In their quest to cast President Obama’s handling of the Christmas bomber as weak and ineffectual, Republicans have had to overcome a stubborn fact: The Bush administration handled shoe bomber Richard Reid in similar fashion in 2001. So what do you do with stubborn facts? You change them.
On the Daily Show last night, Newt Gingrich claimed the “shoe bomber,” Richard Reid, is an American citizen.
Reid is actually a British citizen.
Gingrich was attacking the Obama administration for reading the Miranda rights to the Christmas Day attempted bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Jon Stewart pointed out that the Bush administration did the same to Reid.
But Gingrich defended President Bush’s decision by falsely claiming Reid was an American citizen, unlike Abdulmutallab.
Watch, starting around 2:45:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Newt Gingrich | ||||
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At the end of the show (and after the interview), Stewart pointed out that Gingrich had been wrong about Reid’s citizenship.
Late update: Gingrich admitted he was wrong today via Twitter:
On daily show was wrong re: ShoeBomber citizenship, was thinking of Padilla. Treating terrorists like criminals wrong no matter who is Pres.
Jose Padilla was a U.S. citizen held as an enemy combatant and accused of helping build a “dirty bomb.” He was eventually convicted in civilian court on charges of supporting and funding terrorism.
Later update: The White House attacked Gingrich for this today in the official White House blog.
