Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest took the heat for President Barack Obama remarks yesterday declaring that Iranian hardliners chanting “death to America” are “making common cause” with Republicans.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski said, “Some say the president might have been a tad bit condescending and maybe not the best approach to selling the nuclear deal in that speech. Some might say that. What do you think?”
Earnest replied, “My guess is those are the same people trying to kill the deal. The fact is that the president made a pretty passionate approach or case for a deal that he believes is critical to the chief national security priorities which is preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. I would concede the president did not pull any punches yesterday.”
Host Joe Scarborough said, “Yeah, I would say if you compare Republicans who fought in the war with Iranian hard-liners, that would be defined as not pulling any punches. Was that necessary?”
Earnest said, “I think what he did is made the point they are making the same argument, that it’s hard-liners in Iran suggesting they should kill the deal and it’s Republicans here in Washington D.C. who are suggesting the deal should be kill. There’s no doubt they’re making this same argument.”
Scarborough countered, “Charles Manson loved the White Album. I loved the White album. Is the president going to compare me to Charles Manson? No. I’m just saying, just because they have — are both against a deal for two different reasons, one because the Republicans are concerned about America’s safety. The Iranian hard-liners want a nuke.”
He continued, “The president said yesterday to American University, people who are against this deal are either ignorant or untruthful. There are people of good faith who can disagree with the deal. Why does the president see this in such stark terms and why are those who oppose the deal either ignorant or untruthful?”
Earnest said, “The reason that the president see this is in such stark terms is the president has spent a lot of time talking about this. This goes back to the case the president made when he ran for office in 2007 suggesting we should consider trying to resolve our concerns with Iran, diplomatically.”
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