Mark Steyn Slams 'Hashtag Diplomacy,' Jon Stewart: #BringBackOurBalls

On Tuesday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” conservative commentator Mark Steyn elaborated on his column from over the weekend headlined “#BringBackOurBalls,” in which he was critical of the foreign policy of the United States having been reduced to a tweet.

“I think there’s a danger of communicating to the world the United States is not a serious power anymore,” Steyn said. “You know, when celebrities do it, when Alec Baldwin or Beyoncé issues a tweet about whatever their pet concern happens to be, celebrity activists are doing it to put pressure on government. Mrs. Obama is the government. She’s the wife of the government. And the only point to doing this would be if the United States was involved in some way of actually bringing back these girls. These girls — if you’re going to say ‘bring back our girls,’ somebody has to bring them back and realistically that means it’s American special forces, French special forces, British special forces, Israeli special forces or maybe a couple of others. There’s nobody else who can get these girls back alive. So unless you’re actually doing something to bring them back, this tweet is less than useless because it communicates to the world that you’re not a serious power.”

Steyn also took issue with Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, who criticized conservative talker Rush Limbaugh on his Monday show for attacking the Obama administration tactic of using social media.

“I would like to get those 276 girls back, Sean, and hire them as replacement writers for Jon Stewart because they couldn’t do a worse job than his writing staff if that so-called hashtag is the best he can come up with,” Steyn added. “Look, I’m serious. I’d like to get those girls back alive.  As I said, I regard them as my commonwealth cousins and I want them back alive. But a tweet and a hashtag is not getting them back alive. So Jon Stewart should get serious. It’s not about you or Rush [Limbaugh]. It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s about the president of the world’s superpower reducing himself to a tweet because that’s cool. Well, a tweet works for Alec Baldwin. And a tweet works for Beyoncé and Jay-Z. A tweet does not work for the foreign policy of the United States.”

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