This is how it is done. Demand it of both journalists and reputable panelists alike. One should never allow false Republican talking points to go unanswered. It keeps Americans misled and misinformed.
Ali Velshi & Howard Dean didn’t let Republican operative get away with lying
Ali Velshi & Howard Dean were ready each time Former Ted Cruz spokesman Ron Nehring attempted to spin his lies. That is what Progressive panelists must do each time. Journalists need to remain attentive as well to prevent being a conduit for misinforming and lying to Americans.
Early on Nehring attacked Democrats.
“It is amazing to me that Democrats continue to stand up against border security while at the same time they claim to be concerned about things like human trafficking and drug trafficking and the like,” Ron Nehring said. “… Government needs to be funded, and then we have to move on to having the budget process go back to how it’s supposed to run instead of funding the government through these continuing resolutions. That’s something which took place under the Democrats, under Barack Obama. We should put an end to that and then fund the government through the regular budget process.”
Neither Ali Velshi nor Howard Dean would let that piece of misinformation go unchallenged.
“You mean because the Republicans didn’t allow President Obama to pass a budget,” Velshi chimed in. “Governor Dean?”
“Let me just rebut the idea that we are not for border security,” Governor Dean said. “What we are not for is racism against the largest minority in this country. Of course, we are for border security. Don’t be ridiculous. We don’t believe that this wall, this crackpot notion that the president outlined in order to get elected on the backs of Latino Americans is a good idea. We don’t believe it is going to give us security.”
“There are some places along the southern border where a wall make sense, and it is necessary and vital,” Nehring said. “And how it is that allowing a policy to continue where you have continued ongoing human trafficking, drug trafficking right here in places like the state of California. How that helps Latino communities is beyond me. That is a total non-sequitur.”
“How a wall stops that is beyond me,” Dean snapped back. “That’s total nonsense. You guys don’t know what you are doing. You have no idea what you are doing.”
Nehring started the lie about the extreme violence and trafficking caused by the current border policy.
“Things like border security in the state here like in California where I am sitting right now in a border county, this is not a pet project,” Nehring said. “There is a real human dimension in terms of violence and gangs and the like by having a border that’s not secure. Drugs that are pouring into this state, the people who are victimized by human trafficking, this is not an acceptable thing to have. And to the extent that we can move that forward in the budget parts, we have to do that.”
Both Howard Dean and Ali Velshi were prepared to debunk that lie.
“I think based on what attorney general Jeff Sessions said this past week,” Howard Dean said. “You can’t believe that kind of talk about gangs. The attorney general of the United States claimed that gang murders were way up in New York City. In fact, New York City has had the lowest murder rate in its history. ”
“Yes, that was refuted,” Ali Velshi said.
“These guys just make this stuff up,” Howard Dean continued. “They make this stuff up. They try to scare the daylight out of Americans. The truth is, the immigration situation is getting better, not worse although we are losing a lot of people we should not lose. The president promised not to deport and broke his word. I’d like to see a president whose word was good and whose word we could trust.”
Good job Governor Dean. And Ali Velshi has been on fire as the watchdog of the truth. He is doing his journalistic duty.