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Buzz Cut:
• Baier Tracks: Obama’s war with words
• Hanky Banky: Swiss bank leak shows tax-dodging Clinton donors
• Jeb continues his slide away from Common Core
• Walker stakes his claim in Iowa
• Come for the backbreaking work, stay for the lousy weather
BAIER TRACKS: OBAMA’S WAR WITH WORDS
“For a president and his administration, words matter. His tone and tenor matter. His emphasis matters. That is why there is such an uproar over President Obama’s recent statements about Islamist militants and the threat of terrorism. It’s been quite a rhetorical run of late. There were the president’s comments to Vox about a terrorist ‘randomly shooting folks in a deli in Paris,’ which spurred a day-long rhetorical dance at the White House and State Department. Prior to that, there was the president’s comparison at the National Prayer Breakfast of the acts of ISIS to the conduct of the Crusades of a thousand years ago. And throughout it all, there has also been the administration’s repeated use of the euphemism ‘violent extremists’ when talking about Islamist terrorists and militants.
In the president’s interview with Buzzfeed this week, he was asked about ISIS and Vladimir Putin and other world threats. But here was interviewer Ben Smith’s take: ‘Obama saved his sharpest words Tuesday for American companies who have not entirely embraced the spirit of the Affordable Care Act, his health care overhaul.’ Is it possible that the president used his ‘sharpest words’ to discuss American companies? This all comes as supporters of the president’s request for congressional authorization to continue the war against ISIS are asking the president to make a forceful case for his policy. But recent statements suggest the president does not like to talk about war if he doesn’t have to. For the authorization to get the votes needed, he may have to.” –Bret Baier
[Watch Fox: Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, appears on “Special Report with Bret Baier” in the 6 p.m. ET hour.]
