Earnest: GOP Rhetoric Towards Syrian Refugees ‘Serves the ISIL Argument’

[RUSH TRANSCRIPT]

HEILEMANN: “Josh, the debate over refugees in the United States has obviously become very intense and very politicized very, very quickly. The president on Wednesday in the Philippines, where you are, attacked Republicans in a pretty sharp way. There are those that would say that Republicans have also amped up their criticism of the president. But, do you take the point of those who thinks — it’s incumbent on the president to try to rise above this politicization and call for unity, rather than more partisan attacks?”
EARNEST: “Well, John, the fact of the matter is, this rhetoric that we see from Republican candidates for president and even some from Republican members of Congress who are offering up legislation suggesting that somehow we should put a halt to our refugee program. The fact of the matter is legislation like that is much more focused on politics than it is national security. And so, if you want the commander-in-chief and the president of the United States to be focused on doing what’s in the national security interest of the United States, the president believes clearly that rhetoric like we’re seeing on the Republican side, only serves the ISIL argument, that they are leading a war of Islam against the West. The fact of the matter is, the West is not at war with Islam. And this is a point that President Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush made on a number of occasions. And for Republicans to erode that progress and erode that effort and undermine that message only serves to advance the argument of ISIL. So the president standing up and speaking out about this, does serve our national security interest, and does make clear that their political arguments are not good for our national security and the president will not hesitate to make that point, regardless of who makes it.”
SCARBOROUGH: “All right Josh Earnest, thank you so much.” 
BRZEZINSKI: “Thank you, Josh.”
SCARBOROUGH: “We’re greatly appreciate you taking time to talk to us from Manila.”