It’s clear that Republicans are going to put a full court press on the Obama administration over the first Gitmo detainee being tried in New York on Tuesday.
It isn’t even 11 o’clock yet and already two Republicans have used the same line on cable news. First, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said bringing Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani to New York “is just counterintuitive.”
“Why in the world would someone be so focused on the rights of a terrorist?” he asked on MSNBC.
Cantor went on: “It is just wrong for us to be bringing them here…We should be putting Americans’ safety first.”
That “safety of Americans” line popped up against about 10 minutes later when Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) also appeared on MSNBC.
“We ought to put the safety of the United States citizens first,” he said. Rogers added that the decision was “dangerous.”
“Remember a lot of these people were picked up on the battle field trying to kill U.S. soldiers,” Rogers said.
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) also slammed President Obama in a tersely worded statement.
“The administration