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You can have him.
Cheney is one of...well...mebbe the only clear thinker in politics right now.
You can have him.
Is it really that surprising that Cheney is crtical of Obama?
What should surprise you is when hardcore Obamabots like Maureen Dowd unload on Barry.
As the Nation’s Pulse Races, Obama Can’t Seem to Find His
I was walking through a deserted downtown on Christmas Eve with a friend, past the lonely, gray Treasury Building, past the snowy White House with no president inside.
“I hope the terrorists don’t think this is a good time to attack,” I said, looking protectively at the White House, which always looks smaller and more vulnerable and beautiful than you expect, no matter how often you see it up close.
I thought our guard might be down because of the holiday; now I realize our guard is down every day.
One thrilling thing about moving from W. to Barack Obama was that Obama seemed like an avatar of modernity.
W., Cheney and Rummy kept ceaselessly dragging us back into the past. America seemed to have lost her ingenuity, her quickness, her man-on-the-moon bravura, her Bugs Bunny panache.
Were we clever and inventive enough to protect ourselves from the new breed of Flintstones-hardy yet Facebook-savvy terrorists?
W.’s favorite word was “resolute,” but despite gazillions spent and Cheney’s bluster, our efforts to shield ourselves seemed flaccid.
President Obama’s favorite word is “unprecedented,” as Carol Lee of Politico pointed out. Yet he often seems mired in the past as well, letting his hallmark legislation get loaded up with old-school bribes and pork; surrounding himself with Clintonites; continuing the Bushies’ penchant for secrecy and expansive executive privilege; doubling down in Afghanistan while acting as though he’s getting out; and failing to capitalize on snazzy new technology while agencies thumb through printouts and continue their old turf battles.
Even before a Nigerian with Al Qaeda links tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet headed to Detroit, travelers could see we had made no progress toward a technologically wondrous Philip K. universe.
We seemed to still be behind the curve and reactive, patting down grannies and 5-year-olds, confiscating snow globes and lip glosses.
Instead of modernity, we have airports where security is so retro that taking away pillows and blankies and bathroom breaks counts as a great leap forward.
If we can’t catch a Nigerian with a powerful explosive powder in his oddly feminine-looking underpants and a syringe full of acid, a man whose own father had alerted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a traveler whose ticket was paid for in cash and who didn’t check bags, whose visa renewal had been denied by the British, who had studied Arabic in Al Qaeda sanctuary Yemen, whose name was on a counterterrorism watch list, who can we catch?
We are headed toward the moment when screeners will watch watch-listers sashay through while we have to come to the airport in hospital gowns, flapping open in the back.
In a rare bipartisan success, House members tried to prevent the Transportation Security Administration from implementing full-body imaging as a screening tool at airports.
Just because Republicans helped lead the ban on better technology and opposed airport security spending doesn’t mean they’ll stop Cheneying the Democrats for subverting national security.
Congressman Pete Hoekstra of Michigan was weaselly enough to whack the president and “weak-kneed liberals” in his gubernatorial fund-raising letter.
Before he left for vacation, Obama tried to shed his Spock mien and juice up the empathy quotient on jobs. But in his usual inspiring/listless cycle, he once more appeared chilly in his response to the chilling episode on Flight 253, issuing bulletins through his press secretary and hitting the links. At least you have to seem concerned.
On Tuesday, Obama stepped up to the microphone to admit what Janet Napolitano (who learned nothing from an earlier Janet named Reno) had first tried to deny: that there had been “a systemic failure” and a “catastrophic breach of security.”
But in a mystifying moment that was not technically or emotionally reassuring, there was no live video and it looked as though the Obama operation was flying by the seat of its pants.
Given that every utterance of the president is usually televised, it was a throwback to radio days — just at the moment we sought reassurance that our security has finally caught up to “Total Recall.”
All that TV viewers heard, broadcast from a Marine base in Kaneohe Bay, was the president’s disembodied voice, talking about “deficiencies.”
Citing the attempt of the Nigerian’s father to warn U.S. authorities six months ago, the president intoned: “It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list.”
In his detached way, Spock was letting us know that our besieged starship was not speeding into a safer new future, and that we still have to be scared.
Heck of a job, Barry.
This administration should be criticized. That's not the point.
Well, you could only hope. But I cull who I sleep with.
Dear Leader signed a bill that he had
no choice but to sign. He didn't grant anything.
Crap, he isn't dictator in chief yet. And if it were to come up again
he would sign it. He may be an idiot but he isn't that stupid. He
will be an "X" in three more years, unless he can figure a way to
get his brown shirts out in force to keep him in power. And he is
going to need all the protection he can get. Especially in Chicago.
Translation: Thank you sir, may I have another?
After how many years?
How many deaths?
White House Takes on Cheney Over Criticism of Terror Response
FOXNews.com
The White House fired back Wednesday at Republican critics, particularly Cheney, who have accused the administration of taking a light approach to fighting terrorism in the aftermath of the attempted attack on a Northwest Airlines flight.
printemailshare recommend (15) The White House fired back Wednesday at Republican critics, particularly Cheney, who have accused the administration in the aftermath of an attempted jet attack of taking a light approach to fighting terrorism.
The former vice president had told Politico.com that Obama is "trying to pretend we are not at war" with terrorists and is endangering the country in the process. Cheney joined several other GOP officials in criticizing the administration's "low-key" response to the failed attempt to bomb a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day.
But White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer accused Republicans Wednesday of trying to exploit the plot for political gain.
"It is telling that Vice President Cheney and others seem to be more focused on criticizing the administration than condemning the attackers. Unfortunately too many are engaged in the typical Washington game of pointing fingers and making political hay, instead of working together to find solutions to make our country safer," he wrote on the White House blog.
Pfeiffer said it "seems strangely off-key" for Cheney to be attacking Obama, accusing the Bush administration of taking the eye off the ball with the Iraq war. Pfeiffer said it was Obama who placed attention on hotspots like Yemen and Somalia, where new terror plots appear to be emerging.
The communications director also said nobody realizes the "hard reality" that the country is at war more than Obama.
"This president is not interested in bellicose rhetoric, he is focused on action. Seven years of bellicose rhetoric failed to reduce the threat from Al Qaeda and succeeded in dividing this country," Pfeiffer wrote. "There are numerous ... public statements that explicitly state we are at war. The difference is this: President Obama doesn't need to beat his chest to prove it, and -- unlike the last administration -- we are not at war with a tactic ('terrorism'), we at war with something that is tangible."
Though Obama waited the entire weekend to publicly comment on the attempted attack, and his secretary of homeland security initially claimed "the system worked," the president on Tuesday bluntly stated that a "systemic failure" allowed the suspect in the case to board a plane armed with explosives.
Obama has pledged a full review to determine what went wrong and how to fix it.
dubya took a week to respond publicly to the shoe bomber, and then put him in a US prison (not Guantanamo).
No outcry from Repugs, hate media, and conservatives back then.
the obama haters already acknowledge that they are unabashed hypocrites...
lol, Mr. Penguin strikes again!
Have you switched to whisky in your cornflakes, balli? Your hostility level has been off the charts lately.
I don't drink, but I did stop smoking weed. Temporarily. Which probably has something to do with it.
I didn't mean it as a hostile act towards you. It's just, Cheney isn't a warm cuddly penguin. He's a diseased and rotting penguin whose carcass is still managing to stink up the debate.
Obviously flat screen TVs are more important than the people who govern the country. Obama hasn't even reached Jon and Kate level yet.
"how'd we end up with politicians like these"
it takes an asshole to want to play the dirty game of politics, and they must get past the party professionals and kingmakers, all corrupted by corporate and capitalist money.
the choices offered in elections aren't choices that are going to change anything, certainly not change that the corps don't want.
Democracy has failed in America to be of,for,by the people. Conservative bull principles like cut taxes dramatically, free market/business friendly are majorly guilty of handing control of America to the corps.
How is it that any of the Board Conservatives in this forum can stand behind a guy who hid behind a woman's skirts? I'm serious, man. When Cheney was added to the Republican ticket with W. on it in 2000 I was glad because I thought he was a thoughtful, experienced guy. I was very, very, very wrong.
When Cheney accidentally shot his buddy a few years ago, what was his response? He shut himself up in his room and sent his HOSTESS out to deal with the press!!!! Now THAT is the mark of a man. I actually felt sorry for him after I heard about the shooting because I thought how badly he must feel. But then I lost any thought of ever thinking a positive thought about Cheney ever again. The man is a moral midget. He is a coward who hides behind a woman's skirts and sends her out to 'do battle' with the press corps. Dear God, how can anyone imagine that this man has any right to opine about the spine of any other human being? What a chicken !!!
Now he actually tries to accuse the current administration of 'less than vigorous' pursuit of war. He showed what his mettle is. He is below a snail.
He should crawl into a hole and pull it in after himself. He didn't even go before the public media until after Bush told him he HAD to, and then it was only to FOX. What a pussy!!
How do any of you guys, the SnC, the WCs, etc., how do you defend him, much less tout him as worth listening to about anything?
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