By Bill O'Reilly
It is becoming clear that the Obama administration severely miscalculated reaction to trading a suspected deserter Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban war criminals. The President in Europe this week is getting pounded from all sides.
Here is powerful Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FEINSTEIN: The concerns are bipartisan. And I strongly believe that we should have been consulted, that the law should have been followed, and I very much regret that that was not the case.
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O'REILLY: To be fair, some Democrats are standing behind the President, Senator Harry Reid leads the league in that department.
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SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Opponents of President Obama have seized upon the release of an American prisoner of war, that's what he was. Using what should be a moment of unity and celebration for our nation and a chance to play political games.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: But this story is much more than political gamesmanship. Sergeant Bergdahl definitely deserted his post. There is no question about that. Here he is in release video he's blinking because he was probably blindfolded. There is the Taliban captor walking him over to the U.S. forces over the weekend.
Bergdahl may have even collaborated with the enemy, the Taliban. That has been investigated there is a classified report on the situation. Yesterday at State Department spokesperson Marie Harp was besieged with questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've had all this time five years to determine whether he is a deserter or not. That's a long time.
MARI HARP, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: He's been in captivity. I think he's probably the person who knows best what happened on that night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well I think his squad mates have the best indication.
HARP: I don't think that that's the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Miss Harp is entitled to her opinion but public opinion has definitely turned against the Sergeant and the swap in general. In a Rasmussen poll 43 percent of Americans now oppose the swap; 40 percent say it's ok; 17 percent a big number don't know. And that number is going to change. More will come out against, wait and see.
Talking Points believes that Sergeant Bergdahl and his father Robert opposed America's presence in Afghanistan. There is enough evidence to prove that. The question is how far -- how far did Sergeant Bergdahl take his dissent? The military should investigate that to its fullest extent.
Now onto the big picture. Once again the Obama administration has botched an important decision. Even the President admits the five released Taliban war criminals might kill again. And his administration has embarrassed itself by saying Sergeant Bergdahl served with honor. He did not. Whatever the circumstances what he did, leaving his unit was wrong.
So this is another big mess, for which Mr. Obama is directly responsible. Is his administration at the tipping point? I believe it is.
And that's "The Memo."
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