My favorite passage from Dick Cheney's I-saved-America speech:
For all the partisan anger that still lingers, our administration will stand up well in history -- not despite our actions after 9/11, but because of them. And when I think about all that was to come during our administration and afterward -- the recriminations, the second-guessing, the charges of "hubris" -- my mind always goes back to that moment. To put things in perspective, suppose that on the evening of 9/11, President Bush and I had promised that for as long as we held office -- which was to be another 2,689 days -- there would never be another terrorist attack inside this country. Talk about hubris - it would have seemed a rash and irresponsible thing to say.
That's my emphasis, for Michael Isikoff and I wrote a book called, Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War. Cheney, of course, is a major character in the book. I don't know if he read it, but a while back we were told by a reliable source that David Addington, who was Cheney's top legal adviser in the veep office, was spotted at a children's soccer game reading the book.
I have a more substantial review of Cheney's speech and a comparison of it to Barack Obama's same-day national security address here. What disappointed me about the Cheney event was that he did not take questions. Usually, there is a Q&A following speeches at the American Enterprise Institute (a.k.a. Neocon HQ), and it can often be a feisty session. An AEI official told me that Cheney's office had informed AEI that he would field queries after his address. Instead, he quickly trotted out of the room. The AEI people were left with no explanation of his sudden departure.
But it sure would have been appropriate if a co-author of Hubris had been allowed to question the ex-veep. At least, I think so. And I had several questions ready. One went something like this:
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Comments
After that piece of shit's speech at neocon central, we need a special prosecutor now more than ever to shut that bastard up once and for all. Also, did y'all catch where he gave away the location of the bunker he was hiding in during 9/11? He needs a long walk off a short plank.
Posted by: Alan
| May 21, 2009 6:48 PM
Dick Cheney is like a vampire who continues to feed on the blood of this nation. He is indeed the "CardioCriminal" and the "Master of Mendacity."
Posted by: Antidote
| May 21, 2009 8:11 PM
I don't know what is worse. Listening to Cheney and hating what he stands for which is without question, or watching President Obama beginning to cave in to the military/corporate minds around him, and feeling betrayed. One had hopes that Obama would become a leader for change as he had campaigned which meant taking a different direction than what preceded him. But when push came to shove he joined the Patriotism, Defending the country mindset, and Strong Commander in Chief aura and now gives short shrift to his role as being the watchdog and defender of the laws of the land, discouraging his Attorney General from fulfilling his duties.
The report by Isikoff in Newsweek of the "secret" meeting between human rights groups, legal representatives, Amnesty International and the President today,surrounded by many of his appointees (which surely was meant to be intimidating), and his reaction to rightful criticism by his invitees, was revealing.
There are many other issues from which he is backtracking and if he continues to indicate that he is distracted by the demands of seeking justice for past misdeeds among other important problems hanging fire, we are in serious trouble.
He is waffling and sending out confusing signals which is going to weaken support for his domestic and economic agendas becoming lost in the shuffle.
Posted by: Pearlie
| May 22, 2009 1:02 AM
Cheney's speech contained omissions, misstatements
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090521/pl_mcclatchy/3237981
Posted by: capt
| May 22, 2009 10:04 AM
The question of the day may be why Mr. Cheney keeps being provided a platform for positions that have so recently failed the smell test and why he appears to be considered an equivalent and acceptable counterforce to the current president.
http://blog.buzzflash.com/davidow/120
Posted by: capt
| May 22, 2009 10:51 AM
The 13 Bush Officials Who Made Torture Possible
The Bush administration's Torture 13. They authorized it, they decided how to implement it, and they crafted the legal fig leaf to justify it.
http://tinyurl.com/qbj28m
Posted by: capt
| May 22, 2009 10:56 AM
Cheney is kicking ass on Obama, the Dem party , and the entire progressive (bowel) movement.
If only the CIA would have let Cheney kick ass on the terrorists like he's doing to Obama, we wouldn't have needed to waterboard!!!
Posted by: freddie
| May 22, 2009 12:28 PM
Obama Can’t Duck the Tough Ones
[...]
Obama clearly wants to put all these issues aside and get back to the economy, health care and the rest. “I have no interest in spending our time re-litigating the policies of the last eight years,” he insisted. But many others do, and even a good speech won’t stop them.
http://tinyurl.com/qa74kl
Posted by: capt
| May 22, 2009 12:35 PM
Cheney and the Iraq-Torture Link
[...]
As Mr. Cheney no doubt knows, prisoners enduring torture can be induced to say almost anything to ease their pain and fear. American Special Forces are trained to resist those ugly methods precisely because they have been used by totalitarian regimes to extract false confessions for centuries.
It is hard to imagine anything more disturbing than the use of torture by the U.S. government in seeking to justify an aggressive and unjustified war, which has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. Now we need to know whether those awful offenses were perpetrated on Mr. Cheney’s watch—by fully empowering a truth commission to take testimony from him and his associates under oath.
http://tinyurl.com/ph3uqj
Posted by: capt
| May 22, 2009 12:42 PM
President Obama signs law to allow Pentagon to scrap defense contractor projects with cost overruns
WASHINGTON - President Obama took aim Friday at greedy defense contractors, signing a new law allowing the Pentagon to scrap projects that run at least 25% over the original projected costs.
"I reject the notion that we have to waste billions of taxpayer dollars to keep this nation secure," Obama said in a Rose Garden ceremony.
"When it comes to purchasing weapons systems and developing defense projects, the choice we face is between investments that are designed to keep the American people safe and those that are simply designed to make a defense company or a contractor rich," he added.
http://tinyurl.com/p855cy
Posted by: capt
| May 22, 2009 12:56 PM
CBS’s Schieffer Admits Cheney ‘Winning’ Security Debate
By Kyle Drennen | May 22, 2009 - 12:19
While discussing Thursday’s opposing national security speeches by President Obama and former Vice President Cheney, on Friday’s CBS Early Show, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer acknowledged: "...the fact that the President of the United States had to make this speech, the fact that Congress had turned him down in giving him the money to close Guantanamo, I have to say that on points, I give it to -- to the Vice President on this...Right now I think the Vice President has made his case. And at this point I'd have to say he's winning."
~~~
Kick ass Cheney - no wonder his poll numbers are going up and up..........even the liberals are admitting defeat!
Posted by: freddie
| May 22, 2009 1:59 PM
If the Democrats are promoting a progressive agenda right now, what are the Republicans promoting?
The opposite, apparently: a "regressive" agenda.
Posted by: Antidote
| May 22, 2009 2:11 PM
Antidote,
The only thing progressive about the Democrats agenda is taxing and spending more than 200 years of American history.
The end result is regressive......
Posted by: freddie
| May 22, 2009 3:38 PM
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