3 posts tagged “cheney”

Interesting commentary by Tom Friedman.  Although I don't support Obama -- I thought this line was apropos:

...he needs to dial down his inner Jimmy Carter a bit when it comes to talking to Iran, and dial up a bit more inner Dick Cheney.

Too bad the Democrats just don't get it.  But then again, the anti-war left doesn't want them to get any of that...

When the 2000 election was in full swing, I recall the vice-presidential debate between Cheney and Lieberman.  I distinctly remember a comment made by the moderator about how civil and logical the candidates handled themselves in terms of political debate.  The wish the moderator had was why couldn't these guys be the ones running for president?  I always think about that for some reason, even with all of this current criticism about Cheney.

I preface the following issue with this above comment because Cheney always seemed to have a core logic that I think appealed to me.

So here is the issue:

So there it is in all of its glory.  Dick Cheney in 1994 commenting on the first Iraq war and defending why we didn't go into Baghdad and oust Saddam.

If Cheney comes across with this common sense logic about Iraq in 1994, then why the change post-9/11?  Why, in the face of his own logic about the repercussions of going into Iraq, would he have advocated such a move in 2002-2003?

Why go against a core belief when it is easy to look at history (courtesy of YouTube), point the finger, and say you are a flip flopper?

Is it possible for Cheney to make sense in 1994 and 2002 regarding Saddam?  Part of me still says, "Yes."  Does that mean I am being illogical? 

I am probably asking for trouble by posting this -- but it is possibly worth the discussion.

Cheney is pushing the Democrats.

A few days ago, Dick Cheney challenged Nancy Pelosi on Iraq, saying that pulling out, as she advocates, would play into the hands of the terrorists. Pelosi resorted to the old "How dare he question my patriotism" dodge, and complained to President Bush's Chief of Staff, Josh Bolten. Now, Cheney says he isn't backing down:

During Friday's interview in Sydney with ABC News, Cheney said, "I'm not sure what part of it is that Nancy disagreed with. She accused me of questioning her patriotism. I didn't question her patriotism. I questioned her judgment."

"You also have to be accountable for the results. What are the consequences of that? What happens if we withdraw from Iraq?," he said. "And the point I made and I'll make it again is that al-Qaida functions on the basis that they think they can break our will. That's their fundamental underlying strategy, that if they can kill enough Americans or cause enough havoc, create enough chaos in Iraq, then we'll quit and go home. And my statement was that if we adopt the Pelosi policy, that then we will validate the strategy of al-Qaida. I said it and I meant it."

Asked if he was willing to take back his criticism of Pelosi, Cheney replied, "I'm not backing down."

This gets to the heart of the Democrats' problem. They can't deny that precipitous withdrawal from Iraq would be a disaster, they just don't want to talk about it. And if you bring it up, they say you're questioning their patriotism.

The Democrats should just *do* what they believe.  They don't believe in this war and they control the purse strings; they should just pull the funding for this war.  So quit playing politics and actually do something you believe!

Oh wait... if they do that and Iraq turns into the likes of a Pol Pot run Cambodia, then they are in the political crosshairs.  I guess the "blame Bush" line won't work anymore. 

That is crux of responsibility and the way the Democrats play politics they never want to go out on a limb on anything (they just want to talk about doing so).