Cheney still pitching the lunacy that cost him Bush’s ear
A large segment of the Republican Party is rallying behind former Vice President Dick Cheney as its champion on matters of defense and national security. They look to him and increasingly to his daughter Liz as their spokesmen in defense of torture, in support of military solutions to problems such as Iran and North Korea, and overall as advocates of a much more aggressive, unilateral approach than that taken by President Obama.
Yet the Cheney fans seem to forget that by the second Bush term, even President Bush had largely stopped listening to the crazy man whispering in his ear. The Bush White House ordered a halt to “enhanced interrogation techniques” that Cheney defends as necessary even today. Over Cheney’s protests, Bush forced Donald Rumsfeld to resign as secretary of defense, replacing him with the more level-headed Robert Gates, who remains SecDef under Obama. Under Gates and newly appointed Secretary of State Condi Rice, the Bush administration in its second term took a less confrontational and arrogant approach to advancing U.S. interests overseas, leaving Cheney sitting on the sidelines and muttering to himself in frustration.
Cheney himself has more or less acknowledged that trajectory, suggesting that in his upcoming book he will outline where he believes Bush went wrong in his second term. He confirmed another important aspect of the narrative over the weekend in an interview on Fox. As the Wall Street Journal describes it:
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney hinted that, in the waning days of the Bush administration, he had pushed for a military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear-weapons program.
“I was probably a bigger advocate of military action than any of my colleagues,” Dick Cheney said, regarding Iran and its nuclear ambitions.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Mr. Cheney described himself as being isolated among advisers to then-President George W. Bush, who ultimately decided against direct military action.”
Cheney’s viewpoint on the efficacy of military action against Iran was rejected not just by Rice, Gates and ultimately by Bush, but also by most of the generals and admirals at the Pentagon. They would be the ones forced to deal with the consequences of cowboyism, and they wanted no part of it. An attack on Iran in the waning days of the Bush administration also would have coincided with and compounded the economic collapse that occurred in the same time frame, with global ramifications we can only imagine.
The former vice president, in other words, is a nut, and history will show that his colleagues in the Bush administration eventually came to realize it and isolate him for that reason. The fact that Cheney still has an audience and a following despite that record might seem strange until you realize that hey, so does Glenn Beck.
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233 comments Add your comment
stands for decibels
August 31st, 2009
8:28 am
But Jay, that other thread was just getting interesting.
(Not.)
Mrs. Godzilla
August 31st, 2009
8:29 am
“The former vice president, in other words, is a nut”
some times you feel like a nut….this time we don’t.
Peadawg
August 31st, 2009
8:30 am
And some people are still listening to Obama despite all the lies that have spewed out of his mouth.
Peadawg
August 31st, 2009
8:31 am
How many murders has Obama caused in Afghanistan? I lost count of how many stories came out the past month. At the rate he’s going, he’ll surpass Bush’s murders in Iraq.
Mrs. Godzilla
August 31st, 2009
8:32 am
Cheney Claims Detainee Torture Was Merely ‘End-of-Life Counseling’
here:
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=8561
tee hee hee
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
August 31st, 2009
8:32 am
Are you saying an attack on Iran is off the table in the Obozo administration?
Hillary Clinton on Iran: All Options on the Table
ew, I told you she was “crazy.”
Mrs. Godzilla
August 31st, 2009
8:33 am
McCain pushes back against Cheney: Interrogations violated law
here:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/mccain-pushes-back-against-cheney-interrogat
stands for decibels
August 31st, 2009
8:34 am
Yet the Cheney fans seem to forget that by the second Bush term, President Bush had been instructed by Karl Rove to (largely) stop listening to the crazy man whispering in his ear.
Fixed Jay’s typo.
TnGelding
August 31st, 2009
8:37 am
I saw part of the interview and he looked very confident, but maybe it was just a facade. What would the Bush presidency have been like if he had selected a different VP?
Turd Ferguson
August 31st, 2009
8:37 am
After Obobo finishes all but destroying this Country it will be Cheney that leads us from this land of ineptitude.
Cheney/Palin 2012!!
Lord Help Us
August 31st, 2009
8:38 am
Normally, when an elected official goes off the reservation as far and often as Cheney, they at least have enough dignity to shut up and go away.
This fruitcake, despite his assurances about Saddam Hussein’s nuclear weapons, how we would be greeted as liberators, his role in exposing a covert CIA agent just to get his puny revenge…(my gosh, the list could go on forever).
When has this buffoon been right???
Sooner or later the Republican party will figure out that unless it finds some basic decency and common sense, it will become even more insignificant.
Kamchak
August 31st, 2009
8:39 am
The fact that Cheney still has an audience and a following despite that record might seem strange until you realize that hey, so does Glenn Beck.
No doubt that many of the same individuals support both of these men. Cuckoos of a feather…
Finn McCool
August 31st, 2009
8:40 am
Cheney is fighting to preserve his legacy.
Personally, I think he’s evil.
Gale
August 31st, 2009
8:40 am
Reporter @ 8:32. I thought conservatives were the ones saying we shouldn’t tell our’enemies’ that we won’t attack them? If Hillary came out and said we would not attack Iran, I bet you would call her out on that too.
Tea
August 31st, 2009
8:40 am
Right on Turd. Let’s put the “death” back in “death panels”!
catlady
August 31st, 2009
8:41 am
I don’t think there is a single cabinet-level member of Bush’s that should have any credibility with the public. And Cheney should be in jail, pure and simple, along with Rove and Bush and a few others. Hold them for a few years in Gitmo type conditions, do a little “enhanced interrogation”, and listen to them sing. Traitors should be prosecuted.
I’d love to see him in an orange jumpsuit with his new best friend and protector, Bubba, filing motion after motion which would be ignored.
Finn McCool
August 31st, 2009
8:43 am
Conservatives, you might want to start claiming the bailouts now. Get a jump start, ya know?
Is TARP Profitable?
The huge government bailout could have cost taxpayers $700 billion. Now it looks like it might break even.
http://www.slate.com/id/2226517/
Investors have seen other returns from the CPP. Treasury in July converted the initial $25 billion CPP loan to Citi into common stock, at a price of $3.25 a share. The U.S. taxpayer now holds 7.69 billion shares. Given its close Thursday at $5.05, taxpayers have reaped a $13.8 billion paper gain from this investment—a 55 percent return in about a month.
Turd Ferguson
August 31st, 2009
8:44 am
“Personally, I think he’s evil.”
LOL…whats that supposed to mean? And as a followup no one really cares what you think because we already know. You think whatever is most self-gratifying or whatever obobo wants you to think.
stands for decibels
August 31st, 2009
8:46 am
McCain pushes back against Cheney: Interrogations violated law
McCain is on the TeeVee so much, he almost can’t help but say something that makes sense, eventually.
Lord Help Us
August 31st, 2009
8:47 am
I cringe at the hypocrisy of Cheney and the other Torquemada’s (sp?) decrying how an investigation into the CIA’s torture is demoralizing that agency.
This turd is either delusional or just assumes that his followers are as dumb as a box of rocks.
After listening to Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush throw the ‘few bad apples’ under the bus when the earliest evidence of torture came to light should tell you all you need to know about their character.
I said ’should’ of course, which acknowledges that people without brains or the ability for independent thought will willfully ignore the obvious.
Grow a pair, cons…
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2009
8:47 am
“What would the Bush presidency have been like if he had selected a different VP?”
Don’t you mean what would it have ben like if he’d chosen a VP? Don’t forget, Cheney was put in charge of choosing the VP candidate and he chose HIMSELF!
Paul
August 31st, 2009
8:47 am
Interesting second paragraph. Jay ascribes some positive remarks to Pres Bush, demonstrating a change in direction, new ideas and learning from the past.
Concepts about the former president many bloggers here seem unable to comprehend.
Turd Ferguson
August 31st, 2009
8:47 am
“I’d love to see him in an orange jumpsuit with his new best friend and protector, Bubba, filing…”
Well thats not gonna happen so just get over yourself.
Kamchak
August 31st, 2009
8:47 am
Hold them for a few years in Gitmo type conditions, do a little “enhanced interrogation”, and listen to them sing. Traitors should be prosecuted.
Yes they should be prosecuted, but torture is antithetical to what this country stands for–torture is wrong period.
TnGelding
August 31st, 2009
8:48 am
I spent 30 minutes composing an entry to the biz blog and it’s being held in moderation, probably never to be released. Just shoot me!
Paul
August 31st, 2009
8:48 am
sd 8:46
Eventually? Where you been for the past few years? McCain’s been loudly consistent on that -
Turd Ferguson
August 31st, 2009
8:49 am
Relax sheeple…there will be no prosecution of VP Cheney. Give it a rest and get back to your froot loops.
Call it Like It Is
August 31st, 2009
8:50 am
Let’s write on the Socialist, Racist and what he has done.
Uh, let’s see…Nothing! Cheney way better than that dumb ass Biden.
I mean, come on, give me a break!
The Rebublicans rebound in the next election.
Enough Said!
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2009
8:51 am
“obobo”
Who’s that? Does he post here?
Paul
August 31st, 2009
8:52 am
Kamchak
Do you agree all the items listed by the CIA Inspector General as EITs are, in fact, torture? And that the standard interrogation practices are not torture?
Lord Help Us
August 31st, 2009
8:52 am
Don’t you mean ‘Lemonade,’ Turd…
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2009
8:52 am
“This turd is either delusional or just assumes that his followers are as dumb as a box of rocks”
They aren’t mutually exclusive
TnGelding
August 31st, 2009
8:52 am
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2009
8:47 am
Yeah, when he changed his voter registration I knew we were in trouble. I was trying to come up with a name but drew a blank. Would anyone of stature have even accepted?
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
August 31st, 2009
8:52 am
Well, it figures these cut-and-runners would be against a war with Iran and Cheney. I say as long as we got the military all ginned up, we might as well go after Iran too. Oh, I know there will be a few libruls that point out some of our troops don’t have radios or ammo or pants to wear, but that guy in the picture in Afghanistan seemed to fight pretty good in his pink underwear without pants or a radio. Heck, let them fight buck-nekkid if it will keep me and mine safe from the Terrists.
But no, they won’t stop till they see a picture of Cheney and Rumsfeld and My President in leg irons and handcuffs and doing a frog-march off to prison. That’s why this country is going to heck in a handbasket.
If this Obama had any decency he would fire this AG for letting them go after my Republican heros.
Have a good day everybody.
TnGelding
August 31st, 2009
8:53 am
Paul
August 31st, 2009
8:47 am
But did it come too late?
Algonquin J. Calhoun
August 31st, 2009
8:54 am
Bring Bush and Cheney to trial for their many war crimes!
Bosch
August 31st, 2009
8:54 am
It’s all really quite simple as I’ve been telling you all for weeks now:
Dick Cheney is evil.
He needs to take a clue from GWB and slither back into his undisclosed location and STFU.
stands for decibels
August 31st, 2009
8:55 am
Eventually? Where you been for the past few years? McCain’s been loudly consistent on that -
Oh, I know (and I’ve been known to have quoted some of McCain’s more eloquent moments, spoken from personal experience, on the topic). I just needed an excuse to gripe about McCain getting so much more TeeVee time than (say) Kerry did after he lost.
Later, kids. Try not to shoot anyone in the face while I’m gone.
yowsa
August 31st, 2009
8:56 am
More Casualties in Afghanistan under Obama than Bush.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d636d14e-9594-11de-90e0-00144feabdc0.html
yowsa
August 31st, 2009
8:57 am
“Bring Bush and Cheney to trial for their many war crimes!”
Pelosi and Obama too.
Kayaker 71
August 31st, 2009
8:57 am
Bookman,
Beck still has an audience, at last count the second best one on news television. All of these people who watch him are “nuts”? What a crock. Have you ever listened to this man? Are you some type of armchair critic who labels everyone who disagrees with him a nut case? I challenge you and every one of Beck’s critics on this blog. Tell me one thing that he said during last week’s five shows that was not correct in it’s content. One thing. He has received no challenges from any major news network, the White House or any credible news outlet. His critics are killing the messenger, not the message. You might not like the guy, some don’t. But stop calling him names just because he is saying what you won’t admit or do not like to hear. He and his message will not go away, Bookman, at least for the millions that watch him.
Bozo’s numbers are dropping like a rock, at last count, 45%. Are all of the 55% of those who don’t buy his BS also “nuts”? Save your criticism for Cheney but leave Beck out of it. He doesn’t belong there.
Lord Help Us
August 31st, 2009
8:57 am
One day I will learn to forgive that low-level bureaucrat in Palm Beach County, Florida that designed the butterfly ballot that got Bush/Cheney elected.
I wish we had been able to see how much better off this country would be…
Doggone/GA
August 31st, 2009
8:59 am
“Yes they should be prosecuted, but torture is antithetical to what this country stands for–torture is wrong period.
yes it is…but Cheney has a bad heart, so “EIT” for him would not even approach torture for someone healthy. Of course we’d still have to deal with the morality issue, but it’s something to contemplate at least.
Kamchak
August 31st, 2009
8:59 am
Do you agree all the items listed by the CIA Inspector General as EITs are, in fact torture?
Not familiar with “all the items listed.” Care to elucidate?
And that the standard interrogation practices are not torture?
See above.
The General
August 31st, 2009
8:59 am
I’ve covered for you lots of times Dick, cause I thought you was crazy. But you’re not crazy, you’re mean.
Paul
August 31st, 2009
9:00 am
TNGelding 8:53
It’s never too late –
yowsa
A key test of if this is politically motivated or not: will the special prosecutor put the Speaker under oath and ask “what did you know and when did you know it?”
Taxpayer
August 31st, 2009
9:00 am
The former vice president, in other words, is a nut
I couldn’t have summed him up better myself. He and Kristol should get together and bake a Claxton™ since they could comprise both the fruit and nut content. I must say though that I was hoping for much more when I read the headline over the weekend that McCain ‘whacked’ Cheney. A good “beetch slap” might be just what the doctor ordered to snap him back to reality.
Mrs. Godzilla
August 31st, 2009
9:00 am
yowsa
love the new nomme de plume du hour
stands for decibels
August 31st, 2009
9:00 am
Oh, one last thing:
Save your criticism for Cheney but leave Beck out of it.
Leeeeavvvve Glenn Beck aloooooooooooooone!!!!
jconservative
August 31st, 2009
9:00 am
As I write this there are 26 comments posted. No one has disagreed with Bookman’s premise that the Bush administration isolated Cheney from policy after the 2004 election. Not even Cheney disagrees.
If Cheney was wrong in 2005 – 2008 then he is probably wrong today.
If Cheney is correct today, then he was correct in 2005 – 2008 and Bush was wrong & no better than Obama.
History teaches that we will not actually know who was correct for about 50 years.