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Obama’s Cheney Dilemma
Newsweek ^ | Jan 10, 2009

Posted on 01/11/2009 3:35:10 PM PST by NCjim

Cheney pushed for expanded presidential powers. Now that he's leaving, what will come of his efforts? The new president won't have to wait long to tip his hand.

Dick Cheney, who will step down as vice president on Jan. 20, has been widely portrayed as a creature of the dark side, a monstrous figure who trampled on the Constitution to wage war against all foes, real and imagined. Barack Obama was elected partly to cleanse the temple of the Bush-Cheney stain, and in his campaign speeches he promised to reverse Cheney's efforts to seize power for the White House in the war on terror.

It may not be so simple. At a retirement ceremony recently for a top-level intelligence official, the senior spooks in the room gave each other high-fives. They were celebrating the fact that terrorists have not attacked the United States since 9/11. In the view of many intelligence professionals, the get-tough measures encouraged or permitted by George W. Bush's administration—including "waterboarding" self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed—kept America safe. Cheney himself has been underscoring the point in a round of farewell interviews. "If I had advice to give it would be, before you start to implement your campaign rhetoric, you need to sit down and find out precisely what it is we did and how we did it, because it is going to be vital to keeping the nation safe and secure in the years ahead," he told CBS Radio.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bho2008; cheney; veep; vpbiden
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1 posted on 01/11/2009 3:35:13 PM PST by NCjim
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To: NCjim
Dick Cheney, who will step down as vice president on Jan. 20, has been widely portrayed as a creature of the dark side, a monstrous figure who trampled on the Constitution to wage war against all foes, real and imagined.

Wtf? Maybe in those comic books that pass for the popular press. Among the remnant of rational people, the idea is preposterous.

2 posted on 01/11/2009 3:37:23 PM PST by the invisib1e hand (revolution is in the air.)
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To: NCjim
"If I had advice to give it would be, before you start to implement your campaign rhetoric, you need to sit down and find out precisely what it is we did and how we did it, because it is going to be vital to keeping the nation safe and secure in the years ahead,"

Exactly. I will miss Dick Cheney

3 posted on 01/11/2009 3:39:59 PM PST by NCjim ("Lies have to be covered up, truth can run around naked." - Johnny Cash)
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To: NCjim

>> I will miss Dick Cheney

I will miss Dick Cheney more than I will miss George Bush.


4 posted on 01/11/2009 3:41:26 PM PST by Nervous Tick (I've left Cynical City... bound for Jaded.)
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To: NCjim
has been widely portrayed as a creature of the dark side, a monstrous figure who trampled on the Constitution to wage war against all foes, real and imagined.

Sure, in rags like NewsWeak.

5 posted on 01/11/2009 3:42:36 PM PST by coloradan (The US has become a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)
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To: the invisib1e hand

My guess is that Cheney might have been a student of Churchill.

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence to do us harm.”

If this administration had no other accomplishments, it kept us safe.


6 posted on 01/11/2009 3:42:58 PM PST by Coldwater Creek ("There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological Narcissist as president.")
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To: NCjim

what gack material.

Nobody tramples on the constitution like Democrat administrations.


7 posted on 01/11/2009 3:44:24 PM PST by Vaquero ( "an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: Nervous Tick

Yup. It wasn’t mostly Bush that the libs hated, it was Cheney’s no-BS approach to war instead of getting down on all fours like a typical spineless liberal. Hail Darth Cheney!


8 posted on 01/11/2009 3:45:52 PM PST by max americana
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To: Coldwater Creek
rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence to do us harm.”

You sure that's right?

9 posted on 01/11/2009 3:46:07 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (Today is just a little more special than yesterday.)
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To: NCjim

FTA: “Barack Obama was elected partly to cleanse the temple of the Bush-Cheney stain...”

Dear Newsweak editors, where is the stain in taking the fight to the enemy, forming a huge political/warfighting coalition, and keeping the homeland safe for seven years?

The stain in the temple was what Clinton deposited on the blue dress!


10 posted on 01/11/2009 3:46:39 PM PST by 2nd Bn, 11th Mar (The "P" in Democrat stands for patriotism.)
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To: Coldwater Creek

you left out

“...on those who would.”

that gives Churchill’s words a whole other meaning.


11 posted on 01/11/2009 3:47:12 PM PST by Vaquero ( "an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: NCjim

WHO is the author of this???????????


12 posted on 01/11/2009 3:47:28 PM PST by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified DeCartes))
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To: Coldwater Creek
“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence to do us harm.”

I love that statement, always have and one of our sons is one of those men, God bless them all. The things he has done as his duty bring me to my knees, I thank them all.

13 posted on 01/11/2009 3:47:47 PM PST by brushcop (We remember SSG Harrison Brown, PVT Andrew Simmons B CO 2/69 3ID KIA Iraq OIF IV)
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To: NCjim

The other half of the dilemma is that instead of a Cheney, Obama has a Biden from whom to draw, uh, strength. Bwahahahah, that’s hilarious until you think about what it means to the country and then I have to take back my laughter.


14 posted on 01/11/2009 3:48:22 PM PST by NonValueAdded (once you get to really know people, there are always better reasons than [race] for despising them.)
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To: Coldwater Creek

IIRC isn’t that quote or one like it, semi attributed to George Orwell?


15 posted on 01/11/2009 3:49:44 PM PST by PJammers (I can't help it... It's my idiom!)
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To: the invisib1e hand

Dick Cheney did indeed have “gravitas.”

Quien es mas macho?

Si! Dick Cheney!


16 posted on 01/11/2009 3:51:24 PM PST by Poser (Willing to fight for oil)
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To: NCjim
has been widely portrayed as a creature

Only by the moonbats.

17 posted on 01/11/2009 3:52:07 PM PST by BenLurkin
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To: max americana

>> Hail Darth Cheney!

I’m particularly fond of the way he could use that soft-spoken but intelligent and matter-of-fact delivery to completely gouge the eyes out of any libtard he chose to turn it upon. The beauty of it was, the victim didn’t even know Cheney had severed their optic nerve until they looked down and their eyes fell out.

That, and the way that he spoke truth to obscene ignorance when he whacked that SOB Leahy on the floor of the Senate.


18 posted on 01/11/2009 3:52:08 PM PST by Nervous Tick (I've left Cynical City... bound for Jaded.)
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To: NCjim

Those of us who live in Red counties can rest easy. We won’t be targets. Instead, the bad guys know the easy pickings will be in the blue counties, where wussybama and weakness is the true religion.


19 posted on 01/11/2009 3:53:35 PM PST by Vision Thing (brack wussybama)
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To: NCjim
Exactly. I will miss Dick Cheney

The country will miss Dick Cheney. You need to look no further than the boob that is replacing him.

20 posted on 01/11/2009 3:54:13 PM PST by teletech (Friends don't let friends vote DemocRAT)
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To: Coldwater Creek
>>>“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence to do us harm.”<<<

Need to add a couple of words....

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who seek to do us harm.”

...well four.

21 posted on 01/11/2009 3:54:19 PM PST by HardStarboard ("The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule - Mencken knew Obama)
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To: Coldwater Creek
My guess is that Cheney might have been a student of Churchill.

With all due respect to the greatest Prime Minister in the history of the British Empire, that quote is from George Orwell ...
22 posted on 01/11/2009 3:55:26 PM PST by tanknetter
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To: NCjim

The Liberals agenda is to appease and be conquered.


23 posted on 01/11/2009 3:55:29 PM PST by wac3rd (In the end, we all are Conservative, some just need their lives jolted to realize that fact.)
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To: NCjim
I sure as hell will miss Dick Cheney. I still feel that the Bush Cheney roles should have been reversed. The American people need a strong leader who will tell them the truth re the economy and our awesome debt; what we have to do to survive the tough times ahead, both with the economy and the growing strength of our enemies.
24 posted on 01/11/2009 3:56:35 PM PST by Eighth Square
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To: Coldwater Creek
“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence to do us harm.”

That was first said by George Orwell, not Churchill. ""Men sleep peacefully in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

25 posted on 01/11/2009 3:57:04 PM PST by kabar
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To: NonValueAdded
>>> Bwahahahah, that’s hilarious until you think about what it means to the country and then I have to take back my laughter. <<<

As we speak...Joe Biden is in Afghanistan negotiating with Hamid Karzai. I expect it will take Karzai only one meeting with Biden to decide he needs to look for competent allies to replace the United States.

26 posted on 01/11/2009 3:57:41 PM PST by HardStarboard ("The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule - Mencken knew Obama)
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To: NCjim

Interesting article. I will be curious to see how it shakes out. There is a definite conundrum that Obama faces.


27 posted on 01/11/2009 4:01:28 PM PST by DE88
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To: SumProVita
When an excerpt is posted here on FR...there is usually a link at the bottom that takes you directly to the article at the publication. If you dared to click, you would find it's Evan Thomas and Stuart Taylor Jr. That's why is says "Excerpt read more at newsweek.com"
28 posted on 01/11/2009 4:01:28 PM PST by Eric (Palin/Jindal 2012)
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To: NCjim

Please have the writer put down the crack pipe and seek admission to a drug rehab facility STAT.


29 posted on 01/11/2009 4:05:32 PM PST by Carley
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To: coloradan

Newsweek is going under with the rest of the WarshPost propaganda machine. We won’t have long to read crap like this.


30 posted on 01/11/2009 4:06:31 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: Eric

You are right! I should have noted it that way. Thanks...

;-)


31 posted on 01/11/2009 4:06:37 PM PST by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified DeCartes))
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To: HardStarboard

How can President Karzai fail to ignore the fact that Biden has had unsuccessful brain surgery three times?


32 posted on 01/11/2009 4:07:35 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

Yep, and it couldn’t have happened to a more vile bunch of human waste.


33 posted on 01/11/2009 4:13:18 PM PST by coloradan (The US has become a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)
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To: NCjim
a monstrous figure who trampled on the Constitution

WHAT? The difference between a Democracy and a Republic! It isn't Dick Cheney who has trampled the Constitution. It's Barry Zero whateverhisnameis andwhereeverhewasreallyborn who is not just trampling the Constitution but is grinding it into fine powder . . . white powder . . . and you know what Barry Zero does with white powder.
34 posted on 01/11/2009 4:13:23 PM PST by HighlyOpinionated (YOU can get your own Bail Out . . .Dec 18 post at http://auntiecoosa.blogspot.com)
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To: NCjim

B4L8r


35 posted on 01/11/2009 4:13:41 PM PST by AFreeBird
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To: Nervous Tick
"I will miss Dick Cheney more than I will miss George Bush."

DITTO.

I worry that the whole country will miss Dick Cheney in the near future.

36 posted on 01/11/2009 4:31:25 PM PST by blam
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To: NCjim

Pres. #43 took great pains today during his Brit Hume Fox News interview to explicate and justify his full use of the inherent powers of the presidency, including what it took to extract information from Khalid Sheik Muhammed, to protect the United States of America, its people and its Constitution.
Thus, both Bush and Cheney have taken pains to lay down some markers for their successors. Obamessiah/Biden have been notified, openly and clearly.


37 posted on 01/11/2009 4:45:04 PM PST by Elsiejay
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To: NCjim
Dick Cheney, who will step down as vice president on Jan. 20, has been widely portrayed as a creature of the dark side, a monstrous figure who trampled on the Constitution to wage war against all foes, real and imagined.

And what will they be writing when Joe -- once known by Newsweek itself as "The Dumbest Man In The Senate" -- Biden steps down?

Will he be "a creature of the dark side"? Or an embarrassing afterthought? "A monstrous figure"? Or an ineffectual imbecile?

38 posted on 01/11/2009 4:49:07 PM PST by okie01 (THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Ignorance on Parade)
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To: Nervous Tick

‘...he could use that soft-spoken but intelligent and matter-of-fact delivery to completely gouge the eyes out of any libtard ....the way that he spoke truth to obscene ignorance when he whacked that SOB Leahy on the floor of the Senate...’


exactly! and, what I liked most, is that Cheney didn’t hesitate to say ‘yes, I said that....cause it was merited’... he didn’t backtrack when challenged by the politically correct whiners.


39 posted on 01/11/2009 4:58:47 PM PST by 4integrity
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To: NCjim
including "waterboarding" self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Of course. KSM was nothing but an inconsequential braggart who had nothing to with 9/11 (or the 1993 WTC bombing, for that matter).

These people lie with such ease, it's scary.

40 posted on 01/11/2009 5:16:18 PM PST by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard (Don't blame me, I voted for Vaclav Klaus.)
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To: Coldwater Creek
"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would do us harm"

Fixed it.

41 posted on 01/11/2009 5:20:04 PM PST by Churchillspirit
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To: blam
"I will miss Dick Cheney more than I will miss George Bush."

Hear! Hear!, Cheney is the best vice-president of my lifetime...which ain't insubstantial.
42 posted on 01/11/2009 5:24:46 PM PST by fifthestate
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To: NCjim
This article demonstrates why Stuart Taylor Jr. and Evan Thomas could never be trusted with National Security and Cheney can. To summariaze their conserns:

Man it's a tough and scary world. We have no idea what Obama should do....it's just plain scary.

Excuse us as we retreat back into our fetal position under our desks..

43 posted on 01/11/2009 5:46:47 PM PST by Donald Rumsfeld Fan (Sarah Palin "The Iron Lady of the North")
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To: kabar

There’s mno proof that Orwell said those exact words.


44 posted on 01/11/2009 5:50:32 PM PST by Coldwater Creek ("There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological Narcissist as president.")
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To: HardStarboard

I will write proof read, proof read before posting 100 times.


45 posted on 01/11/2009 5:51:58 PM PST by Coldwater Creek ("There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological Narcissist as president.")
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To: Vaquero

I admit that I didn’t proof read. My mistake, glad that you’re on your toes.


46 posted on 01/11/2009 5:54:26 PM PST by Coldwater Creek ("There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological Narcissist as president.")
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To: Hot Tabasco

No, It’s not. I didn’t proof read. Fingers were working faster than my mind.


47 posted on 01/11/2009 5:55:37 PM PST by Coldwater Creek ("There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological Narcissist as president.")
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To: kabar

correction=no


48 posted on 01/11/2009 5:57:32 PM PST by Coldwater Creek ("There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological Narcissist as president.")
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To: brushcop

Brush, my son is one of those too. He is retiring from the U.S. Army at the end of this month. The worst part is whose signature will be on his retirement papers.

He has the greatest respect for his CIC, President Bush.

Thank your son for his service to our country.


49 posted on 01/11/2009 6:18:06 PM PST by jch10
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To: jch10

Well, may God bless and watch over him. We mirror you only ours has 10 yrs. Army Infantry, probably coming out at the end of this hitch, enough is enough he says, but he’s said that before (2 deployments to Iraq) and he always feels an obligation to go “back in again” because he doesn’t want to let down his buddies.

I have said many times that the very thought of the Marine Band, the “President’s Band” playing honors for this POTUS-elect illegal alien (he hasn’t proven otherwise) after the 20th literally makes me ill, I can hardly bear the thought.

Meanwhile our son, like yours, has the greatest respect for W. He came from (like yours) a decimated Army (Clinton) into the “light” when W rebuilt the military, increased pay, benefits, the list is long but you know the drill.

God bless them all. We still pace the floors knowing quite a few soldiers still on deployment in Iraq and some waiting to rotate to Iraq after two deployments already. This younger generation (I’m 66, had my time in the Navy) of serviceman/woman defies description. The most selfLESS attitudes I’ve seen and yet, the other half of their generation run around like spoiled brats, whining and moaning if the A/C doesn’t work.


50 posted on 01/11/2009 6:54:58 PM PST by brushcop (We remember SSG Harrison Brown, PVT Andrew Simmons B CO 2/69 3ID KIA Iraq OIF IV)
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