[More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.]
On the 2 September 2014 edition of CNN Tonight, Don Lemon spotlighted the scoop that President Obama received briefings on ISIS "for at least a year" before the extreme Islamist group's blitzkrieg across northern Iraq – something the Big Three networks failed to do the same evening. During a segment with Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, Lemon pointed out that the President was "briefed on this a year ago, and then...looked the other way – didn't take it seriously enough."
Kristof did his best to brush this reporting aside: "I don't think it's quite right to say he didn't take it seriously enough. I think that the problem there is that there aren't good options." The CNN anchor also wondered if the liberal politician should take a stronger stance against ISIS, as one of his main counterparts did:
DON LEMON: We're hearing tough words. Let's talk about David Cameron – tough words from David Cameron. He talking about even possibly confiscating passports, banning fighters from coming back to the U.K. Does the Obama administration need to be bolder in its fight against these extremists? Does he need to be more like David Cameron and his response?