White House hits back at Cheney

[sabra]

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The White House Monday accused ex-vice president Dick Cheney of refighting the Republican Party's 2008 election defeat, after his latest attack on President Barack Obama's security policy.

Cheney maintained in a Sunday television interview that tough Bush administration interrogations of suspected Al-Qaeda militants had saved "perhaps hundreds of thousands" of US lives.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said however that Cheney was peddling ideas rejected by Americans in the November 2008 election which swept Obama to power.

"I think that -- I think you've got a series of ideas and a series of thoughts that in many ways the last elections was about, and the last election rejected," Gibbs told reporters.

"They're essentially going forward by looking backward. If the vice president believes that's a way of growing and expanding the Republican Party, then we're happy to leave him to those devices."

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ivRJCgCuJPvqgu7lRon86kcncPxQ

[HopeHoops]

1. At least the shrub had more intelligence than I suspected - HE went into hiding!

Does anyone know if he has fled the country?

[Mist]

6. I assumed * had been on a continuous bender since Jan. 21st. nt

[Sal Minella]

10. I assumed he was somewhere quiet taking classes in pretzel-wrestling.

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. Yep, me too. I figure he's not seen the outside of a Beam bottle in months.

[Doctor_J]

15. Yeah, Jan 21st 1969

[Brother Buzz]

7. Not until Caribbean Winter Leagues

I understand Shrub has taken a position as a third baseline ball-dude for an East Texas minor league baseball team. He works for free hot dogs and beer.

[Frisbee]

9. Throw in free pretzels...

I'll pay! :evilgrin:

[No Elephants]

18. Unfortunately for us, he's safer here than he is abroad.

[pacalo]

2. I would have been happier with this approach...

"They're essentially going forward by looking backward. If the vice president believes that's a way of growing and expanding the Republican Party, then we're happy to shine a light on his past, beginning with handing him a portfolio of subpoenas."

[MessiahRp]

3. +1!

Absolutely! :)

[John Kerry VonErich]

4. Should never have been dignified with a response

nt

[Vidar]

5. Forward into the past!

[No Elephants]

19. Will "Back to the Future" sue for plagiarism?

[Jim Sagle]

8. Instead of "hitting back" with words, jail the sumbitch for life.

[MGKrebs]

11. It's all about fear.

Repubs can't seem to function without an enemy. They've been trying to create new enemies ever since the Soviet Union collapsed: Gays, immigrants, environmentalists, liberals. Doesn't really matter as long as they have an enemy. Someone they can bend to their will or kill.

[pinto]

12. So true. Not a wedge issue thay don't embrace. Or create, if need be.

[DCKit]

16. Yet it's backfired on them.

They put the entire country on "Outrage Overload" to the point where boys kissing, a single mom getting a hand up (an abortion, even) or regulation of corporate criminal enterprises just isn't that big a deal anymore. Despite the effort the Republics have put into each of their campaigns, none of these things affect the daily life of the average American, whether they're a homopobe, a practicing Christian, a racist or stockholder of every one of the Fortune 500.

The more fear they attempt to generate in the absence of a genuine crisis, the more jaded we become. The more they yammer about any particular pet peeve, the less we care.

Keep it up Republics. Soon you'll have slain all the bogeymen and we'll be left with only the things that actually matter - health care, social welfare, education, quality of life, personal choice and the pursuit of happiness.

[MGKrebs]

17. That's right. Republicans in towns and industries that have large immigrant communities

find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Many Christians find themselves defending looser gun controls and opposing greenhouse gas regulations. Republicans have to oppose universal healthcare even though the giant corporations they worship need it to compete. Joe the Plumber is supposed to be a hero even though he lied about his situation and claims the opposite outcome than what the facts indicate.

They've been put in so many no-win situations because the Repub leaders feel they have to oppose anything Al Gore or Michael Moore advocate.

[No Elephants]

20. Wedge issues are the only thing that has gotten them elected since Nixon.

[Hawkeye-X]

14. The appropriate response from the White House should be..

"Dick Cheney, you are hereby under arrest - Marshals, please send the man to Florence, Colorado AdMAx pending all court appearances"

[No Elephants]

21. Oy! I wish.

[No Elephants]

22. If torture saved America lives, why not just say that. What does being "convinced" have to do with

anyhing?

"I'm convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of lives," Cheney said, arguing again that Al-Qaeda was bent on attacking a US city with a nuclear device."

I don't get it, Darth. If they were ready to use a nuclear device one a US city, and wanted to use a nuclear device on a US city, please explain why they haven't used a nuclear device. 'Cause waterboarding a few of their peeps scared them out of it? You're not making sense.

Every time he opens his mouth or takes pen in hand, Cheney proves you can get a ton of unreliable info without torturing.

[Canuckistanian]

23. He was convinced that Saddam had nuclear weapons, too

Hell, Cheney must be the most easily scammed person in the US.

[No Elephants]

24. Most easily scummed? I'll say. Oh, wait. Did I read that wrong?