Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Thursday's Fox and Friends, co-host Steve Doocy took the time to show viewers an embarrassing piece of video from former Vice President Joe Biden not highlighted elsewhere in the media in which the Democratic presidential candidate admitted that he advised President Barack Obama against the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Doocy and Washington Post columnist and Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen discussed Biden's recent bizarre condemnation of President Donald Trump over the raid killing ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdad even while Biden had been hesitant to hit bin Laden.
Nearing the end of the show at 8:45 a.m. Eastern, Doocy set up the segment: "This past week, the world's most wanted terrorist wound up dead, but Joe Biden refusing to give the President any credit."
He then played a clip of Biden criticizing Trump from a phone interview on MSNBC: "It got pulled off, I think, in spite of his actions. The President should stay in his lane and listen to the military."
After Thiessen, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, was brought aboard, he pointed out Biden's history of poor judgment on going after terrorist leaders: "It's fair to ask: What would Joe Biden have done if he were President of the United States, and we have a little bit of an inkling because he opposed the raid that got Osama bin Laden."
Doocy then introduced a couple of clips of the former Vice President recalling his discussion with President Obama right before the bin Laden raid:
BIDEN CLIP #1: We had to make a decision. .The President -- he went around the table with all the senior people, including the chiefs of staff. And he said, "I have to make this decision. What is your opinion?"
BIDEN CLIP #2: When he got to me, he said, "Joe, what do you think?" And I said, "You know, I didn't know we had so many economists around the table." I said, "We owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is: Don't go, We need to do two more things to see if he's there."
The Fox News host then commented that President Obama received praise from Republicans over the bin Laden raid in contrast with President Trump being lambasted by Democrats: "Well, they did go, and Barack Obama was praised. It was completely bipartisan, which is something that this President did not wind up with regarding al-Baghdadi."
Thiessen further commented on Biden's poor judgment:
THIESSEN: And, by the way, Biden was the only person around that table who opposed the bin Laden operation -- everybody in President Obama's national security team -- so he's the only one who had the poor judgment to say "don't go." So you've got the guy who opposed the bin Laden operation criticizing the guy who authorized the al-Baghdad operation makes very little sense.
He went on to argue that Vice President Biden also supported the Obama administration policy of withdrawing troops from Iraq, which led to the rise of ISIS in the first place.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portions of the Thursday, October 31, Fox and Friends:
STEVE DOOCY: This past week, the world's most wanted terrorist wound up dead, but Joe Biden refusing to give the President any credit.
FORMER VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN AUDIO (ON MSNBC): It got pulled off, I think, in spite of his actions. The President should stay in his lane and listen to the military.
DOOCY: But our next guest argues, if Biden was President, al-Baghdadi could still be alive.
(…)
MARC THIESSEN, WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST: It's fair to ask: What would Joe Biden have done if he were President of the United States, and we have a little bit of an inkling because he opposed the raid that got Osama bin Laden.
DOOCY: I am so glad you mentioned that because we have got that flashback soundbite. Here is the former Vice President who wants to be commander-in-chief saying "don't go" to Barack Obama.
BIDEN CLIP #1: We had to make a decision. .The President -- he went around the table with all the senior people, including the chiefs of staff. And he said, "I have to make this decision. What is your opinion?"
BIDEN CLIP #2: When he got to me, he said, "Joe, what do you think?" And I said, "You know, I didn't know we had so many economists around the table." I said, "We owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is: Don't go, We need to do two more things to see if he's there."
DOOCY: Well, they did go, and Barack Obama was praised. It was completely bipartisan, which is something that this President did not wind up with regarding al-Baghdadi.
THIESSEN: And, by the way, Biden was the only person around that table who opposed the bin Laden operation -- everybody in President Obama's national security team -- so he's the only one who had the poor judgment to say "don't go." So you've got the guy who opposed the bin Laden operation criticizing the guy who authorized the al-Baghdad operation makes very little sense.
But the other thing he's criticizing him for, Steve, is, you know, his decision to withdraw from Syria. And he's right -- Trump shouldn't be withdrawing from Syria, but Joe Biden is the guy who led the effort to withdraw all of our troops from Iraq against the advice of commanders because he said it was the proudest moment of his life. That's what led to the rise of ISIS in the first place. There would have been no need for a Baghdadi mission if it hadn't been for Joe Biden withdrawing all our troops in 2011..