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Cheney Takes Credit for Keeping Americans Safe Even After Obama Took Office |
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Dick Cheney served at the highest levels in an administration that oversaw the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil in American history, but he never tires of reminding us that they “kept us safe” for the rest of their time in office. That’s offensive enough–it’s kind of like asking us to forget about that little thing that happened on September 11, or giving the administration a pass.
One thing about Cheney–he’s always tried to be careful to craft his words to try to insert a rhetorical vacuum in place of 9/11, by saying, for example, that he and Bush kept the nation safe for “seven and a half years” in other words, that if you leave out the September 11 attacks, their record is spotless. Even that wording was always imprecise, since Bush and Cheney were actually only in office for 7 years and 4 months after the attacks, but, as long as we’re not holding Bush and Cheney accountable for the attacks, why not spot them an extra couple of months, I guess.
For some reason, it really rubbed me the wrong way when I read that Cheney is defending himself against criticism for his recent over the top rhetoric that, to paraphrase Leon Panetta’s, almost seems to indicate a wish for another attack, by insisting that the policies of the Bush-Cheney administration have kept us safe for the last “eight years”.
I guess this is where I draw the line. It’s June 15, 2009. September 11, 2001 took place less than eight years ago. It hasn’t even been eight years since Bush was handed a memo entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” (Bush’s pithy response to that memo was to tell the briefer “well, you’ve covered your ass.” Unfortunately, Bush didn’t bother to cover his own ass, or any of ours. He stayed on vacation for the rest of August 2001).
In addition, Bush and Cheney left office five months ago. On Cheney’s reasoning, he and Bush get to take credit for keeping Americans safe during the first five months of Obama’s administration–though, if an attack occurs, that will, of course, be Obama’s fault. ( A question comes to mind: if, as I certainly hope is the case, there are no attacks for the next four years and beyond, will Cheney keep taking credit, claiming he and Bush kept us safe for eight years, twelve years, etc.?)
It may seem like a minor point, but I think it’s worth pointing out that, even taking Cheney on his own terms, he and Bush can’t take credit for keeping us safe for the past eight years. First, it hasn’t been eight years since 9/11. Second, Cheney stopped being Vice President five months ago. Maybe someone needs to get him a memo on that.
Not defending the Bush administration at all….They screwed us as bad as any other set of politicians…Including the one’s that are in the White House now…….BUT MAN GIVE IT A BREAK……Do you really think Mr. Cheney, Mr. Bush or Mr. Obama are going to come out and tell us about their failures…..They are politicians, they lie about everything…….
You know what puzzles me?
People say they wish there was someone that they could believe in, an honest person, someone that would put the country first.,But, that would take an outsider, an unknown, a true patriot….Ahh, but then no one would vote for anyone like that……..
I don’t agree that Cheney should be able to distort the truth with impunity.
You really think this guy is keeping you safe: Amateur strikes again.
Didn’t even bother to consult the host country– Yea, I feel safe.
America’s ‘Bermuda solution’ angers Britain
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/americas-bermuda-solu tion-angers-britain-1704147.html
WHY THE CHENEYS WON%u2019T LEAVE THE SCENE: A QUESTION OF JOURNALISTIC DEONTOLOGY!
The recent appearances of the Cheneys over the media as a credible political opponent on par to the Obama administration’s policies and stances raises an issue of journalistic deontology! This is definitely of artificial making.
On the one hand, we’ve got a legitimately elected President of the United States who has undergone the rigorous electoral process having to make his case to the American people and coming out successful in eliciting the policies he intends to carry out during his mandate within the confines of the American political institutional structure and process.
On the other hand, we’ve got political personae (the Cheneys) who are effectively being presented by the media as a legitimate opponent on par to the Obama administration whereas they do not bear any electoral mandate whatsoever for the political views they profer and with no consequent responsiblity, stake and risk that will arise from any such mandate while the President is tied to them.
For comments/expressions of opinion on the President’s policies, their views have been given such a broad artificial reception by the media that runs very contrary to the expression of opinion as we’ve come to know it. These views are rather given almost the same weight and placed on par as the political stances of a legitimately elected president with a legitimate mandate for the policies he is undertaking while the Cheney’s hold no such legitimate mandate and with no accompanying political accountability whatsoever.
The issue here is that such attitude by the media is contrary to what we’ve come to expect from normal implicit democratic rules. If the Cheneys had any pretense for policies they wished to be implemented after the Bush Administration, the solution would have simply been for Dick or Liz to run for president. Since they didn’t, it is artificial for the media to strive to present them as a counterweight on par to the Obama administration’s policies well beyong what will be expected for the opinion of a simple citizen that the Cheneys are now notwithstanding their previous political roles.
And by the way, by extension is it acceptable that any citizen, no matter what self-righteous pretense they might have, to be artificially given a similar counterweight role on par with the President on any policy issues of the Obama administration while not holding any legitimate political mandate for which they will be politically accountable for their stances? It can be understandable, that the Cheneys can be of direct concern when it comes to matters of direct relation to political issues having to do with Cheney’s role in the Bush administration. But to raise their views on the policies and stances the administration should take on par with the President undermines appropriate journalistic deontology because as we should all know by now “elections do matter”.
What strikes the mind here is that the Cheneys have perfectly understood this “na?v?t?” of the media and are using this “media confusion about fairness” to artificially strive to extirpate Mr. Dick Cheney from accusations of introducing torture policies during the Bush Administration among other political accusations. Their strategy is very simple. Legally, Cheney can’t make it (they know that secretly). In all courts of law, so-called EITs are definitely torture practices. Besides, the facts as we know them are overwhelmingly against him and the Bush Administration, and Dick Cheney’s contradictions are extensive.
The real strategy of the Cheney’s here is totally otherly: turn it “political”. First, saying torture works and was for the good of the country should elicit the fervour of many Americans. Afterall, all what is needed is that a substantial number of Americans polled buy to this argument, and then the issue%u2019s legal underpinning may be undermined.
Secondly, posing artificially as the right wing counterweight to the Obama’s administration policies elicits the impression and fervour in some quarters particularly to the right that he is making the President moderate and thus he is political useful. A look at this second political trick shows how the media has effectively been manipulated: knowing fairly well that in his administrative role the President will have to take practical and pragmatic postures with respect to the release of photos of abused detainees as well as on other policies, all what Dick simply have to do is to posit that he is against releasing the pictures and pretend to take critical policy issues postures on the right, making him seemingly a moderating influence on the President.
Thirdly, the Cheneys simply have to claim that Obama is following the Bush Administration%u2019s policies he criticized pointing to his strategies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo. In this case too, the media is manipulated as they ignore the fact that the Obama administration does not have the luxury of starting from scratch as Bush had on all these issues but rather adopts a %u201Ccourse correction strategy%u201D of the situations to bring them as close as possible to what he advocates.
The fact is that, the underlying strategy of Dick and her daughter is to make this three steps political trick extirpate Dick from the accusations levied against the former administration. The sad thing is that the media is “na?vely” falling for these political tricks!
Man, I HOPE we can CHANGE administration again…….
Man, I HOPE I can keep some of my CHANGE……….
Man, I HOPE the world views have CHANGED………
Man, my HOPE has CHANGED……….
Man, I HOPE there is no more CHANGE…..We can’t take it……….
Cheney lies when he says “they kept us safe”… we got hit on 9/11, that’s when Cheney and Bush were on watch. They were warned and they blew it off. Ask the folks in New Orleans if they think Cheney and Bush kept them safe. Ask the people at Virginia Tech if Cheney and Bush kept them safe. Ask anyone who lost money in the Stock Market crash of September 2008 or whose house was foreclosed if they felt anyone in washington kept them “safe”. Ask any of the soldier’s families whose children died due to electrocution because of Halliburton’s (KBR’S) shoddy work if they felt Cheney and Bush kept them safe. Ask anyone who got sick from eating tainted peanuts or tomatoes (salmonella) if they felt safe. I could go on and on…. He lies, his daughter lies… and unlike Col. Jessep of “A Few Good Men”, I…. CAN handle the truth, it’s just that Cheney doesn’t know what the word means. He should be tried and jailed for all the harm he’s caused to our country.
Gee Michele, With your standards prey tell me what about Obama is making you feel safe?
Obama is not going on television every week saying how “safe” he’s keeping us….. That’s the difference. Cheney is a liar, plain and simple.
well said Michele
Michele– If you are able to perform the mental gymnastics required, please back up your claims with factual information, rather than uninformed rants, to show how Cheney is lying?
quite right Michele. I take no pleasure in any of this–I was in NY and was quite scared, both that day, and for many weeks after that day (and occasionally, even years after 9/11). This isn’t a trump card to me, it’s just something that is necessary to point out when Cheney thumps his chest and brags about “keeping us safe” (even after he and Bush left office). It’s clearly something Cheney has exploited in an attempt to score political points.
Chris- Do you realize how you hurt your credibility by your disingenuous? Your fanaticism taints everything you say and only plays with other uninformed far left loons. To blame 9/11 on Bush is typical. He was only in office 8 months before 9/11. You conveniently forget that the lack of intelligence that could have possibly forecasted the attack was strictly due to Clinton. He, in appeasement to his left wing constituents, raised legal barriers between the National Intelligence Agencies and Domestic Agencies so they were not, by law. able to cross reference, thus resulting in the dots not being connected for 9/11. After those legal barriers were eliminated, in response to 9/11, Bush prevented several follow on attacks- but you wouldn%u2019t be interested in that. It%u2019s unreal the blinders the left puts on when their Liberal policies go wrong.
There is good and bad politicians in both parties. That said, it seems democratic sites are able to criticize our own politicians for doing harm but the republicans sites don’t. why do you read the Seminal? Just like to argue and bash liberal views? Just remember most of the policies that have been made for American citizens human rights have been made by dems. I do think both parties have supported too much Corporate interests.
Alice– The Seminal does very little critical criticism of the lefts politicians. In fact, as compared to the Conservative sites I%u2019ve been on (Politics4All) there is a lot of criticism of the right. The difference between the Conservative blogs I%u2019ve been on and the Seminal is like night and day. The vile, vitriolic and downright nasty comments on the Seminal (about average for the left) are completely different from the few conservative sites I%u2019ve seen. On conservative sites when you call someone a liar%u2014you had better be able to back it up with facts. Not so here. I am also astounded by the misinformation, disinformation and outright fallacies I find. I have not seen that on conservatives sites. Why do I come here? I hope to make at least a small contribution to truthfulness in the area%u2019s I%u2019m interested in. I also try to understand the lefts points when they are presented logically. It would seem you would also be interested in expanding your horizon by listening to guys like me and doing some critical thinking of your own. Wouldn%u2019t be any fun for you if all you read is the lefts position.
very well said Alice. We can thank progressives/liberals (not always Democrats–but certainly not conservatives) for the Bill of Rights, anti-discrimination laws (e.g. that prohibit firing someone or denying them a hotel room because of their race), the five day/40 hour work week, Social Security, federal insurance of bank deposits, child labor laws, equal voting rights for African Americans and women, and a host of other laws and policies we take for granted. The right wing opposed each of these ideas, and it’s interesting (or scary) to consider what the United States would be like without these advances.
That said, it is very important to note, as Alice rightly observes, that there is indeed good and bad in both parties. I don’t think President Obama and the Democrats are always right–they have their share of flaws. I don’t think the Republicans are always wrong. One of the problems with political debate these days is that right wing commentators don’t even seem to allow for the possibility that Democrats or liberals can even theoretically be right.
Rants and name calling. hummm. Time to get off the computer and experience a little life. Lots of volunteer work available out here! Womens shelters would be appropriate.
You guys are soooooo Funny, CHENEY LIES….Comon do it with a drawn out accent…
CHEEENEEEYYY LIIIIEEEESSSS….
CLINTON TOOOOOOO
BUSH TOOOOOOO
OBAMA TOOOOOOO
HAHAHAHAHAH
SO MUCH VENIM, SO MUCH HATE THAT THE COUNTRY WILL GO TO SHIT BEFORE ANYONE WAKES UP AND STOPS POINTING FINGERS
I’m wide awake, and I’m just stating the facts. I’m not pointing fingers. When Cheney said he kept us safe, he lied. That’s a fact. When Cheney said torture provided information that saved thousands of lives, that was a lie.
again, well said Michele.
You know who Cheney reminds me of? That other bastion of evil: Brent Farf. Both of them don’t seem to know when it is time to retreat into retirement. “It’s all about me.”
Cheney can’t even keep his hunting buddies safe, why is he bragging about keeping the US safe?
I wish Messrs. Cheney and Favre both a long, peaceful, quiet retirement. let us never hear from either again
I notice that all of your criticisms are just rants and name calling with not one shred of evidence. To think%u2014your allowed to vote! God help the Republic.