Sunday night, Barack and Michelle Obama appeared in their first post-election interview on CBS. The segment went very well for them. President-elect Barack Obama was down to earth, even humble in his answers, and Mrs. Obama was friendly and especially gracious toward Laura Bush.
There wasn't much policy discussed, but in two places "Talking Points" got a little confused.
It's worth repeating here that "The Factor's" primary job now is to provide fair oversight to the Obama administration. No cheap shots, no free passes. We'll analyze what the new president says and does in a methodical, clear, and non-biased way. In that way, we'll separate ourselves from most of the other media that are either deeply in the tank for Obama or hate him.
Now back to Sunday night. Here's what Mr. Obama stated about Guantanamo.
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BARACK OBAMA: I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that.
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But what exactly happens to the 250 alleged terrorists at Gitmo? If they're moved to the USA, the ACLU will immediately file a bunch of lawsuits on their behalf and chaos will ensue. If these men are ever tried in civilian courts, national security intelligence gathering will be incredibly damaged. That, of course, is what the ACLU and other far-left loons want: a dismantling of secret intelligence agencies.
Is that what Barack Obama wants? I can't imagine he'd want to put the nation at risk. So where will he put the Gitmo guys?
Then there is the interrogation of captured terrorists.
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OBAMA: I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture, and I'm going to make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world.
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Well that's nice in theory, but what exactly is torture? Keeping a suspect awake? Loud music? Bad food? Will President Obama eliminate all stressful interrogation methods? If so, that will end most of the information flow from captured terrorists. Most of these guys are hard cases. They don't give up information easily.
So who is cheering the closure of Guantanamo and the torture debate? Certainly the committed-left American press is. Monday an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle calls for a criminal investigation of Guantanamo.
Also, "Talking Points" believes there are people hiding in remote mountain areas that may be smiling today. But, of course, I could be wrong.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Apparently singer John Mayer is a big Megyn Kelly fan.
Click here to watch "Pinheads & Patriots."
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JOHN MAYER, MUSICIAN: Hi, I'm John Mayer, and I'm the world's biggest Megyn Kelly fan. With her tasseled curls and incredible legal knowledge, I have no objection — play on words — to her.
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I thought about making Mr. Mayer a patriot for liking Kelly, but the bad pun destroyed that idea. So Megyn is the patriot by default.
On the pinhead front, the PETA animal rights people are still terrorizing folks.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lindsay, hi. Welcome to Paris.
LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: Oh, my God!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you do that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's a fur hag! She wears fur!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
She wears fur. Oh, those PETA people. Pinheads, at the very least.
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