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December 5, 2009

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Letter to the Editor:

It would be best for Cheney to just slink away

Monday, May 25, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

During the Bush administration, Vice President Dick Cheney conducted his dishonorable activities behind the scenes, manipulating a weak president who fell prey to his irrational, senseless views of how America should wage the war on terror. After failing to keep the country safe by ignoring numerous warnings before 9/11, Cheney, whose 18 percent public approval rating indicates people don’t consider him an expert on antiterrorism, comes out from behind the curtain to defend policies that got our country into the mess we are in today.

Why doesn’t Cheney accept that Americans have rejected his views on torture and his ideas on how to keep the country safe? His tactics and decisions have proved wrong in almost every case over the past eight years and now, rather than let history judge his worth, he is on a media blitz, trying to defend his failures and his demented views.

The country has chosen a new direction. Cheney needs to accept that and stop trying to convince us that he knows best about America’s security. He had his chance and failed.

Discussion: 41 comments so far…

  1. HEY PHIL > Lets just hope this country dos not get hit again or the only thing going up after that is Dick Cheneys speaking fees. I myself believe that he did alot more good then this country will ever give him credit for.

  2. pPlay - get off the kool-aid and get some mental help. Your shallow gene-pool thinking is disturbing. You and your ilk are why the Republicans lost and will continue to lose.

  3. "He had his chance and failed."

    There was no failure in keep our country safe after Bush and Cheney learned the lessons from our failures of 9/11.

    As part of our post 1990 cold war downsizing American went on an appeasement bing, cut our troop numbers by 500,000, demantled our military supply chain, took our spooks off the beat, and outsourced our EITs. All that had to be rebuilt by Bush and Cheney.

  4. Now Obama is Bush lite on all of these issues.

  5. Well, Future; what happened on 9/11? Why couldn't your heroes "keep us safe" that day DESPITE all the warnings they were given? Why couldn't they "keep us safe" DESPITE being HANDED the ***BI-PARTISAN*** Hart-Rudmann Report upon taking office in January, 2001?

    WHY, Future?

    Oh and BTW, where is bin Laden? And WHY did BushCheneyCo DISMANTLE the bin Laden task force? Didn't Dubya swear to "git him dead or alive"?

  6. During the campaign, I fell into the hate Cheney/hate Bush theme that Obama and the left propagated in the media. Now that the dust has settled, and it is clear that Obama lied during his campaign speeches on spending, taxes, and defense, my views are changing. Listening to Cheney today, I find him extremely intelligent with a "common sense" view that Obama doesn't have yet, and Biden never will. Cheney will be one of the leaders that will move our country back to the right, as educated Americans realize that is where our country should be. I moved early.

  7. Give them hell, Dick!!!!

    It drives them nuts.

  8. When George W. Bush was elected, Bill Clinton and Al Gore didn't go out and run him down at every opporunity.

    When Bill Clinton was elected, George H.W. Bush and Dan Quayle didn't run him down every chance they got.

    You know why? Because when you leave the national stage after your term is up, you are supposed to have some modicum of dignity. And that means not going after the guys who succeeded you in public.

    And future, you seem to forget the anthrax attacks that also happened in 2001. AFTER 9/11.

  9. Stop kidding yourselves. Cheney is driving the Republican party into oblivion. If the party is to survive it must find new leadership. Michael Steele has not been up to the task. Cheney's 18% approval rating should not qualify him as the poster boy for the Party. He needs to shut up as he drives another nail into the coffin every time he opens his mouth. How many chances should he get after being wrong so often. "Greeted with flowers and candy", "we're in the last throws of the insurgency", the phony Iraq-9/11 links, on and on.

  10. "When George W. Bush was elected, Bill Clinton and Al Gore didn't go out and run him down at every opporunity."

    You better pull those tapes of Al Gore spewing and look at them again

  11. POWERPLAY: The country will get hit again. Don't be naive in thinking we can be completely protected. You should also accept the fact that billion$ of dollars that could have been spent on homeland security was squandered on a phony war in Iraq and has caused the war in Afghanistan to go from a proud victory to a near disaster.

  12. "Give them hell Dick!"
    Dick.

  13. I am glad he did come out and say something. We only hear what the goverment wants U to know. And once you get into office U find out thing U cannot tell or it will hurt our country. And as far as Clinton and Gore. When the Cole was hit we should of done somthing than. Maybe 9/11 would'nt of happen.

  14. ...oh my allah...I honestly cannot believe that all y'all are still on he he said / he said, and my guy is better than your guy bent...what a total waste of energy that should be focused elsewhere...sorry in advance for my offensive rant...I hate to admit it and more so dislike stating it, but most of you are simpletons and should do some self-evaluation where you will come to realize that both parties are equally responsible for our collective messes...jeeesshhh people, c'mon...the evidence is all around you...please don't continue to be simpletons...yes, most of you are simpletons...jeessshhhh...

  15. Future:

    Fine, Gore did criticize the administration...2 years after he left office. Cheney didn't even wait 30 days.

    And KLW - Both the Clinton and Bush Administrations have been criticized for not responding to the Cole attacks. Clinton was at the tail end of his Presidency, and did not want to do to his successor what Bush 41 did to him (Bush 41 sent troops to Somalia one month before Clinton was inaugurated, and left Clinton to clean it up).

  16. cheney does not need to slink away, he needs to be PUT away; and for a long long long long long time. Like, maybe Gitmo? With a daily regime of waterboarding to get him to tell the truth (LOL) and only the US Constitution to read. I think he would look good in an orange suit, sitting in an outdoor cage, just big enough to hold his fat-self.

    Ahhh, one can only dream.

  17. "Al Gore didn't go out and run him down at every opporunity."

    Yes, he did.

    Within one year, he attacked Bush. Then he continued to ramp up his attaks.

    Contra Costa Times, 1/10/02: "While praising President Bush for his leadership in the war effort, he went on to say that the economy was another matter. 'I'm not here to make a political speech, but I am concerned,' Gore said."

    USA Today, 4/15/2002: "Gore's speech was the emotional peak of the convention. With practiced skill, humor and a passion some delegates said they did not see during the campaign, Gore denounced virtually every element of Bush's domestic policy."

    Hey, Mr. Hypocrite....are you ready now to apply your logic to Gore and denounce him, too?

  18. Why is there a debate about criticizing Bush? If you look up criticize in the dictionary his picture will be in the definition. His deer in the headlights look on 9/11 was enough to show me what kind of man he was. He was able to rally the world against terrorism and then blew it all by invading Iraq. It was downhill in the fast lane from there.
    Who is more deserving of criticism? Oh, Cheney is. Sorry.
    Didn't Bush win the Nobel Prize or something like that..........oh, no that was Gore. Didn't Bush leave a budget surplus when he left office, oh, no that was Clinton............ but Bush handled that hurricane relief real well,................... hmmm, maybe not, now that I think about it. That MISSION ACOMPLISHED speech was well received................ FOR A WEEK!
    There's no denying the lighting of the White House christmas tree went flawlessly last year. THERE!!!!!!!

  19. "Why doesn't Cheney accept that Americans have rejected his views on torture and his ideas on how to keep the country safe?"

    The Bush admin's rationale for putting a full-court press on terrorists has never been fully debated on a national level. All we have been fed for 5+ years is the premise, repeated by Mr. Ventura, championed by the self-loathing liberal elites that control the media and the education system in our country. What a breath of fresh air to hear the other side from a serious adult.

  20. Please get it right. Dick Cheney's approval rating is at 37%. People are interested in what Dick Cheney has to say about terrorism. It is clear that Obama is very confused and doesn't have a clue. Not only that but he has changed course on many of his campaign promises and just can't pick a stance on anything. Another thing Dick Cheney can do that Obama can't is speak without a teleprompter. Obama was not ready for this position.

  21. Uh, friday? Apparently only 37% of people have any interest in Dick Cheney OR what he has to say.

    And if my math skills are correct, that means that 63% of people DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS.

    63% IS more than 37%, isn't it?

    Oh and the reason Cheney doesn't need a teleprompter is because he's spewed the same tired old lies for over eight years now. One would hope he'd have it down to the point of memorization after so long.

  22. The reason Dick Cheney doesn't need a teleprompter is because he's able to actually talk and think at the same time. Something Hopey McChange cannot do.

  23. Friday, you are right - someone who became President of Harvard Law cannot talk and think at the same time. Obviously, Obama bamboozled them too into believing he was smart. Suckers.

    Call me crazy, but I consider someone who attains such a position at Harvard Law, a pretty smart person. Heck, you have to be in the top 5% of college graduates just to be admitted as a student. But I know - Obama lied his way to the top, right Friday?

    Ironic that all these right-wing nutjobs who couldn't even qualify for Harvard Law School, are somehow qualified to make the declaration that Obama is, basically, stupid. Because he uses a teleprompter. And as we all know, using a teleprompter is a clear sign of being a moron.

    Stay classy!

  24. So when Reagan, Bush I & Bush II used teleprompters ..... was that OK? Does it only bother you if the one using the teleprompter has a "D" after his/her name?

    Or is your outrage less selective than that?

    Not that this deserves a response but "Hopey McChange"? Tell me something; what's so wrong about people wanting hope and change after eight years of Bush? What's wrong with "the little people" wanting to partake of the American Dream instead of just the Bush/Cheney friends & the wealthiest in the nation?

  25. Correction ..... "instead of" should read "in addition to".

    My apologies.

  26. Not to get too far off topic, but who exactly are these little people? I am not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. The American Dream is alive and well for people that are willing to work hard and make smart decisions. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but if people have not already achieved their American dream before Bush/Cheney left office it's certainly not not going to happen with the hope and change Obama is bringing. I know Obama promised that his budget would cut the deficit in half by the end of his term, but his stimulous has already quadrupled the deficit just 4 months in. If your dream is to saddle future generations with more deficit than Bush did with the Iraq/Afghanistan wars than....YAY for hope & change!

  27. Also not to venture off of the topic but I have one question regarding The Bush Administration's
    so called great job of protecting us from terrorism and the occurance of 9/11. Knowing that our government knew for years that airline pilots were extremely vulnerable why did they not install secure cockpit doors in all commercial airliners? There is a reason this well known vulnerability was not addressed and corrected.

  28. Actually 9ballguy, the airlines flatly rejected it due to the fact that it was "expensive and unnecessary." Are you one of those 9/11 conspiracy theorists? Here's one for you, I think the airlines let 9/11 happen on purpose! The airlines have known for years how vulnerable the cockpits were, especially after the 1987 David Burke incident! This well known vulnerability was not addressed or corrected by the airlines, must be a reason.

  29. If the Bush Administration had done it's so called great job of protecting us the Airlines would not have had a choice in the matter.

  30. and I never said that I am a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. But it is food for thought. High level government intelligence was aware of the vulnerability for years and it didn't require rocket science to put secure cockpit doors on planes.

  31. Way to avoid the questions, friday. Nice magical thinking.

    Have a nice day.

  32. Can't argue the truth Patricia, QUADRUPLED Bush's deficit in the first 4 months. Good luck with your hope, change & the American dream!

  33. "Bush Administration's
    so called great job of protecting us from terrorism and the occurance of 9/11. Knowing that our government knew for years that airline pilots were extremely vulnerable why did they not install secure cockpit doors in all commercial airliners? "

    9/11 happen into 8 months of the Bush adminstration.

    So you are saying that Bush on day 1 on taking office in January should have immediately order the airlines to design and fit secure cockpit doors on all of their commerical ariliners?

    Hmmmmm.....it is sooo funny to hear stuff like that. In the next breath these kool-aid drinkers will cry and whine that Bush went to far in other matters.

  34. Glad you found it funny jfinance. Your posts are also very entertaining..........

  35. And the always-reliable "change the subject".

    You can't answer direct questions without employing Weapons of Mass Distraction.

    As I said, magical thinking. (Look it up.)

  36. Actually Patricia, you changed the subject when you posed the following question:

    "Tell me something; what's so wrong about people wanting hope and change after eight years of Bush? What's wrong with "the little people" wanting to partake of the American Dream instead of just the Bush/Cheney friends & the wealthiest in the nation?"

    Nice try

  37. No, friday; that was in response to your crack about "Hopey McChange". Apparently reading comprehension isn't your strong suit.

    Follow the bouncing thread, magical thinker.

  38. Patricia,

    Nobody asked you why you posed the question, you still asked it. What you just posted is basically saying, "no I didn't, but here's why I did." I do think it's funny how you think reading comprehension is your strong suit. Now go work on your composition skills. Also, I just have to tell you (since it's your new favorite phrase) that the term "magical thinking" has been around for a while, but it's sweet that you think you're so evolved that people need to look stuff up to understand you. Did someone just learn a new phrase? YAY!!! I understand your eagerness to use your new words but you're using them wrong.

  39. LOL! Oh my my. Have I been chastised?

    No I didn't just learn a new phrase. It recently occurred to me that you (and several others on these boards) are textbook examples of magical thinkers.

    As to reading comprehension, well, you're being deliberately obtuse. You said I was responsible for thread drift. I pointed out how it was a response to something YOU wrote. I'm awfully sorry you seem to have a difficult time grasping that but that's your problem, not mine.

    I see no need to continue this (though I'm sure you'll have the last word LOL), so have a nice day.

  40. Is it just me or dosen't Dick Chicanary look like Burgess Merideth when he played the Penguin on the old Batman series. Arrrgh!

  41. There's nothing obtuse about it, your question is exactly why the thread drifted. The question you posed had nothing whatsoever to do with what we were discussing. I'm awfully sorry you seem to have a difficult time grasping that. Maybe it's magical thinking.

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