the network can give Obama credit for ANYTHING??

  • Anonymous

    Even the memos from Sammon say to tone it down.  

  • Anonymous

    He obviously didn’t get the memo and will be called upstairs for a “meeting” very soon.

  • Cecelia

    In suggesting that it’s laudable that the Administration hasn’t played the “terror card”, you seem to be forgetting that they have often and from the start played the “end of habeas corpus card and human rights violations card”. 

    That despite policy against waterborading, the administration has found it easier to blow terrorists up rather than having to directly apply the standards of their own past and current rhetoric concerning trials, Gitmo, and the proper ways to extract information from prisoners.

    This targeting and extermination of an American citizen is just more evidence of that.

    We’ll continue to see the Administration make comments to their base that imply that they are more moral in these matters than their predecessors.

    Here’s hoping that this is one “card” you find it in yourself to call them on.

  • Anonymous

    Wait! What? I thought…I mean I was taught…I mean my instructors said…I mean I was told by EVERYBODY that Fox News is EVIL and NEVER reports the truth and NEVER EVER reports favorably about Obama. This story can’t be real, but it’s being reported by Colby Hall of Mediaite fame so it MUST BE TRUE! Gen. Alinsky told us this could never happen.  Oh…won’t somebody please tell me what to think?

  • Texan

    You’ve said that a gazzillion times under a gazzillion names and it still hasn’t happened.

  • TbagsRstupid

    YEAH

    That’s a real good point

    http://www.teamamerica.com/

  • TbagsRstupid

    Dude, how old are you?

  • Anonymous

    And ‘Vice Versa’ there fellow……its how the game, get it ‘GAME’ is played by idiots who wish to take sides……hence, read what was being responded too, ummm-k…if its Bush policy that he following that lead to the killings, it was Bush policies that set this economic mess in motion and the ‘Stimulus’ that started with the previous administration….give credit or dis-credit for both there buddy!

  • Anonymous

    And ‘Vice Versa’ there fellow……its how the game, get it ‘GAME’ is played by idiots who wish to take sides……hence, read what was being responded too, ummm-k…if its Bush policy that he following that lead to the killings, it was Bush policies that set this economic mess in motion and the ‘Stimulus’ that started with the previous administration….give credit or dis-credit for both there buddy!

  • Anonymous

    LOL….’really?’…..sad there guy, very sad for ya!

  • Anonymous

    Ummm, ‘No-One’ should deny the right to be ‘active’….its that lil ‘hypocracy’ thang, thats kinda gets to ya, or at least it should!

  • Anonymous

    Ummm, ‘No-One’ should deny the right to be ‘active’….its that lil ‘hypocracy’ thang, thats kinda gets to ya, or at least it should!

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/D7SM25L672V2BCGDVP3KM4AI2Q paulo m

    Thank you, Michelle for the silly strawman.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/D7SM25L672V2BCGDVP3KM4AI2Q paulo m

    Michelle, did you expect the President to just throw all of Bush’s policies away instead of just the more onerous few? Seems like you weren’t paying attention during the campaign.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/D7SM25L672V2BCGDVP3KM4AI2Q paulo m

    Another example of the argumentum ad populum logical fallacy. Thanks for that, Michelle.

  • cdnhawk

    the truth?..with Michelle…..that’s a good one

  • Tim Tebow

    Bush never thought about Bin Laden–he said so himself.

    He was too busy going after Saddam for attacking New York, DC, and Pa.

    ‘member?

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    I’m not sure what those policies would be. Beligerent talking and strutting? That seems to have been the entire breadth of W’s War on Terror. But, hey, we’re winning now!

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Liar. You do nothing but attack President Obama and give aid ad comfort to the enemies of America. You’ve gone nuts over the demise of two (2) of the key terrorists fighting us.

  • Tim Tebow

    Without Bush, Obama would never have happened.

    Without Iraq, Obama would never have happened.

    Without the financial crisis, Obama would never have happened.

    I agree with you.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Conservative Victimization Syndrome. Again.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Like winning the War on Terror?

  • Anonymous

    She’s been rather effectively paper-trained.

  • http://twitter.com/TommyBennett Tom Bennett

    You partisan douche.

  • http://twitter.com/TommyBennett Tom Bennett

    Texan, take a coffee break.

  • http://twitter.com/TommyBennett Tom Bennett

    Like actually showing a powerful defense?

  • http://twitter.com/TommyBennett Tom Bennett

    What is it like to be a woman reactionary? that must be something really different.

  • TbagsRstupid

    A gazillion
    thats cute – you learned a new word on the playground

    now go to your room and look up that word ant come tell us tomorrow its meaning

  • http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

    It’s definitely a good thing that OBL and Al-Awlaki are gone. My opinion as to why Obama doesn’t play up his war on terror more? 

    Well, it would go against everything he campaigned against, and what his base *usually* cares about, and why they elected him in the first place.

    Like that article that called him the worst President for civil liberties, ever, he probably doesn’t want to remind his base about how he continued, and extended the very Bush policies he ran against, and that he took out an American citizen without due process. 

    The hypocrisy coming from Obama supporters surrounding this killing is hilarious…

  • Guest

    Exactly. I mean, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Republican mocking Michael Moore for his weight. They’re just not like that.

  • Guest

    Haha, wow, this is absolutely hilarious. Weren’t you guys just crying the other day because of “wasteful spending in Yemen”?

  • Obama Supporter

    If Bush’s policies toward Al Quaeda were so great then why was he sooooo ineffective at catching them?  First off, he had us in Iraq which was a big mistake by his own admission.  Then, by all accounts he let Bin Laden slip into Pakistan where they were obviously hiding him.

  • Obama Supporter

    Chris Wallace has always been the exception at Fox.  In fact, he has taken his colleagues to task at time over their biases.  He appears to be a real journalist who holds right wing ideologies but know how to hide them.

  • david r

    Sometimes you just have to let the big dog eat.  I’m relatively new to this site.  About a year I guess.  And I don’t know the specifics.  But the fact they have let you come back just shows they thought you needed a comeuppance. (I get them regularly and ignore them.)  I appreciate the opinions you express in your posts.  RRK as well.  Let a thousand flowers blossom.

  • david r

    Frankly, I like Obama’s “drive-by” approach.  Very utilitarian. 

  • Valkyrie101

    Opposing someone’s view point does not constitute denying someone their rights. Look at those wacko religious conservatives out there at the funerals of our soldiers acting like assholes. We celebrate their right to do that, but we oppose what they are saying.

  • Valkyrie101

    Christy is a heart attack waiting to happen.

  • Looking out for the truth

    So let me understand this correctly……..
    It is wrong to waterboard KSM, a non- U.S. citizen, who is still alive.
    But it is ok for the government of the U.S. to assassinate a U.S. citizen who is aligned with AQ.
    Legal justification for waterboarding by Bush Justice Dept
    Legal justification for assassination by Obama Justice Dept
    So when is it wrong…..when Bush does it.
    If roles were reversed Liberals would screen that waterboarding is more humane then firing hellfire missles

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/D7SM25L672V2BCGDVP3KM4AI2Q paulo m

    You are comparing apples and hand grenades.

  • Anonymous

    No Norbit, you just can’t seem to accept the fact that many progressives, like myself, want to peruse the war on terror in a sensible and effective way. Obama is doing just that. 

  • Grayce

    Why hasn’t anyone commented objectively on the real-time decisions made by elected officials, especially presidents?  This is real life. It is not a videogame.
    The person on the hotline cannot use a rehearsed line or a political “belief.”  We cannot run a country on Bush’s “beliefs” or Obamas “beliefs” or yours or mine, for that matter. Can you ride a two-wheel bike? Do you always lean right? Probably you make instinctive course corrections. So, sometimes we need tax breaks and sometimes we need to tax income in order to change the course of the economy.
    That’s why  tax cuts have a time limit. If the economy is OK, then the decision to extend tax cuts makes sense. If the economy has gone in the other direction, then the decision to let them run out is an option. To pretend that one idea ALWAYS works is shortchanging ourselves on the bet and brightest use of elected brains.
    How about no party hats inside congress, the white house and the courts?

  • Grayce

    You would be surprised at the diversity among liberals, especially in right to life and capital punishment areas.

  • Grayce

    Yes, just as first aid by a good samaritan doctor may not be what that person would do given a perfect setting. But sometimes you have to get a situation under control in order to resume normal functioning.

  • Grayce

    I really hope our form of government is always a continuation of something and not a totally new regime every election like the French Republic! Is it fair to say that Clinton’s economics continued?
    Granted that we the people like a circus instead of a run-up to selecting the best person. And then we let the last man standing pick the vice president.

  • Grayce

    Young people know John Stewart’s is fake news but they follow the opinion leaders on the channel called Fox News whether or not the host is announcing news or opinion.

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