Meet the Press moderator David Gregory spoke to Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI) on Sunday, July 13 and used the opportunity to harass his guest on the subject of immigration in the wake of the ongoing crisis at the border.
During his interview with the Chairman of the House intelligence committee, the NBC host took a swipe at the Republican Party by asking: “Do you lament the Republican Party’s stand on immigration reform?”
Gregory continued to criticize the GOP’s stance on immigration and insisted that the GOP has an “unwillingness to come together to find some path to-a path to citizenship for those illegal immigrants here to somehow fix some of these problems.”
For his part, Congressman Rogers refuted the NBC host’s assertion that the GOP has an “unwillingness to come together” and maintained that “to say this is a Republican problem is just completely wrong.” Gregory didn't let up his anti-GOP accusations and argued that “it’s a Republican political problem for sure in elective politics is it not?”
Once again, the GOPer did his best to combat Gregory’s distortion of the Republican Party’s view on immigration reform:
The Democrats have the same problem. And so, I think there's a way to move forward on this that's responsible. Most Americans, I mean its off the charts, say hey, secure the border first. Think of this, this is a problem that we talked about. And it certainly has serious consequences.
Gregory’s use of liberal talking points to condemn the GOP for its stance on immigration reform was blatantly obvious and the NBC host sounded more like an MSNBC commentator than a serious network news host during his interview with Congressman Rogers.
See relevant transcript below.
NBC's Meet the Press
July 13, 2014
DAVID GREGORY: Do you lament -- you're going to be leaving politics. Do you lament the Republican Party’s stand on immigration reform? On an unwillingness to come together to find some path to -- a path to citizenship for those illegal immigrants here to somehow fix some of these problems.
MIKE ROGERS: To say this is a Republican problem is just completely wrong.
GREGORY: It’s a Republican political problem for sure in elective politics is it not?
ROGERS: The Democrats have the same problem. And so, I think there's a way to move forward on this that's responsible. Most Americans, I mean its off the charts, say hey, secure the border first. Think of this, this is a problem that we talked about. And it certainly has serious consequences. By the way, the public health security problem is now growing. We're going to have the highest number of measles case that we have in over a decade. And 97% of those cases have been imported. But secondly on this, so you have a national security problem, a public health problem. We have from 10 countries of interest Afghans, Pakistanis, Saudis, other places, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, we know that those individuals are using the southern border to infiltrate the United States. That is a serious national security issue. And while all of our focus has been on this, guess what, they are taking advantage of that opportunity.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter. [1]