Olbermann Special Comment--Dick Cheney's lies

I saw this story three days ago, but I didn't take the time to make a comment on it. Former Vice President Dick Cheney gave an interview with the Politico, where he warned that terrorists will engage in another attack on the U.S., and that the Obama administration will allow the terrorists to succeed in their attack. From the Politico.com:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.

In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects.

And he asserted that President Obama will either backtrack on his stated intentions to end those policies or put the country at risk in ways more severe than most Americans — and, he charged, many members of Obama’s own team — understand.

“When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said.

Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” he said. “These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.”

Citing intelligence reports, Cheney said at least 61 of the inmates who were released from Guantanamo during the Bush administration — “that’s about 11 or 12 percent” — have “gone back into the business of being terrorists.”

The 200 or so inmates still there, he claimed, are “the hard core” whose “recidivism rate would be much higher.” (Lawyers for Guantanamo detainees have strongly disputed the recidivism figures, asserting that the Pentagon data have inconsistencies and omissions.) Cheney called Guantanamo a “first-class program,” and “a necessary facility” that is operated legally and with better food and treatment than the jails in inmates' native countries.

But he said he worried that “instead of sitting down and carefully evaluating the policies,” Obama officials are unwisely following “campaign rhetoric” and preparing to release terrorism suspects or afford them legal protections granted to more conventional defendants in crime cases.

The choice, he alleged, reflects a naive mindset among the new team in Washington: “The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I’m not at all sure that that’s what the Obama administration believes.”

Now I do not take credibility in whatever Dick Cheney says--he is like the crotchety old asshole that yells at the kids to get off his lawn [My apologies for the coarse language]. I seriously wonder whether Dick Cheney is evil, misguided, or just an angry man that has plunged into the depths of senility. Regardless of the speculation, Dick Cheney is pissed that the American voters have decided to elect a terrorist-loving Barack Obama into the White House, and he had to deliver a final, insulting, angry shot at both the Obama administration, and the American people. It was more fear-mongering coming from a man who now fears America, and its laws and freedoms. To be honest, I think the best way to respond to Cheney's rantings is simply to ignore him.

But the story came up on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. The original news story came up on Tuesday, where MSNBC's David Shuster questioned how unhinged Cheney has become after leaving office. Here is the original Countdown story:

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And last night, Keith Olbermann couldn't resist delivering his own special comment on Dick Cheney's rantings. Here is Olbermann's Special Comment:

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You can read the transcript here.

I will not go through the entire transcript of Olbermann's comment, aside from saying that Olbermann destroys much of Cheney's arguments and lies from the Politico interview. But what is really important in Olbermann's comment is that Cheney doesn't even realize that the Obama administration, and hopefully the American people, are moving away from the lies and fear-mongering that was prevalent in the Bush/Cheney administration, towards a government that has returned to ruling by laws and rational thought. From Olbermann:

"The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I'm not at all sure that that's what the Obama administration believes."

The first glimmer, in years, of sanity in any your remarks, Sir. That's not at all what the Obama administration appears to believe. It seems to be ready to use all avenues and all emotions, seeking love, respect, fear, diplomacy, shared experience, education, principle, and, yes, even rational thought. This President, unlike yours, seems intent on living in the real world rather than trying to re-shape an imaginary one, by force.

[....]

Of course, none of that mattered to Mr. Cheney, just as none of this matters to Mr. Cheney. Because, at heart, Mr. Cheney is not interested foremost in protecting this country. He is interested foremost in protecting Mr. Cheney. And the business of being Dick Cheney, of rationalizing one's own existence after one of the most reprehensible, myopic, unprincipled, and even un-American careers in the history of our government, depends on continuing to convince the gullible of us to live in abject fear and not with vigilance and common sense and principles.

We, sir, will most completely assure our security not by maintaining the endless, demoralizing, draining, life-denying blind fear and blind hatred which you so thoroughly embody. We will most easily purchase our safety by repudiating the "Bush System." We will reserve the violence for which you are so eager, Sir, for any battlefield to which we truly must take, and not for unconscionable wars which people like you goad and scare and lie us into.

You, Mr. Cheney, you terrified more Americans than did any terrorist in the last seven years, and now it is time for you to desist, or to be made to desist. With damnable words like these, Sir, you help no American, you protect no American, you serve no American — you only aid and abet those who would destroy this nation from within or without. More than 400 years ago, when a British Parliament attempted to govern after its term had expired, it was dispersed by the actions, and words, of Oliver Cromwell.

"You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately," he told them — exactly as, Mr. Cheney, exactly as a nation now tells you: "Depart, I say, and let us have done with you.
"In the name of God… go!"

Let us hope that this is the last we will ever hear from Dick Cheney.

Cheney praises Bush in Tulsa

There is not much to comment on this story. From The Tulsa World:

The VP says the world will fondly remember the president.

The world is a better place because of George W. Bush's presidency, Vice President Dick Cheney assured Oklahoma Republicans on Friday evening.

"When the history is written, it will be said this is a safer country and more hopeful world because George Bush was president," Cheney said.

Cheney spoke for about 20 minutes to a state GOP banquet crowd of about 400 at the Crowne Plaza Tulsa.

I think Cheney has been hiding too long in his bunker.

Lawyer: Cheney Visitor Logs Not Recorded

I really don't know what to say about this Washington Post article:

WASHINGTON -- A lawyer for Vice President Dick Cheney told the Secret Service in September to eliminate data on who visited Cheney at his official residence, a newly disclosed letter states.

The Sept. 13, 2006, letter from Cheney's lawyer says logs for Cheney's residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory are subject to the Presidential Records Act.

Such a designation prevents the public from learning who visited the vice president.

The Justice Department filed the letter Friday in a lawsuit by a private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, seeking the identities of conservative religious leaders who visited Cheney at his official residence.

The newly disclosed letter about visitors to Cheney's residence is accompanied by an 18-page Secret Service document revealing the agency's long-standing practice has been to destroy printed daily access lists of visitors to the residence.

Separately, the agency says it has given Cheney's office handwritten logs of who visits him at his personal residence.

Because of pending lawsuits, the Secret Service says it is now keeping copies of all material on visitors to Cheney's residence. According to the Secret Service document, Cheney's office has approved the agency's retention of the records, while maintaining they are presidential records subject to Cheney's control.

"The latest filings make clear that the administration has been destroying documents and entering into secret agreements in violation of the law," said Anne Weismann, CREW's chief counsel.

Regarding visitor information, the Secret Service "shall not retain any copy of these documents and information" once the material is given to the office of the vice president, says the September 2006 letter by Shannen Coffin, counsel to the vice president.

"If any documents remain in your possession, please return them to OVP as soon as possible," the letter added.

This is just incredible. Cheney demands that the Secret Service give him the visitor logs to Cheney's official residence, saying that the logs are subject to the Presidential Records Act. In the simplest terms here, Cheney is claiming that the Secret Service visitor logs to his official residence is his own property, in order to keep it secret from the public. We are not to know who has visited Cheney over the past seven years, and there is no doubt that Cheney has destroyed whatever logs are in his possession. The criminality of this administration, the destruction of evidence, is just amazing.

Cheney warns Musharraf to get tough in War on Terror--or else Democratic Congress will cut aid to Pakistan

Vice President Cheney’s trip was shrouded in secrecy, and he was on the ground for only a few hours, sharing a private lunch with Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan at his palace. Pakistan Press Information Dept., via Associated Press

Now this is a rather ironic story here from The New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 — Vice President Dick Cheney made an unannounced trip to Pakistan on Monday to deliver what officials in Washington described as an unusually tough message Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, warning him that the newly Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country unless his forces become far more aggressive in hunting down operatives with Al Qaeda.

Mr. Cheney’s trip was shrouded in secrecy, and he was on the ground for only a few hours, sharing a private lunch with the Pakistani leader at his palace. Notably, Mr. Cheney traveled with the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Steve Kappes, an indication that the conversation with the Pakistani president likely included discussion of American intelligence agency contentions that Al Qaeda camps have been reconstituted along the border of Afghanistan.

The decision to send Mr. Cheney secretly to Pakistan came after the White House concluded that General Musharraf is failing to live up to commitments he made to Mr. Bush during a visit here in September. General Musharraf insisted then, both in private and public, that a peace deal he struck with tribal leaders in one of the country’s most lawless border areas would not diminish the hunt for the leaders of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Now, American intelligence officials have concluded that the terrorist infrastructure is being rebuilt, and that while Pakistan has attacked some camps, its overall effort has flagged.

So Dick Cheney took a secret trip to Pakistan in order to warn Musharraf to start getting tough on the Bush administration's Great War on Terror, otherwise them evil Democrats will cut U.S. military aid to Pakistan. Isn't this the same Dick Cheney who has compared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's opposition to the Bush surge as helping al Qaeda terrorists? Is this the same Dick Cheney who has claimed that the Democrat's withdrawal or redeployment proposals actually "validates the terrorist strategy?" Is this the same Dick Cheney who suggested to American voters that if they elected John Kerry in the 2004 presidential elections, they would face another 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States? Is this the same Dick Cheney who accuses critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policy as aiding the terrorists? Well, now it appears that not only are the critics and the Democrats who oppose the Bush administration's Iraq policy are not only aiding al Qaeda terrorists, but now they want to cut U.S. aid to Pakistan because Musharraf isn't doing enough to fight against those al Qaeda terrorists. Mr. Vice President, if the Bush critics and congressional Democrats are terrorist sympathizers, as you have alluded to so many times before, then why would they want to cut military aid to Pakistan because of Musharraf's inability to remove al Qaeda's presence from Pakistan? If anything, these congressional Democrats/al Qaeda terrorist sympathizers should be happy with Musharraf's lack of progress in fighting the Great War on Terror. Al Qaeda is rebuilding its network inside Pakistan. The last thing that these congressional Democrats/al Qaeda terrorist sympathizers would want is to demand Musharraf to get tough on the Great War, or else the congressional Democrats/al Qaeda terrorist sympathizers will cut U.S. aid to Pakistan. Mr. Vice President, there is no logic to your arguments here. If anything, these congressional Democrats/al Qaeda terrorist sympathizers would want to tell Musharraf that Pakistan is doing a great job in fighting the Great War on Terror, and that we should be providing even more U.S. aid to Pakistan to help them in their fight.

I think I need to go play on my Sit-and-Spin now.

Cheney's Office: Exempt from any oversight

This is off U.S. News and World Report:

An important legal ruling is pending over Vice President Cheney's refusal to disclose statistics on document classification and declassification activity. The Information Security Oversight Office, which is responsible for the policy and oversight of the government's security classification system, has asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to direct Cheney's office to disclose these statistics.

Cheney's office provided the information until 2002 but then stopped doing so, J. William Leonard, the director of ISOO, told U.S. News. At issue is whether the office of the vice president is an executive branch entity when it comes to supporting the activities of the president and the vice president. The reporting requirements for disclosing classification and declassification activity fall under a presidential executive order.

"Basically the definition says that any entity of the executive branch that comes into possession of classified information is covered by the reporting requirements," says Leonard. "I have my understanding of what the executive order requires, and I'm going to the attorney general to ascertain if my reading of the executive order is correct."

However, Megan McGinn, Cheney's deputy press secretary, says the vice president's office is exempt.

"This matter has been thoroughly reviewed," McGinn told U.S. News, "and it has been determined that reporting requirements do not apply to the office of the vice president, which has both legislative and executive functions." Under the Constitution, the vice president serves as president of the Senate.

This little controversy has been growing since last June, when the vice president's office refused to provide any statistics to the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) since 2003:

n its 2005 report to the president released last month, the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), a branch of the National Archives, provides a quantitative overview of hundreds of thousands of pages of classified and declassified documents. But the vice president’s input consists of a single footnote explaining that his office failed to meet its reporting requirements for the third year in a row.

[....]

In 2003 – around the time Cheney’s office stopped reporting to the ISOO – the Bush administration affirmed and expanded the vice president’s classification powers through a revision of Executive Order 12958, the same order mandating the yearly ISOO assessment. The amended order explicitly granted the vice president unprecedented authority to classify information "in the performance of executive duties," including the ability to label information "secret" and "top secret" on par with the heads of federal agencies and the president himself.

Critics also note another legal shield compounding the vice president’s reticence about how he handles secrets: Cheney enjoys general immunity from the Freedom of Information Act, which empowers members of the public with a process for demanding the release of government documents.

And of course, Cheney's office continues to spin that they are above any law:

Though not the only government entity to shrug off the reporting duties, Cheney’s office is unique in that it has actually issued a public justification for its non-compliance. Cheney’s office argued on Monday that its dual role in the federal government places it above the reporting mandate.

"This matter has been carefully reviewed, and it has been determined that the reporting requirement does not apply to [the Office of the Vice President], which has both executive and legislative functions," Lea McBride, a spokesperson for Cheney’s office, told The NewStandard.

Cheney’s press aides declined to specify to TNS how the office’s legislative role effectively exempted it from the executive order, or why the office had complied prior to 2003.

What do you expect from a totalitarian dictator?

Cheney links rise in Iraq violence to U.S. election

Is it me, or is there a rise in the level of incompetence in our government? Check out what Vice President Dick Cheney if flapping his mouth over. From Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Monday insurgents had stepped up attacks in Iraq to try to sway next week's U.S. elections and they were constantly surfing the Web to keep tabs on American public opinion.

"Whether it's al Qaeda or the other elements that are active in Iraq, they are betting on the proposition they can break the will of the American people," Cheney told Fox News. ."..They're very sensitive to the fact that we've got an election scheduled."

Cheney said America's enemies in Iraq possessed the Internet savvy to monitor U.S. developments, helping them to time attacks aimed in part at influencing the elections. But he cited no evidence to back the theory.

If Vice President Cheney has no evidence to back this theory of al Qaida monitoring the U.S. elections and are using stepped up attacks in Iraq to sway those elections, then why is Cheney even bringing this subject up when he has no evidence? A week ago, Keith Olbermann gave a brilliant special commentary regarding the Bush administration's and the Republican Party's use of terror against the American people as a means to maintain their political power over next week's elections. Here is a part of that special commentary:

The dictionary definition of the word “terrorize” is simple and not open to misinterpretation:

“To fill or overpower with terror; terrify. To coerce by intimidation or fear.”

Note please, that the words “violence” and “death” are missing from that definition.

The key to terror, the key to terrorism, is not the act—but the fear of the act.

[....]

By this definition, the people who put these videos together—first the terrorists and then the administration—whose shared goal is to scare you into panicking instead of thinking—they are the ones terrorizing you.

By this definition, the leading terrorist group in this world right now is al Qaida.

But the leading terrorist group in this country right now is the Republican Party.

[....]

This administration has derived benefit and power from terrorizing the very people it claims to be protecting from terror.

It may be the oldest trick in the political book: scare people into believing they are in danger and that only you can save them.

In other words, Vice President Cheney is using terrorism against the American people so that the Republicans can maintain their control in Congress. Vice President Cheney is also a terrorist.

Let's all waterboard

I found this through both YouTube, and through The Dead Guy. And yes, it is wickedly funny--perfect for a weekend snark:

Judge Orders Release of WH Logs Sought By 'Wash Post'

I found this off Americablog, so I went back to the source of the information. The original source is Editor and Publisher:

WASHINGTON A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to release information about who visited Vice President Dick Cheney's office and personal residence, an order that could spark a late election season debate over lobbyists' White House access.

The Washington Post asked for two years of White House visitor logs in June but the Secret Service refused to process the request. Government attorneys called it "a fishing expedition into the most sensitive details of the vice presidency."

U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled Wednesday that, by the end of next week, the Secret Service must produce the records or at least identity them and justify why they are being withheld.

The newspaper sought logs for anyone visiting Cheney, his legal counsel, chief spokesman and other top aides and advisers.

The Secret Service had no comment on the ruling Thursday. In court documents, government attorneys said releasing the documents would infringe on Cheney's ability to seek advice.

"This case is about protecting the effective functioning of the vice presidency under the Constitution," attorneys wrote.

A lawsuit over similar records revealed last month that Republican activists Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, key figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal landed more than 100 meetings inside the Bush White House.

The Post cited those records, which were released to the Democratic Party and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, as evidence that the documents should be released.

It is interesting how the Bush administration is continuing their claims that visitor logs must remain secret because they "infringe on Cheney's ability to seek advice." This administration exists in a veil of secrecy--we're not supposed to know who talked to the top leaders and policymakers in the Bush administration. We're not supposed to know who talked to Vice President Cheney, or President Bush. We're certainly not supposed to know what discussed in these secret meetings--Remember Cheney's secretive Energy Task Force? And yet while we're not suppose to know who said what to whom in this administration, we're suppose to accept whatever policies and actions this administration takes for the benefit of this country and our own protection.

I will say this. I'm curious to see what is in those logs.