Posted on 05/22/2009 11:03:11 PM PDT by Schnucki
Senior Republicans have rallied to support former Vice President Dick Cheney in the wake of his vehement attacks on Barack Obama.
His fierce criticism has made him the principal voice opposing the new president and won him praise from figures.
Republican leaders have cast aside doubts about Mr Cheney reminding voters of the unpopular Bush administration, and concluded that his critique is valuable.
Mitt Romney, viewed by many Republicans as the front-runner for the party's 2012 presidential nomination, weighed in behind the former vice-president after he accused Mr Obama of practicing "recklessness cloaked as righteousness".
The former Massachusetts governor described Mr Cheney's intervention, in a speech delivered minutes after a major address by Mr Obama, as "direct, well-reasoned, and convincing".
He said: "Former Vice President Cheney seeks no political future. He speaks from the vantage of one who witnessed the killing of our fellow citizens, who deliberated and defined the strategy that would successfully prevent further murders of our fellow Americans."
Senator John Thune of South Dakota told Bloomberg that Mr Cheney "might not have the highest favorability ratings, but on this issue, I think he's viewed by people across the country as being very credible and very knowledgeable".
Mr Cheney's poor popularity ratings have recently taken an upturn. A CNN poll released on Thursday found 37 per cent of Americans had a favourable opinion of the former vice president, up eight points from January when he left office.
Some Republicans, however, wish Mr Cheney would follow former President George W. Bush's example and disappear from public view.
Senator John McCain, who was defeated by Mr Obama in last November's presidential election, said: "When you have a majority of Americans, seventysomething per cent, saying we shouldn't torture, then I'm not sure it helps for the vice president to go out
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Sheesh... Cheney is the only ADULT voicing a coherent opinion in this muddied political arena.
He is a lone voice of SANITY for heavens sake.
Has anybody seen the seismographs from the DUmmies yet? Heads must be exploding like carpetbombs over there...
Yes.
I wish Cheney were a younger man with a stronger heart. God bless him and keep him healthy and strong to battle this sneering, snarling socialist administration.
Not just yes but hell yes.
McCain is turning into an SOB....he was on Greta Foxnews show still saying waterboarding is toture...and shouldn’t be done...I guess any time.
McCain (sadly) is a betrayal of all he SAYS he believes in. He needs to just go away...retire... fade into history.....
I am not joking when I say—and it is often—that Dick Cheney is my idea of a hot date.
Bet Romney checked the polls and focus group results on this issue before making a statement. Like McCain, he's part of the problem ... not the solution.
As for "front-runner," fat chance.
Dick certainly upstaged B0.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/05/06/cnn-poll-majority-support-waterboarding-terrorists-5046/
CNN poll: Majority support waterboarding terrorists, 50/46posted at 8:47 pm on May 6, 2009 by Allahpundit
Six in ten people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday believe that some of the procedures, such as water boarding, were a form of torture, with 36 percent disagreeing.
But half the public approves of the Bush administration’s decision to use of those techniques during the questioning of suspected terrorists, with 50 percent in approval and 46 percent opposed.
“Roughly one in five Americans believe those techniques were torture but nonetheless approve of the decision to use those procedures against suspected terrorists,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
Yes. What the heck would McCain have to add to a discussion of torture of prisoners? It’s not like he has actual experience to contribute.
McCain is a McClown....
I regret voting for him... but I do not regret voting for Palin.
It is less torture than beheading....and they can give information afterwords....which is why it needs to be done in special cases.
Response To Cheney’s Speech Ignored Some Inconvenient, Full Truths
*******************************EXCERPT**************************
Propaganda is described in many ways, but one of those has got to be the kneejerk reliance and subsequent marketing of half quotes as whole truths. A half quote is a half truth, and this poor excuse for honest, factually accurate information is no doubt why newspapers are failing, and why their writers are fleeing to the Obama Administration for PR employment as spinmeisters. Take for example this article:
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s defense Thursday of the Bush administration’s policies for interrogating suspected terrorists contained omissions, exaggerations and misstatements.
In his address to the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative policy organization in Washington, Cheney said that the techniques the Bush administration approved, including waterboarding — simulated drowning that’s considered a form of torture — forced nakedness and sleep deprivation, were “legal” and produced information that “prevented the violent death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people.”
[NOTE President Bush’s Sept 6, 2006 address on this topic listed specific examples of this. Also, recently declassified CIA documents show that Congress was briefed on the “actionable intelligence” that the EIT program yielded. A partial list of thwarted attacks is available here.]
He quoted the Director of National Intelligence, Adm. Dennis Blair, as saying that the information gave U.S. officials a “deeper understanding of the al Qaida organization that was attacking this country.”
In a statement April 21, however, Blair said the information “was valuable in some instances” but that “there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means. …”
[NOTE: The Admiral doesn’t make clear if by “other means” he means other enhanced interrogation techniques or something more extreme. However, the CIA documents that President Obama declassified for political purposes clearly show that the use of EITs was only done AFTER traditional interrogation methods had been used, AFTER multiple levels of higher authority had approved their use, and a clear requirement for using the EITs instead of traditional interrogation methods had to be demonstrated before they were authorized.]
“…The bottom line is that these techniques hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security.”
[NOTE: The admiral and writers miss the point that it’s not JUST the secret techniques that damaged American image abroad-as the revelation of most secret programs would do, but that the illegal exposure of the EIT program by the economically struggling New York Times (whether for financial or political reasons) is what caused the damage. Had the program remained as secret as other offensive covert CIA programs…there would have likely been no damage at all. In fact, the program didn’t include any sort of public relations staff or plan at all.]
A top-secret 2004 CIA inspector general’s investigation found no conclusive proof that information gained from aggressive interrogations helped thwart any “specific imminent attacks,” according to one of four top-secret Bush-era memos that the Justice Department released last month.
[NOTE: the CIA’s Inspector General investigation only looked at CIA involvement regarding the EIT program. It did not look at how intelligence gained from EITs was used by American leaders and the 16 other intelligence agencies. However, people who did have that knowledge-like 4 CIA Directors, Vice President Cheney, President Bush, and more-have all said that the intelligence gathered by the CIA led to attacks being thwarted.]
FBI Director Robert Mueller told Vanity Fair magazine in December that he didn’t think that the techniques disrupted any attacks.
[NOTE: Vanity Fair? Gosh, I wonder what he “revealed” to Rolling Stone, GQ, and TEEN Magazine?! Is this the same FBI Director Mueller who told a concerned President Bush in August 2001 that the FBI had the situation in control, was conducting 70+ investigations, had the 20th hijacker in custody w the entire 911 plot on his laptop (also in Mueller's custody), and still the 911 attacks occurred? One wonders if the 911 plot could have been thwarted had EIT's been used on Zacarias Moussoui, or even if they'd have had the political courage to open his laptop despite the ominous presence of the ACLU's shadow protecting the right to privacy on that laptop?]
LINK TO BUSH’S SEPT 6.2006 SPEECH DETAILING HOW IT PREVENTED ATTACKS
You’re forgetting that Maverick John’s 2005 “torture” dissent was his happiest moment.
His resultant magazine cover peacock-preening was the moment I finally washed my hands of him.
The MSM may have flogged him after he won the nomination but now they’re back to stroking him below the belt and making use of him again.
I’ll tell you what, if Zero’s policy of appeasement results in another terrorist attack on this country in the next three years, the Presidency is Cheney’s for the taking.
“When your enemy screams, maintain your aim and redouble your fire.”
I don’t know, but it sounds like something Mr. Churchill would have said.
Now what we need is for other prominent pubbies to rediscover their ‘nads, take their lead from Cheney and pile on. Keep hitting, give speeches at every opportunity and line up to be on the Sunday shows.
If Mr. Pep-So-Dent Ken Steele can start acting like a conservative maybe others can as well.
Really?! Is he serious? He isn't sure? He just doesn't see? That tells me a whole lot about the conversations that likely took place between Sarah and Juan. "I'm not sure, Sarah. I just don't see how it will help if I really go after Barack. We better be nice."
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