Even though his official campaign for the presidency is over, Ted Cruz isn’t taking a vacation. Last Tuesday Cruz began conducting a hearing:
…investigating…“Willful Blindness: Consequences of Agency Efforts To Deemphasize Radical Islam in Combating Terrorism.”…This hearing will likely focus on which figures within the federal government worked to squelch any research connecting the dots between local Muslim Brotherhood officials, these individual terrorists, and foreign terror networks. Senators on the committee now have an opportunity to expose the Muslim Brotherhood influence within DHS and the FBI, their invidious “Countering Violent Extremism” Agenda, and their hand in covering up counter-terrorism investigations. They can demonstrate how the federal government has hamstrung local law enforcement by refusing to cooperate and share information regarding jihadists living in their communities.
One question is whether anyone’s listening except those already disposed to be concerned about how the Obama administration is handling the problem.
One person who seems relatively unconcerned—and uninterested—in the Senate proceedings is Homeland Security head Jeh Johnson, who was grilled by Cruz yesterday. In the following clip showing their exchange, you can see what an excellent lawyer Cruz is and how he maintains a calm and even tone as he wields the verbal stiletto. Johnson manages to reveal his own condescending attitude and seems to resent even being asked the questions:
Here’s a post at RedState on how the proceedings have been going, with some quotes from Cruz.
Watch the full hearing:
And this article offers the following pearl of wisdom from Illinois Democrat Richard J. Durbin:
Durbin mocked the notion that there are Muslim bastions around the country, on par with old Irish Catholic parishes in his home state of Illinois.”The Muslim population is not that large, per se, and they seem to be dispersed,” said the second-ranking Senate Democrat. “And when we talk about patrolling and enforcing Muslim neighborhoods, as one member of this panel has, I’m at a loss.””What was he trying to say?” Durbin asked. “What is a Muslim neighborhood?”
The answer has got to be “knave” on the “knave vs. fool” question for Durbin. No one’s that foolish.
[NOTE: See also this for a recent prediction by Marco Rubio. And also see this previous Legal Insurrection post about Andrew McCarthy’s testimony before the same committee.]
[Neo-neocon is a writer with degrees in law and family therapy, who blogs at neo-neocon.]
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