Cheney Cracks His Knuckles After Obama Campaign Stop
Posted on May 21, 2009
People not buying the BS? Hey, why not have a cute photo op during the Neverending Campaign
President Barack declared defiantly Thursday that the U.S. “went off course” in fighting terrorism over the past eight years, and said his policies will “better protect” the country against al Qaeda.
In a remarkable split-screen presentation of opposing worldviews, former Vice President Dick Cheney spoke across town moments later, saying he supported the controversial policies “when they were made, and without hesitation would do so again in the same circumstances.”
“The point is not to look backward,” Cheney said. “A lot rides on our President’s understanding of the security policies that preceded him. And whatever choices he makes concerning the defense of this country, those choices should not be based on slogans and campaign rhetoric, but on a truthful telling of history.”
Obama, in a major address at the National Archives, argued that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods “did not advance our war and counter-terrorism efforts – they undermined them.”
Is there any point towards doing this except to turn it into a campaign stop? Full text of Obama’s campaign stop here. Shockingly, the same NY Times doesn’t bother with a transcript of Cheney’s speech. They have a link to it at another site. The Weekly Standard has it in non-PDF form.
Staying over at The Weekly Standard, some good stuff
Regarding what Obama was going to say, It’s worth remembering that the Bush administration didn’t have the “luxury of starting from scratch,” unless you mean the exciting opportunity to create a whole new building in the crater where the Trade Towers once stood. Bush, if you’ll remember, was cleaning up “a mess” that left “in its wake” a “flood” of dead Americans and immediate threats to the rest of the country. It’s a bit unseemly for Obama to whine about the “legal challenges” left by an administration that was successful in protecting the country from those threats for seven years.
Obama’s is the speech of a young senator who was once a part-time law professor–platitudinous and preachy, vague and pseudo-thoughtful in an abstract kind of way. This sentence was revealing: “On the other hand, I recently opposed the release of certain photographs that were taken of detainees by U.S. personnel between 2002 and 2004.” “Opposed the release”? Doesn’t he mean “decided not to permit the release”? He’s president. He’s not just a guy participating in a debate. But he’s more comfortable as a debater, not as someone who takes responsibility for decisions.
Cheney’s is the speech of a grownup, of a chief executive, of a statesman. He’s sober, realistic and concrete, stands up for his country and its public officials, and has an acute awareness of the consequences of the choices one makes as a public official and a willingness to take responsibility for those choices.
Michelle Malkin: Cliff Notes’ version of Obama’s speech: I blame Bush (but, uh, I will follow his “lost way” on preventive detention. Just in a kinder, gentler, more, uh, moral way).
One thing I do have to give Obama credit for is that he at least tries to fight back to support Bush’s his policies. One of the big complaints we on the Right have had is that the Bush admin. never really tried to defend their policies. They should have let Cheney loose 7 years ago.
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, 9-11, Barack Obama, Conservatives, Democrats, Guantanamo Bay, Liberal Media/Bias, National Security, News, Politics As Usual, Republicans, War On Terror, terrorism
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12 Responses to “Cheney Cracks His Knuckles After Obama Campaign Stop”
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Cheney ripped Barry-boy a new one today…..Go DC, Go!
The Big Eared Chimp in the White House will be run out of office when the unemployment rate tops 15%, which it will, due to his anti-business, anti-market, Marxist policies.
Buh-bye Barry Hussein Chavez…..
Barack Obama is a weak man. It still amazes me that America voted him into office. Every time I watch him speak, I think to myself ‘this guy is a con artist and nothing more’. Oh well, only 4 years of him and then hopefully, a new guy or women at the helm.
Cheney is setting the tone for the national security argument and B. Hussein Obama clearly knows it. This is why when this Socialist administration found out the former Vice President would be speaking at AEI he had to speak first. He (Hussein) was on the defensive the entire speech and of course he never quits blaming the Bush Administration for everything. What will next conservative President say at the Inagural Speech on 20 January 2013? It will go like this: “We are a nation that has undergone 4 years of socialism that has ripped-up the constitution and we are going to have to clean up this sorry mess the Democratic Socialist party have done to our country”. Lets roll!
Keep America Safe
Keep Gitmo Open
Close the White House
Obama is a guy who can’t stop campaigning. Why? Because, if he’s forced to actually start governing, he knows he he’s triply f***ed.
I think it was baseball great Satchel Paige who once said, “Don’t look back: something might be gaining on you.” In Obama’s case, he dare not look back, because he knows he’ll see his reckoning–maybe in the form of Dick Cheney–gaining on him.
Oh, to have an adult in charge of our national security again……2010 and 12 can’t come fast enough
I can’t believe the short-sighted views of the bloggers on this site. President Obama gave the most intelligent, reasoned speech, respectful of the rule of law, the Constitution of the United States and the facts as they have been revealed regarding WMD, torture and the Bush Administration complicity in the deception that brought us the Iraq War.
Margaret: please tell us dumb bloggers exactly why we are so shortsighted. If you agree with the president, then do you agree with his thought that we “went off course” in the war on those responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans, or in the stopping of hundreds of attacks which have been halted before they happened ? Do you believe that al Qaeda members – who’ve murdered thousands all over the world in the past decade should be allowed the same rule of law and Constitutional rights that Americans enjoy ? Do you believe that freedom is a value which should be fought for, and advanced ? Do you believe that it is acceptable for a de-stabilizing man in a foreign country who has gassed/butchered thousands of his own people (including children) to continue ? Do you believe the rape of thousands of Iraqi women by Republican Guard members is acceptable ? How many nations stopped this atrocity before the United States stepped in ? Are you aware that waterboarding was practiced on U.S. soldiers before it was used to gather information from detained terrorists ? Are you aware that no soldier died from this action or was seriously hurt ? And are you willing (in a world filled with dangerous men and weapons) to risk an attack on U.S. soil ? Should we wait until it happens, and then respond ? Or should we do everything in our power to stop it before it happens ? How do we fight an enemy who literally strap bombs to their own children and watches them blown to bits in the name of religion ? Please tell us. Do you believe anything, any value, or any person in this country is worth fighting a war for ? People like you stood by during the 1930’s as a German madman rose to power and massacred millions. People like you stood by as another Japanese leader rose to power and attacked American soil in 1941, killing thousands. My family paid the price back then for the naive thoughts of people like you. Please grow up. I say “never again”.
I can tell you what she believes…
She believes that my wife and I, who work our tails off while simultaneously raising three kids, should pay significantly more in income taxes because we are “rich”.
I am developing quite a deep hatred for morons like Margaret. Complain, complain complain but when it comes time to actually do something, well, let someone else shoulder the yoke. Right, Margaret?
A deep, burning hatred…
Well Dave, I’ll tell u y.In case u dont know, the Iraqis hav nuthin 2 do with 9/11 at all. Infact, Hussein and Alqaeda stands at opposite end of their religious and political scale, even to the point of seeing each other as enemies. The idea if invading Iraq was not to see Iraqis free from a tyrant. there r other tyrants around to begin with. It so happen that iraq has lots of oil and somebody in power decided that in order to get to those oil you need 2 colonise iraq, so what better way than to create ‘an evidence’ of saddam hussein ‘close’ association to alqaeda, turning the whole offensive from the real Alqaeda in Afghan mountains to Saddam Hussien in Iraq. Fact is. there wasnt any significant number of Alqaeda, if any at all, in Iraq prior to the invasion, but a lot has been created as a result of the invasion. Now even continetal america is not spared of new Alqaeda or related cells, as demonstrated by the present arrests of some US home-grown at home.
Now Mr bigbob, 2 finance the Iraq war u borrowed heavily from the likes of China, Singapore, Iceland to name a few, hoping to pay up using dollars from the expected iraqi oil. The trouble was, the oil dollars arent forthcoming,meanwhile new loans r hard to come by, so these loans are bankcrupting good old uncle sam instead. Now, dont feel too bad if u r paying more to help uncle sam now. Its your patriotic duty to help the country in need. Besides, werent u the ones who help support the folly in the 1st place. So pls stop blaming anyone else who were just trying to clean up ur …., start paying ur dues with a smile.
Barry is over. Holder is a coward for not investigating ACORN.
Dick Cheney is the MAN OF THE HOUR MONTH YEAR.
Take the poll: Sarah, Dick or Powell?
http://www.republicancatholics.blogspot.com
Freespirit: So the mass graves all over northern Iraq are ok with you ? Saddam’s Anfal Campaign – which created over 400 mass graves of mostly women and children is fine with you ? Are you seriously suggesting that genocide is not a problem that the United States should be trying to halt ? How many videos of bulldozers pushing hundreds of rotting human corpses into football field sized graves does it take for you to grow up ? At what point did I claim that 9/11 had anything to do with the invasion of Iraq ? Until you’ve defended this country and the world from “people” who do these types of things to other human beings, I suggest that you either gain some knowledge of the facts, or keep your ignorant thoughts to yourself.
And: the debt created in fighting evil around the world in all of American history is miniscule in comparison to the debt that president pantywaist has created in just 4 months in office. The difference is that the debt created in fighting evil stopped that evil. The debt that this (worse than useless) political hack is creating simply transfers wealth from those who create jobs to those who create NOTHING. Like I said, grow up.