In yet another display of the Obama bias of MSNBC, the gang at morning Joe has out done themselves. They started out by claiming that Obama’s decision to keep Guantanamo open and resume the military tribunals is an example the difference between campaigning and governing. Then Savannah Guthrie quickly explained that “these are incredibly difficult problems and everybody agrees that, in fact I believe that toward the end the Bush administration also expressed the desire to close Guantanamo, but when the rubber meets the road these problems are very difficult. I’m sure the Obama administrations lawyers would point out it is made all the more difficult by some of the treatment that these detainees received from the Bush administration”
There you have it, President Obama wanted to close Guantanamo but due to the actions of President George W. Bush he is forced to keep it open. Let me also correct Ms. Guthrie misreporting that Bush, toward the end, wanted to close Guantanamo. This is from the New York Times on October 20, 2008.
Mr. Bush’s top advisers held a series of meetings at the White House this summer after a Supreme Court ruling in June cast doubt on the future of the American detention center. But Mr. Bush adopted the view of his most hawkish advisers that closing Guantánamo would involve too many legal and political risks to be acceptable, now or any time soon, the officials said.
Disrupt the Narrative 