The Left truly does live in an alternate universe if it thinks the existence Guantanamo Bay detention center, and not President Obama's disastrous foreign policy, is what's hurting America's standing in the world

Yet those are the thoughts of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell.

During an interview with Colorado Senator Cory Gardner on Tuesday, the MSNBC host asked about President Obama's efforts to shutter Gitmo and transport the terrorist detainees here to the United States, namely to the Supermax prison in Gardner's home state. Mitchell even went so far as to assert that holding prisoners at Gitmo is "hurting our standing in the world":

“So we’re holding prisoners, paying for them, and arguably hurting our standing in the world because Guantanamo has become such a red flag everywhere in the world, when we could have them locked up in the U.S. and put away for life.”

The Republican senator fired back, responding, "if you are a terrorist you belong in Guantanamo Bay."

The video clip is featured above and a partial transcript, provided by Newsbusters, follows below: 

ANDREA MITCHELL: So where will Guantanamo detainees go if and when the prison would be closed? The President's plan would relocate anywhere from 30 to 60 prisoners to facilities in the U.S., possibly and most likely including the Supermax prison in Colorado. Senator Cory Gardner, Republican from Colorado, joins me now. Senator, thank you very much, good to see you. I should point out that your Democratic colleague, Senator Bennett, has already come out against this, as well. What is your opposition, if this were to become reality, to having prisoners come to Supermax, which everyone believes is the best prison in the U.S. for them?

SEN. CORY GARDNER [R-CO]: Well, let’s make a couple of points on that. Number one, the law is the law. The President signed a bill just a couple of months ago saying that no detainees can be transferred to the United States. So in order for the President to accomplish this –

GARDNER: Well, actually, again, if you are a terrorist you belong in Guantanamo Bay. That’s where they should stay. That’s where people in Colorado believe that they should remain. And I think this idea that somehow if you transfer everyone out of Guantanamo Bay that terrorists are just going to surrender, that they’re not going to continue their fight against the United States or the west, is gravely mistaken. The fact is, Guantanamo Bay isn't going to prevent the next terror attack from happening. They are still going to come after us because they don't believe in the values that we hold as westerners. And so, I think the President has put out an 8-page and some change white paper talking points on his plan to remove Guantanamo Bay detainees, to put them in the United States. Look, if you have an iPhone, your user agreement for the iPhone is longer than the President’s plan to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States, and I think that’s irresponsible.

The Left fails to recall that there are critical reasons terrorists are held in Guantanamo Bay -- one of which is to keep them at a safe distance from American citizens.

Gitmo detainees are wartime enemy combatants -- not routine American criminals -- though the Left wants to treat them as such -- and they need to be dealt with accordingly. This includes detaining them at a special facility where every measure deemed necessary, including coercive ones, can be taken. Of course this is what really concerns Left -- not the safety of US citizens -- and it is why they want so desperately to bring these enemy combatants here.