Ed Morrissey @ Hot Air:
Via Eliana Johnson and Michael Totten, the question that Rep. Trent Franks asked Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez in July shouldn’t be very difficult to answer — especially for the man who heads up the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and who swore to uphold the Constitution when taking that job. Yet Franks has to ask the question four different times, and Perez refuses to provide a direct answer. The question is this: “Will you tell us here today, simply, that this administration’s Department of Justice will never entertain or advance a proposal that criminalizes speech against any religion?”
If you read the First Amendment, the answer is simple. Perez, however, does a two-minute dodge while Franks asks it four times:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wwv9l6W8yc[/youtube]
Why is that relevant today? Oh, no particular reason:
As recently as December 19, 2011, the U.S. voted for and was instrumental in passing “U.N. Resolution 16/18” against “religious intolerance,” “condemning the stereotyping, negative profiling and stigmatization of people based on their religion.” While this may sound innocuous, it was the latest incarnation of a highly controversial “anti-blasphemy” resolution that has been pushed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the United Nations since 1999.
The real aim of the “anti- blasphemy” resolution is not to protect religion but to clamp down on freedom of expression.
If there was any doubt about Franks’s repeated question being a clumsily contrived setup for a cheap shot at the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, that’s resolved at 2:06, when he carefully reads his prepared punchline from his notes.
Perez wasn’t dodging the question. He couldn’t get an answer in edgewise without Franks interrupting him.
Which goes to show Greg that even when you SHOW a Liberal the evidence to their face they wont admit it no matter how you phrase the question.
@Greg#1 – So, Greg, What do you think Mr Perez was trying to sputter out….since you also gave a ‘dodging’ comment….?
If you are sworn to up hold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, as I am sure is Mr Perez’s “duty”… this isn’t a ‘trick’ question…..nor does it need a long drawn out answer…and Mr Perez’s answer “should be” a really really really simple one = Y or N. Period.
That is exactly what Rep Trent Franks was looking for….
If Trent Franks had only shut up for 30 consecutive seconds, we might know. The entire point of asking a question is supposed to be to get a answer. Mr. Franks already had the words he wanted his audience hear, which he read from his script. Unfortunately, his finger didn’t slip.
@Greg #4 – It does not take 30 seconds to say “Yes” or even “No”. Greg.
@Greg #4 – And yet, you give another dodge answer….It does not take 30 seconds to say “Yes” or even “No”. And a Yes or No answer in this case does not need a l o n g drawn out explanation…..
He can’t commit to a definitive answer…of Y or N.
Trent Franks didn’t ask a question that could be clearly and honestly answered with either a yes or a no. He knew that. Hence, the little prepared-in-advance script he had all ready to read from.
@Greg#7 – Dodging again…..Greg, come on now – he read a “question” from a piece of paper… Seriously.
Why can it not be answered Y or N??- especially if you truly believe in Free Speech..??.
Franks’ behavior was embarrassing even his fellow committee members.
Greg@#9 – Still Dodging – No, Greg they weren’t embarrassed….they were getting flustered with Mr Perez – they wanted to ‘re-phrase’ the question because obviously Mr Perez doesn’t seem to ‘understand’ a simple yes or no [answerable] question….
Greg has traveled so far to the left, that someone asking a simple question, if that someone is a Republican, is automatically seen as a “clumsily contrived question”. Surprised Greg didn’t include ‘badgering’ amongst his descriptive language.
Perspective seems to have abandoned Greg, as his insistence on negatively responding to any and all GOP or conservative comments, even of the most innocuous variety, can attest. And the left claims that anyone criticizing Obama is involved in some sort of ‘derangement syndrome’.
@johngalt:
You are too kind to greg. He is not sincere in his responses. He knows that it was a simple yes or no answer, but he will lie or dodge in order to further his propaganda and protect the left. He literally defends the left 100% of the time.
I will post something very telling about greg again.
He claimed a dem didn’t say something. Someone here posted a You Tube video of the dem saying what greg claimed was not said. Because their were sync issues with the vid, greg claimed it was proof that a soundtrack was laid over the real one. When the sync issue was explained, he then went to claiming the video was “edited”.
Greg is a liar. I would not be surprised to find he is on some leftist payroll to do so.