Liberals: " .. vapid, unprincipled partisan hackdom .."

Glenn Greenwald is wrong about most things, but he's not unprincipled (some of the time) and he recognizes that the DOJ kill list memo forces many Dems out of the closet as overtly unprincipled hacks

As but one example, the article quoted Jennifer Granholm, the former Michigan governor and fervent Obama supporter, as admitting without any apparent shame that "if this was Bush, I think that we would all be more up in arms" because, she said "we trust the president".

 

But there are literally dozens of other examples.

Cheney: Obama "Has Been An Unmitigated Disaster To The Country"

Speaking truth to power.

"I can't think of a time when I felt it was more important for us to defeat an incumbent president today with respect to Barack Obama. I think he has been an unmitigated disaster to the country,"

Cheney happy that he once told Leahy to..."go fuck himself."

Former Vice President Dick Cheney offered high praise Thursday for his decision to tell Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to "f--k himself."


In 2004, a year after the start of the Iraq war, Leahy approached Cheney while the vice president was on the Senate floor about his ties to military contractor Halliburton. Cheney ended the exchange by telling the Vermont senator to "f--k himself."


Cheney appeared on conservative comedian Dennis Miller's radio show Thursday. Miller thanked Cheney for "almost kicking Patrick Leahy’s ass," and Cheney responded with a chuckle.




"You’d be surprised how many people liked that," Cheney followed up. "That’s sort of the best thing I ever did."

The comment was long overdue, and needs to be repeated often.

Dick Cheney speaks: The video

The Center for Security Policy "Keeper of the Flame" Dinner.

Cheney Statement on CIA Documents/Investigation

The documents released Monday clearly demonstrate that the individuals subjected to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques provided the bulk of intelligence we gained about al Qaeda. This intelligence saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks. These detainees also, according to the documents, played a role in nearly every capture of al Qaeda members and associates since 2002. The activities of the CIA in carrying out the policies of the Bush Administration were directly responsible for defeating all efforts by al Qaeda to launch further mass casualty attacks against the United States. The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions. President Obama’s decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security.

Via Steve Hayes @ the Daily Standard

I love Dick Cheney.

I love Dick Cheney.

He has no desire to run for POTUS and he has no need for more money, yet more than any other human on the planet, he drives the American Left absolutely batshit.

For this, he will forever have my unfaltering appreciation.

The Medea [self-sic] are buzzing about his statements on “Face the Nation” that a) he believes Pres. Obama’s policies are making this nation a less-safe place and b) that he is more a Limbaugh guy than a Powell guy. What really irks people who hate Dick Cheney cannot be defined in a rational sense. Like any other public figure, there are things to like and dislike about him. The wonderful thing about Dick Cheney is that the aspects of his public persona that endear him to people like me are the same things that make the blood boil in the hearts of those who despise him.

What’s even better about Dick Cheney is that in most arrangements, he’s the smartest guy in the room and few people I’ve ever seen on television are more able to disarm a room with their command of A Subject than Dick Cheney. One trivial, window-dressing aspect of The Medea’s coverage of national politics that has hardened my Conservatism is the notion that every Democrat is brilliant while every GOPer is stupid. Albert Gore? Brilliant. George W. Bush? Stupid. John Kerry? Brillaint. Hillary? Brilliant. Pres. Obama? Well, duh. Palin? Stupid. Romney? Plastic. McCain as Maverick – brilliant. McCain reaching out to Conservatives? Senile. And so forth. Yet, we eventually bump up on the Cheney Caveat: no one, not even Liberals, call him stupid.

Read the whole thing. CBrooksKurtz.com

Dick Cheney, Most Valuable Republican.

Bill Kristol calls Dick Cheney the most valuable Republican, and with good reason.

When accused of being too aggressive on behalf of the United States at the United Nations, Daniel Patrick Moynihan was fond of repeating a French proverb: "Cet animal est fort méchant, / Quand on l'attaque il se défend." Imagine--an animal so mean that, when attacked, it defends itself!

Dick Cheney is reminding Republicans that they need to defend themselves when attacked.

When President Obama released the Justice Department interrogation memos a month ago, Cheney denounced him for doing so. He explained why it was inappropriate and unwise to release such documents. ...

He challenged the president to release CIA memos evaluating the effectiveness of the enhanced interrogation techniques. He raised the question of whether congressional Democrats--Nancy Pelosi, for one--had known of, and at least tacitly approved of, the allegedly horrifying abuses of the allegedly lawless Bush administration.

Now, a month later, Pelosi is attacking career CIA officials for lying to Congress, and other Democrats are scrambling to distance themselves from her. Meanwhile, the Obama administration has pulled back on threats to prosecute Bush-era lawyers, reversed itself on releasing photos of alleged military abuse of prisoners, and embraced the use of military commissions to try captured terrorists. The administration now looks irresponsible when it lives up to candidate Obama's rhetoric, and hypocritical when it vindicates Bush policies the candidate attacked.

The strategists who generalled the Republican debacle in the last election complain:

Of course, this has resulted in some Republican political operatives' doing what they do best: complaining, on background, to the media.

These Republican heroes ...

might actually have both the Dole and McCain campaigns under your belt. Or perhaps you were one of those who encouraged the Bush White House to assume a fetal position on most issues in its second term and not fight back against slanders or defend their people,

They were surely one of those who left Scooter Libby to take a fall. I have a suspicion that these anonymous strategists are people like David "Rodham" Gergen.

Using a sports analogy:

After all, if you're behind on the scoreboard, and your defense is on the field--there's nothing better than to jam up a couple of running plays, sack the quarterback on a blitz, and force a punt from bad field position. The momentum changes as your offense takes over with a shot at putting some points on the board.

Cheney: Obama endangers the nation

Mr. Cheney said he believes it's his duty to speak out against the Obama administration "because I think the issues that are at stake here are so important."

On the Powell/Limbaugh fight:

Mr. Cheney also took a shot at former Bush administration Secretary of State Colin Powell, saying that the conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh is a more loyal Republican than the former Army commander.

"If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I'd go with Rush Limbaugh," Mr. Cheney said.
...

"I think my take on it was Colin had already left the party," Mr. Cheney said. "I didn't know he was still a Republican."

He did vote for Obama,

Cheney Calls For More CIA Reports To Be Declassified

Via Drudge:

In a two part interview airing tonight and tomorrow night on FOX News Channel’s Hannity (9-10PM ET), former Vice President Dick Cheney shared his thoughts on the CIA memos that were recently declassified and also revealed his request to the CIA to declassify additional memos that confirm the success of the Bush administration’s interrogation tactics:

CHENEY:

“One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the Office of Legal Counsel, but they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort. And there are reports that show specifically what we gained as a result of this activity. They have not been declassified.”

“I formally asked that they be declassified now. I haven't announced this up until now, I haven't talked about it, but I know specifically of reports that I read, that I saw that lay out what we learned through the interrogation process and what the consequences were for the country.”

“And I've now formally asked the CIA to take steps to declassify those memos so we can lay them out there and the American people have a chance to see what we obtained and what we learned and how good the intelligence was, as well as to see this debate over the legal opinions.”

Developing...

UPDATE: the video

Cheney inteviewed by CNN's John King

Cheney should have been President.

Transcript HERE

Regarding the financial crisis:

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We've inherited an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression.

By any measure, my administration inherited a fiscal disaster.

We inherited a big mess.
...

KING: Is that how you see it? Just about every day I assume you're reading the newspapers now that you're out of office, the president says, well, we have got a lot to do but it's not my fault, I inherited a mess. Did you leave him a mess?

CHENEY: Well, I don't follow the news quite as closely as I once did. But there's no question that what the economic circumstances that he inherited are difficult ones. You know, we said that before we left. I don't think you can blame the Bush administration for the creation of those circumstances.

It's a global financial problem. We had, in fact, tried to deal with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac problem some years before with major reforms and were blocked by Democrats on the Hill, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.

So I think the notion that you can just sort of throw it off on the prior administration, that's interesting rhetoric but I don't think anybody really cares a lot about that. What they care is what is going to work and how we are going to get out of these difficulties.

Exactly right!