Friday, December 07, 2012

APPARENTLY, ACCORDING TO CHENEY, WE SHOULD HAVE KEPT FIGHTING IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN PRETTY MUCH FOREVER

Fox Nation has posted a clip of Dick Cheney's speech last night at the Hudson Institute, under the rather sociopathic -- and thus quintessentially Ailesian -- headline "Cheney Takes Flamethrower to Obama." Like all Fox News videos, it has an embed code that doesn't work (excellent mastery of the Internet, Mr. Murdoch -- oh, and a damn shame about your now-defuct Daily), but you can watch the clip at the link above, or here, where it's posted under a headline that's, um, even more psychologically revealing: "Cheney Unloads on Obama During Hudson Institute Speech."

In the speech, Cheney says this about the Middle East:
That entire part of the world appears to be, or a good part of it certainly, to be moving in a direction that's fundamentally hostile to long-term U.S. interests. And yet we are -- seem to be unable to influence events in that part of the world, partly because we're headed for the exits, and everybody knows we're headed for the exits.

We pulled out of Iraq -- we didn't even bother to negotiate the stay-behind agreement that was traditional in those kind of relationships. We're well on our way out of Afghanistan. And we have had a president who's been to Cairo; one of the first things he did, to apologize for the U.S. reaction to 9/11, alleged that we had, quote, “overreacted" and fallen away from our basic traditional values.
So I guess we should have prevented the Arab Spring by ceaselessly trying to dig ourselves out of the Iraq and Afghanistan holes Cheney and Bush dug for us with their botched wars. And I guess we were supposed to pay for those endless wars with Bush's tax cuts.

Oh, and the word "overreacted" doesn't appear once in Obama's Cairo speech. It does, however, appear in a Politico story about Obama's Cairo speech, which Cheney has quoted ever since as if he's quoting Obama. From the Politico story:
In comments that will also be portrayed as an apology, Obama told the Cairo audience that the U.S. overreacted to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our ideals," he said. "I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year."
So denouncing torture and Gitmo as "contrary to our ideals" still gets up Cheney's nose. Well, naturally.

Oh, and here's that quote in context:
And finally, just as America can never tolerate violence by extremists, we must never alter or forget our principles. Nine-eleven was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course. I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year. (Applause.)

So America will defend itself, respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law. And we will do so in partnership with Muslim communities which are also threatened. The sooner the extremists are isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities, the sooner we will all be safer.
So Obama said that in the context of talking about continuing to fight. Still not enough for Cheney. But why would Cheney familiarize himself with the actual text of Obama's Cairo speech when the right-wing caricature so obvious warms the cockles of his mechanical heart?

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I guess Fox didn't care to point out that flamethrowers are military weapons that only soldiers ever use*, and Dick Cheney fought tooth and nail to get out of serving in the military when he had his chance.

* (Actually, USED, since they're decades out of date but of course the average FOX viewer is so old they don't know that.)

Victor said...

Yes, there's no one else I'd rather hear from on the subject of war, than "Six Deferment Dick!"

The interesting thing is, that his new heart hasn't done anything to temper his evil.

Obviously, it's the brain, and not the heart, that handles thoughts and emotions - and that's why he is so sadly lacking.
He ain't that bright...

Dick Cheney is one of the most evil people in American history. BAR NONE!!!

Peter VE said...

"We pulled out of Iraq -- we didn't even bother to negotiate the stay-behind agreement that was traditional in those kind of relationships." and he means WE - it was the Bush/Cheney administration which negotiated the pull out with the Iraqi government

Unknown said...

When Cheney finally dies (if that's even possible for this bionic quasi-human), he'd better be buried in another undisclosed location. Otherwise, with so many people dancing and peeing on his grave, the whole thing might collapse and somebody get hurt.

Philo Vaihinger said...

It was an insane overreaction.

Going on 2 trillion dollars and how many hundreds of thousands dead?

Pops said...

Why? Why oh Why? We all know Dickie had other priorities but is still, at heart, a Draft Dodging Coward. Just Like Romney and George W. Bush were. To top it off Dan Rather was right W. was a deserter.

Cthulhu said...

@William Miller; Oh I hope they don't hide his gravesite. I plan to grow rich running the beer stand so people can piss on his grave.

Monty said...

the cockles of his mechanical heart"

Sadly, Fuck You was able to secure a human heart for himself which was successfully installed earlier this year. I can't imagine how is possible (he's 71 in human years) without somehow cutting in line.

Dark Avenger said...

I can't imagine how is possible (he's 71 in human years) without somehow cutting in line.

Steve Jobs got his liver by moving to TN, a little-known fact that you don't read about in many places:

Last January, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, one of America’s leading vampires, flapped into town and roosted on a house in a very gated, old-colonial neighborhood within the Memphis city limits. Despite a lifestyle sometimes closer to Kinshasa than Kansas, there are still a few pockets of neighborhoods around the city where rich folks aren’t afraid to say they’re from, with a few qualifications and explanations of course. These are largely people who, for whatever reason, didn’t bail to the sprawling suburbs during white flight and who now mostly employ 24/7 security staffs. These neighborhoods have always reminded me of the Frenchmen in Apocalypse Now, REDUX still claiming their land and wanting their colonies back. Hey, at least there’s a certain pride in that.