Someone, Please, Tell Dick Cheney To Shut The F*ck Up

In a statement released Tuesday, former Vice-Presidentn Cheney once again lambasts President Obama for doing his job in a manner differently than he would have done. In its entirety, Mr. Cheney said,

"As I’ve watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think if he has a low-key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of Sept. 11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we won’t be at war.


“He seems to think if he closes Guantanamo and releases the hard-core Al Qaeda-trained terrorists still there, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gets rid of the words, ‘war on terror,’ we won’t be at war. But we are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe. Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency — social transformation — the restructuring of American society. President Obama’s first object and his highest responsibility must be to defend us against an enemy that knows we are at war."

Since the incident of Christmas Day, I have heard various right-wing pundits and politicians state that the perpetrator absolutely must be made to tell all that he knows about Al Qaeda; its locations, future plans, plots, and American targets. What they are refusing to say in so many words, is that this man must be tortured to release information that he obviously must have.

What is equally obvious to others - as by all reports, the individual arrested after the incident has freely claimed responsibility and given up all kinds of information - this young man is a disaffected, isolated, and angry young man who is unlikely to be in possession of any information useful to government intelligence services. Al Qaeda may not be very successful, but so far, they have not shown themselves to be stupid.

Mr. Cheney, however, forgets--as usual--that Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber" was arrested, read his Miranda rights, tried in federal court, and is currently being held in a federal prison. Mr. Cheney seems to forget that it was the Bush Administration that released a number of Guantanamo detainees who then returned home and later engaged in terrorist activities (not that I am suggesting that we should keep Guantanamo open). Mr. Cheney forgets that it is his own Defense Department that has said that it is Guantanamo and "enhanced interrogation" techniques that have made us less safe from terrorists by creating terrorists. And finally, Mr. Cheney forgets that a majority of Americans replaced Congress with Democrats because they reject the social philosophy of the Republican Party, the practices of the Bush Administration, the exorbitant deficit that Bush created by starting two unnecessary wars,  a desire for reform on Wall Street, health care, and other social programs. America did not just vote for a Democratic president. We voted for a Democratic Congress.

Interesting how Mr. Cheney attempts to re-write history to make himself look good and is as usual, unable to accept even a scintilla of responsibility for any mistakes made during the previous eight years.

I wonder how long before we will have Liz inflicted on us? I would bet she will be on the Sunday talks if not before.

Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon.
k