Donna Brazile, the former campaign manager for Al Gore and a current key Democratic Party strategist, admitted on national television that she didn’t know what a caliphate was.
She offered the admission during discussion — and defense — of President Obama’s policies on the Islamic State with the host of “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on ABC on Sunday.
First, Mr. Stephanopoulos wondered aloud about the chances of Mr. Obama to obtain support in Congress to deploy the U.S. military to strike Islamic State terrorists, The Blaze reported.
Then Ms. Brazile’s reply, as heard on the video clip: “The president has to spell out the mission. I think everyone understands the mission. But he has to spell out exactly what we hope to accomplish. The good news is that Secretary Kerry has spoken with the Arab League. They will now take action. And without the support of the Arab League, look — those Arab countries — they have skin in the game. This is a medieval war that we’re looking at to establish a caliphate. I had to ask Bill [Kristol, editor of Weekly Standard], exactly what that meant.”
And Mr. Kristol’s panel response, The Blaze reported: “I’m an expert on caliphates of all sorts.”
The term caliphate has been widely referred to in recent weeks because the stated goal of the Islamic State is to establish one — an Islam-run government headed by a supreme religious leader, the caliph.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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