We have grown accustomed to hearing downright shocking questions from the media, but a question from CNN’s Erin Burnett just might take the cake for the most outrageous question ever asked.
“I have to tell you, have we not heard incredible questions from reporters in America,” Glenn asked on radio this morning. “We've heard incredible incompetence. We've heard it all. I think we have a winner now for the most crazy, outrageous, crazy question I've ever heard.”
News Busters first reported that during an interview with former First Lady Laura Bush about the George W. Bush Institute's Women's Initiative Fellowship Program, Burnett asked if it is time for the United States to “accept” anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism in order “to make change.”
Burnett’s question follows an awkward week for the Obama administration, in which the State Department had to rescind its Women of Courage Award because the intended recipient, an Egyptian woman named Samir Ibrahim, was found to have tweeted some remarkably offensive comments about the United States and Jewish people.
“She's never struck me as psycho,” Glenn said of Burnett. “She never struck me as an oddball. She's just a journalist. I want you to listen this question.”
BURNETT: An Egyptian woman, her name's Samir Ibraham, and she's done a lot of things, courageous things. She's also been criticized for sending tweets that are anti-Semitic, anti-American. Does the U.S. need to accept that when we want to make change. You have to support people that do those things - financially in term of awards, in terms of all these things - because it pays off in the end? Is that a trade-off we have to make?
BUSH: No, I don't think so, not necessarily. But I do think it's really important that we do support women in any way we can in the U.S.
“That's amazing,” Glenn said. “Should America just accept the anti-Semitic views, the anti-American views in order to affect change?”
While Stu was quick to point out that Burnett was simply stating a White House policy that forces us to ignore defamatory or inflammatory remarks by people like Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi or other world leaders for the sake of diplomacy, Glenn was still skeptical.
“I no longer a believer in our foreign policy. It does not work. It does not work to say that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. It doesn't work,” Glenn said. “You have to be very clear, and very clear on principles. Otherwise you confuse the world, and you become like everybody else.”
“With that being said there is a difference between Morsi, who is a leader of state who you have to sit down and be in the same room with occasionally, and giving an award to somebody who has no power,” he continued. “You're holding them up as an example for people to model themselves after. So there's a huge difference.”
“I think the correct answer is: You don't have to put up with it anywhere,” Stu added. “The administration currently deals with countries this way, and it doesn't seem to have a positive effect. They continue to be more and more anti-Israel, and anti-America no matter how many things they ignore.”
As Stu explained, given the obvious lack of historical success, why would Burnett think shrugging off blatantly offensive remarks about America and its allies for the sake of handing out an award help America’s foreign policy?
“What a dumb question,” Pat said. “Dangerous and dumb.”
“If we prop people up who are anti-Semitic and have anti-American views, how do the Jews and Americans survive,” Glenn asked. “That means you're saying, you have a rightful place at the table. And by the time that they have their rightful place at the table, if we haven't dismissed those ideas, then those ideas have a real place at the table.”
Ultimately, Glenn struggled to understand why someone like Burnett would even ask a question of this nature. “She's not a crazy member of the press,” he said. “This shows how far our press is off base and off target. That is a truly frightening question coming from a relatively normal person – a person you've watched a thousand times at CNN. Well, it’s CNN, so someone you’ve watched eight times on TV, and you've never thought she's crazy!”
Watch the original segment below:
