Fournier: WH Caught Trying to ‘BS’ on Bergdahl

National Journal Senior Political Columnist and Editorial Director Ron Fournier said that the White House was caught trying to “BS” the American public, who they believed was “too dumb to realize it” on the swap for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl on Wednesday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel.

Fournier said that at the time the swap was announced, most middle of the road voters “had a reason to not really be sure what was going on. Because, obviously, we all like the idea that we’re not going to leave anybody behind,” but then continued “what have they seen since then? They realize that [the five] of these people who were released out of Guantanamo really were bad guys, and three of them want to get back in the fight. They realize that six of our men died, probably in the service of protecting Bergdahl or trying to get Bergdahl out. They realized that the president did not inform Congress as he is required to do by law, and they know see that even the government now is saying that he was a deserter and we were either deceived by Susan Rice and the president in the Rose Garden, or they were just completely hapless. Because they had to know, they had to know that there at least was something fishy about his circumstances. They being the administration. So, I think most Americans, even in the middle, are now saying, number one ‘this was a bad deal that we cut,’ and number two, ‘why are they lying to me again?'”

Fournier added, “they have a fundamental problem at this White House, and actually in this town, but certainly this White House, of thinking that just because we say something the American people are going to believe it. We can pretend something is true, that’s not. And they really thought that when they said that he served with honor and distinction, that would end the story. They really thought that when — during an election year when — or at least when he was worried about his approval ratings, if they brought these folks into the Rose Garden, his parents, that they could play him up like a hero and they thought it would help the president’s popularity. They thought we were just — that we were too dumb to realize it. What they have forgotten is that the media landscape has changed, the way people get their information has changed, and you just can’t BS the American people like you could back in the 1990s, and they were caught trying to BS the American public.”

He concluded, “empty five cells in Guantanamo and fill one in Leavenworth does that sound like a good deal now in hindsight?”

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