Amid A New Wave Of Attacks, Democrats Double Down On World View That Sees Terrorism As A Nuisance Being Handled, Not A Growing Threat

TOP TAKEAWAYS

This morning, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest continued the Democrats' pattern of downplaying the threat of terrorism, telling CNN we are only in a "narrative war" with ISIS.

Yesterday, Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine also downplayed the threat of terrorism by saying that the fight against ISIS has "dramatically improved" since 2015.

In December, Hillary Clinton also downplayed the threat of terrorism saying "We now finally are where we need to be" in the fight against ISIS.

Over the weekend, Vice President Biden has downplayed the threat of ISIS by saying that terrorism is not an existential threat to America.

One day before the November 2015 ISIS attack in Paris, President Obama downplayed the threat of terrorism by saying that we finally had ISIS "contained."

Today On CNN's New Day, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest Said We Are In A Narrative War With With ISIS. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: "What I can tell you is that we are, when it comes to ISIL, we are in a fight, a narrative fight with them. A narrative battle. And what ISIL wants to do is they want to project that they are an organization that is representing Islam in a fight and a war against the west, and a war against the United States. That is a bankrupt, false narrative. It's a mythology, and we have made progress in debunking that mythology." (Josh Earnest, CNN's New Day, CNN, 9/19/16)

Click To Watch

Yesterday, Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Kaine Said The Fight Against ISIS Has "Dramatically Improved" Since 2015

On CNN's State Of The Union, Democrat Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Kaine Asserted That The Fight Against ISIS Has "Dramatically Improved" Since 2015. "Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine backed off his 2015 claim that the United States' handling of Syria is a 'joke,' saying efforts to combat ISIS have succeeded since then. 'We have dramatically improved in the last year, and the proof is in how much ground ISIS has lost,' Kaine, the Virginia senator who is Hillary Clinton's running mate, told CNN's Jake Tapper Sunday on 'State of the Union.' 'A year ago, I think you remember, we had a small force that we were trying to put into Syria, and the opening of that was an abysmal failure,' Kaine said. 'But now we are taking the fight to ISIS to defeat them and to destroy them. And if you look at what's happened in the last year, ISIS's territory has dramatically shrunk because of a significant uptick in cooperation between the US, the Iraqi military, the Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, the Kurds in northern Syria and the Syrian opposition. We're shrinking their space on the battlefield,' he said." (Eric Bradner, "Kaine: Fight Against ISIS 'Dramatically Improved Since 2015," CNN, 9/18/16)

Last December, Hillary Clinton Dismissed The Threat Of Terrorism By Saying That "We Now Finally Are Where We Need To Be" In The Fight Against ISIS

Clinton On ISIS: "We Now Finally Are Where We Need To Be." CLINTON: "Look at these Complex problems. I wish it could be either or; I wish we could say yes, let's go destroy ISIS and let's let Assad continue to destroy Syria which creates more terrorist, more extremist by the minute. No. We now finally are where we need to be. We have a strategy and a commitment to go after ISIS which is a danger to us as well as the region and we finally have a UN Security Council resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. If the United States does not lead there is not another leader, there is a vacuum and we have to lead if we're going to be successful." (Hillary Clinton, Democratic Primary Debate, Manchester, NH, 12/19/15)

Click To Watch

Vice President Joe Biden Also Downplayed The Threat Of ISIS As Not An Existential Threat To America

In An Interview With The Atlantic, Vice President Joe Biden Said That Terrorism Does Not Pose An Existential Threat To America. "The third part of the Biden Doctrine-and I haven't thought about it in this way before-would be proportionality. Terrorism is a real threat, but it's not an existential threat to the existence of the democratic country of the United States of America. Terrorism can cause real problems. It can undermine confidence. It can kill relatively large numbers of people. But terrorism is not an existential threat." (Steve Clemons, "The Geopolitical Therapist," The Atlantic, 8/26/16)

And One Day Prior To The Deadly ISIS Attack In Paris, Obama Downplayed The Threat Of Terrorism As "Contained"

In An Interview Airing The Day Of The Paris Attacks, Obama Downplayed The ISIS Threat, Saying He Doesn't Believe They Are Getting Stronger And That They Are "Contained ." ABC'S GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: "But ISIS is gaining strength, aren't they?" OBAMA: "Well, I don't think they're gaining strength. What is true is that from the start our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq and in Syria, they'll come in, they'll leave. But you don't see the systematic march by ISIL across the terrain." (ABC's " Good Morning America," 11/13/15)

Click To Watch

Elections

Hillary Clinton

Read more research