Cheney is apparently the last remaining alpha male in the republican party. While the republican "leadership" is wimpering about the media or trying to get in touch with their values, this 68 year old is taking Obama to the hole and dunking on him.
From Bloomberg:
Cheney Clashes With Obama as Republicans Avoid Fight (Update1)
By Hans Nichols and Justin Blum
May 22 (Bloomberg) -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney accomplished something yesterday that Republicans have seldom been able to do: directly challenge President Barack Obama in real time on a major policy issue.
In a nationally televised speech delivered just minutes after Obama had spoken on how to protect the U.S. against terrorism, Cheney defended the decisions he and former President George W. Bush made after the Sept. 11 attacks, including using harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects.
While Republican leaders have largely avoided direct attacks on Obama and focused instead on Democratic congressional leaders, Cheney, 68, has taken the opposite tack. Republican lawmakers and strategists said he was able to raise the intensity of the criticism yesterday because, unlike other party members, he isnât worried about damaging any future political ambitions by taking on a popular president.
Cheney âmight not have the highest favorability ratings, but on this issue, I think heâs viewed by people across the country as being very credible and very knowledgeable,â said Senator John Thune, a South Dakota Republican. âWhat he says carries a lot of weight.â
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Cheneyâs prominence in the debate was actually an advantage for the administration, because it showed disarray within the Republican Party.
Anyone But Cheney
Most Republicans would probably prefer to be represented by a standard-bearer whose name was âpicked out of a hatâ rather than Cheney, Emanuel said in an interview.
In a poll by CNN/Opinion Research Corp. that was released this week, 55 percent of respondents said they had an unfavorable opinion of Cheney, compared with 37 percent who had a favorable view. That was an 8-percentage-point improvement from January, when Bush and Cheney left office with approval ratings near the lowest levels in history. By contrast, Obamaâs approval ratings have been above 60 percent since he took office Jan. 20.
Still, Republican strategist Jim Pinkerton said Cheneyâs popularity âdoesnât really matter,â because he âis not running for anything.â What is important, he said, is that âCheney absolutely has the better of the argument.â
Ask Harry Reid
Pinkerton pointed to the 90-6 vote in the Senate on May 20 when Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, joined Republicans to strip from a spending measure the $80 million Obama requested to fulfill his promise to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the end of the year.
âDonât take my word for it, take Harry Reidâs word for it,â Pinkerton said.
Obama appeared yesterday at the National Archives, the repository of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, to criticize the previous administrationâs policies and build public support for his national-security approach in the wake of reversals such as the Senate vote.
The detention center at Guantanamo, he said, âset back the moral authority that is Americaâs strongest currency in the world.â The Bush administration âwas defending positions that undermined the rule of law,â he said. Its decisions on how to handle suspected terrorists were built on âad hocâ legal measures that were âneither effective nor sustainable.â
âMost Fundamental Valuesâ
âWe also cannot keep this country safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values,â Obama said. âTime and again, our values have been our best national security asset.â
The president also indicated that some prisoners who canât be tried for legal reasons and are considered too dangerous to let go may be held indefinitely.
He noted that more than 500 Guantanamo detainees had been released under the Bush administration.
Almost as soon as Obama finished his remarks, Cheney began speaking just two miles away, at the American Enterprise Institute, a research organization that generally supported Bushâs policies.
He opened his speech by joking about Obamaâs address starting late. His tone quickly turned more grave as he claimed that interrogation tactics such as waterboarding saved American lives.
âStop Themâ
âWhen an entire population is targeted by a terror network, nothing is more consistent with American values than to stop them,â he said. He would make those decisions again âwithout hesitation,â he said.
âOur government prevented attacks and saved lives,â Cheney said at AEI, where his wife, Lynne, is a senior fellow. âOnly detainees of the highest intelligence value were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques.â
Cheney faulted Obama for releasing Justice Department memos that authorized the use of those techniques. Doing so âwas flatly contrary to the national security interests of the United States,â Cheney said.
John Feehery, a Republican consultant, said Cheneyâs instant response to Obama gave his party one of its rare victories since the Democrats took control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in the November election: the ability to challenge Obamaâs domination of the airwaves and the news cycle.
That success, said Feehery, who served as spokesman for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, was linked to the decision to engage the Democrats on the theme of national security, a subject where Republicans have historically had an advantage.
âEverything We Couldâ
âThe percentages are more with Cheney than Obama,â Feehery said. âWhat Cheney is basically arguing is that we did everything we could to make the country safer, and what Obama is arguing is that we donât have to do as much to make the country safer.â
Feehery said Cheney had gotten the better of the president with barbed lines like one in which he said the current administrationâs approach is more geared to receiving âapplause in Europeâ than protecting Americaâs security.
âThereâs no doubt about it, this is the first time theyâve got him,â he said. âThis is the first time that Republicans feel like they have some momentum.â
He said Cheneyâs defense of the Bush policies as necessary to protect the U.S. will seem prescient in the event of a terrorist attack.
âIf something goes wrong, people are going to remember what Cheney said,â Feehery said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Hans Nichols in Washington at hnichols2@bloomberg.net; Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: May 22, 2009 11:00 EDT
From Bloomberg:
Cheney Clashes With Obama as Republicans Avoid Fight (Update1)
By Hans Nichols and Justin Blum
May 22 (Bloomberg) -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney accomplished something yesterday that Republicans have seldom been able to do: directly challenge President Barack Obama in real time on a major policy issue.
In a nationally televised speech delivered just minutes after Obama had spoken on how to protect the U.S. against terrorism, Cheney defended the decisions he and former President George W. Bush made after the Sept. 11 attacks, including using harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects.
While Republican leaders have largely avoided direct attacks on Obama and focused instead on Democratic congressional leaders, Cheney, 68, has taken the opposite tack. Republican lawmakers and strategists said he was able to raise the intensity of the criticism yesterday because, unlike other party members, he isnât worried about damaging any future political ambitions by taking on a popular president.
Cheney âmight not have the highest favorability ratings, but on this issue, I think heâs viewed by people across the country as being very credible and very knowledgeable,â said Senator John Thune, a South Dakota Republican. âWhat he says carries a lot of weight.â
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Cheneyâs prominence in the debate was actually an advantage for the administration, because it showed disarray within the Republican Party.
Anyone But Cheney
Most Republicans would probably prefer to be represented by a standard-bearer whose name was âpicked out of a hatâ rather than Cheney, Emanuel said in an interview.
In a poll by CNN/Opinion Research Corp. that was released this week, 55 percent of respondents said they had an unfavorable opinion of Cheney, compared with 37 percent who had a favorable view. That was an 8-percentage-point improvement from January, when Bush and Cheney left office with approval ratings near the lowest levels in history. By contrast, Obamaâs approval ratings have been above 60 percent since he took office Jan. 20.
Still, Republican strategist Jim Pinkerton said Cheneyâs popularity âdoesnât really matter,â because he âis not running for anything.â What is important, he said, is that âCheney absolutely has the better of the argument.â
Ask Harry Reid
Pinkerton pointed to the 90-6 vote in the Senate on May 20 when Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, joined Republicans to strip from a spending measure the $80 million Obama requested to fulfill his promise to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the end of the year.
âDonât take my word for it, take Harry Reidâs word for it,â Pinkerton said.
Obama appeared yesterday at the National Archives, the repository of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, to criticize the previous administrationâs policies and build public support for his national-security approach in the wake of reversals such as the Senate vote.
The detention center at Guantanamo, he said, âset back the moral authority that is Americaâs strongest currency in the world.â The Bush administration âwas defending positions that undermined the rule of law,â he said. Its decisions on how to handle suspected terrorists were built on âad hocâ legal measures that were âneither effective nor sustainable.â
âMost Fundamental Valuesâ
âWe also cannot keep this country safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values,â Obama said. âTime and again, our values have been our best national security asset.â
The president also indicated that some prisoners who canât be tried for legal reasons and are considered too dangerous to let go may be held indefinitely.
He noted that more than 500 Guantanamo detainees had been released under the Bush administration.
Almost as soon as Obama finished his remarks, Cheney began speaking just two miles away, at the American Enterprise Institute, a research organization that generally supported Bushâs policies.
He opened his speech by joking about Obamaâs address starting late. His tone quickly turned more grave as he claimed that interrogation tactics such as waterboarding saved American lives.
âStop Themâ
âWhen an entire population is targeted by a terror network, nothing is more consistent with American values than to stop them,â he said. He would make those decisions again âwithout hesitation,â he said.
âOur government prevented attacks and saved lives,â Cheney said at AEI, where his wife, Lynne, is a senior fellow. âOnly detainees of the highest intelligence value were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques.â
Cheney faulted Obama for releasing Justice Department memos that authorized the use of those techniques. Doing so âwas flatly contrary to the national security interests of the United States,â Cheney said.
John Feehery, a Republican consultant, said Cheneyâs instant response to Obama gave his party one of its rare victories since the Democrats took control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in the November election: the ability to challenge Obamaâs domination of the airwaves and the news cycle.
That success, said Feehery, who served as spokesman for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, was linked to the decision to engage the Democrats on the theme of national security, a subject where Republicans have historically had an advantage.
âEverything We Couldâ
âThe percentages are more with Cheney than Obama,â Feehery said. âWhat Cheney is basically arguing is that we did everything we could to make the country safer, and what Obama is arguing is that we donât have to do as much to make the country safer.â
Feehery said Cheney had gotten the better of the president with barbed lines like one in which he said the current administrationâs approach is more geared to receiving âapplause in Europeâ than protecting Americaâs security.
âThereâs no doubt about it, this is the first time theyâve got him,â he said. âThis is the first time that Republicans feel like they have some momentum.â
He said Cheneyâs defense of the Bush policies as necessary to protect the U.S. will seem prescient in the event of a terrorist attack.
âIf something goes wrong, people are going to remember what Cheney said,â Feehery said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Hans Nichols in Washington at hnichols2@bloomberg.net; Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: May 22, 2009 11:00 EDT
