Stewart: Glenn Beck is more ‘reasonable’ than John McCain

By David Edwards

Glenn Beck makes a habit out of shocking people... but not usually his colleagues at Fox News.

Following the arrest of a suspect in the failed Times Square bombing, Beck surprised the hosts of Fox & Friends Tuesday by saying, as a U.S. citizen, Faisal Shahzad should be Mirandized.

Once again, the argument over reading suspects their Miranda Rights has been polticized, even though the questioning of Shahzad really isn't so different than how most suspects are treated by the authorities. Until they are charged, police often question suspects before Mirandizing, and very few Republicans are actually advancing the notion that terrorist suspects should never be given lawyers.

However, on Tuesday, even John McCain seemed to disagree with Beck. "Don't give this guy his Miranda Rights until we find out what it's all about," the Arizona senator told Don Imus Tuesday. This led Comedy Central's Jon Stewart to note that even Glenn Beck was more "reasonable" than McCain.

Fox News' Brian Kilmeade started the day on Fox & Friends by recalling that the so-called "underwear bomber" was read his rights soon after being apprehended. "Remember the crotch bomber ended up being somebody that was talking immediately but he was injured, he was hurt. He had to be brought to the hospital but when they started sedating him, they said let's read him his rights and get him a lawyer," Kilmeade lamented.

Kilmeade called in to question any decision to afford the same rights to Shahzad. "Do you hold him as an enemy combatant. Do you not read him his rights because he's a naturalized citizen but he's indeed a threat. Clearly, if they got the right guy, clearly a threat to our well being as Americans?" he asked.

"Do you sit there and find a way to put additional pressure on him through our most sophisticated interrogators or do you read him his rights and say well, he's an American citizen, what do we do?" Kilmeade wondered.

"Exactly right," agreed Fox News' Steve Doocy.

Less than an hour later, Glenn Beck and Judge Andrew Napolitano joined Kilmeade and Doocy to discuss the arrest. "Will they spend enough time interrogating him?" asked Doocy. "That's what happened with the crotch bomber. They talk to him for 50 minutes and then they go show's over," said an exasperated Doocy.

"If he hasn't been Mirandized -- and I know this will upset a lot of people -- he will be Mirandized as soon as he sets foot in federal court this morning," Napolitano coolly explained.

"Here's the tension between the two sides. There's the natural desire on the part of the public and the government to know more about him. Are there other plotters out there? Who sent you? Who dispatched you? Who paid for this? There's also the oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws that says you have to give him his Miranda warning the minute he's in custody and the minute you ask him a question. Where they give him the Miranda warning between the moment of incarceration and the time he sets foot in court this morning is something we may never know," said Napolitano.

Beck seemed to agree. "He's a citizen of the United States so I say we uphold the law and the Constitution on citizens," said Beck.

Kilmeade quickly tried to correct Beck. "He's a threat to the country. That's different," he said.

Beck stood his ground. "So are a lot of citizens of the country. If you're a citizen you obey the law and follow the Constitution. He has all of the rights under the Constitution."

At the same time on the Fox Business Network, McCain was telling Don Imus that a Miranda warning would not be appropriate until the interrogation was finished.

The Hill reports:

"Obviously that would be a serious mistake...at least until we find out as much information we have," McCain said during an appearance on "Imus in the Morning" when asked whether the suspect, 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan.

"Don't give this guy his Miranda rights until we find out what it's all about," McCain added during an appearance on the Imus show, which is broadcast by the Fox Business Network.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann blasted McCain Tuesday night. "You shame yourself in the eyes of American patriots," said Olbermann, "and in the eyes of your fellow veterans who sacrificed, and the honored dead who gave their lives to protect the freedoms and the laws you have today suggested should be optional."

Olbermann continued, "We also look back with horror at how a man who thinks America is some kind of brand name, who does not respect the laws and honor of this great nation, could have come so perilously close to becoming its leader."

McCain, once a darling of the media, also took some heat from Jon Stewart.

"I didn't want to do this, Senator, because I do still have a little love for you," said Stewart. "This next clip is going to hurt me as much as it is going to hurt you. Chuck, roll tape of someone being far more reasonable about reading the rights."

The Comedy Central host then sang the Broadway song "Memories" to pay tribute to the "old" McCain, before the 2008 race when he was considered more of a maverick and independent, and was viewed by many as holding more "reasonable" views.

This video is from Comedy Central's The Daily Show, broadcast April 28, 2010.

Media Ignore The Fact That Man Who Alerted Police To Failed Times Square Bombing Is A Muslim Immigrant

By Zaid Jilani The chief suspect in the case of the failed Times Square

car bombing is Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, who has confessed to the plot. Much of the media has latched onto Shahzad’s Muslim faith and his Pakistani identity, making inflammatory remarks and suggestions about Muslims and Pakistanis:

– CNN contributor and Redstate.com blogger Erick Erickson complained that the words “muslim” and “Islam” are “not mentioned” enough in stories about Shahzad. He wrote, “It really is pathetic that you’re more likely to see the words “racist” and “Republican” together in the newspaper these days than “terrorism” and “Islam.” [5/4/2010]

– Hate radio host Neal Boortz tweeted, “OMG! The Times Square Bomber is a Muslim! Shocker! Who would have believed it?” [5/4/2010]

– The cover of today’s Washington Post-published Express features a black-and-white photo of Shahzad with the sensationalist headline “MADE IN PAKISTAN” [5/5/2010]

Yet one fact being ignored in the American media’s sensationalist narrative about the failed bombing is that the man who was responsible for police finding the bomb was Muslim. The UK’s Times Online reports that Aliou Niasse, a Senagalese Muslim immigrant who works as a photograph vendor on Times Square, was the first to bring the smoking car to the police’s attention:

Aliou Niasse, a street vendor selling framed photographs of New York, said that he was the first to spot the car containing the bomb, which pulled up right in front of his cart on the corner of 45th street and Broadway next to the Marriott hotel.

“I didn’t see the car pull up or notice the driver because I was busy with customers. But when I looked up I saw that smoke appeared to be coming from the car. This would have been around 6.30pm.”

“I thought I should call 911, but my English is not very good and I had no credit left on my phone, so I walked over to Lance, who has the T-shirt stall next to mine, and told him. He said we shouldn’t call 911. Immediately he alerted a police officer near by,” said Mr Niasse, who is originally from Senegal and who has been a vendor in Times Square for about eight years.

As the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights notes, “South Asian, and Muslim communities may yield useful information to those fighting terrorism. Arabs and Arab Americans also offer the government an important source of Arabic speakers and translators. The singling out of Arabs, South Asians, Muslims, and Sikhs for investigation regardless of whether any credible evidence links them to terrorism will simply alienate these individuals and compromise the anti-terrorism effort.”

Reflecting on Niasse’s good samaritanism Muslim-American author Sumbul Ali-Karamali writes, “It’s somewhat consoling to know that the man who first noticed the smoking Nissan Pathfinder and sought help is also Muslim, a Senegalese immigrant. … I grew up Muslim in this country, with Muslim friends and non-Muslim friends, and there was very little difference between the two groups. We were all American.”