Cheney curls his lip at the public one last time
By David Neiwert Monday Dec 22, 2008 10:00am
A lot of the discussion around Dick Cheney's exit interview on Fox News with Chris Wallace yesterday focused -- appropriately enough -- on his war-powers grab and his continuing defense of telling Patrick Leahy "Go f--k yourself" on the floor of the Senate.
There was much remarkable in the interview, but this exchange particularly stood out for me, because I think it's telling and symbolic of the conservative approach to governance:
WALLACE: According to the latest Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll — and I know how much you like polls — you now have the lowest approval rating of the last eight years. Twenty-nine percent have a favorable opinion, 61 percent unfavorable.
I know that you say that politicians shouldn't chase polls. But when people see all that you did as vice president and, in a kind of final report card over your eight years, say they still disapprove, does that bother you?
CHENEY: No. We didn't — if — we didn't set out to achieve the highest level of polls that we could during the course of this administration.
We set out to do what we thought was necessary and essential for the country. That clearly was the guiding principle with respect to the aftermath of 9/11. I feel very good about a lot of the things we've done in this administration. I think that they will be viewed in a favorable light when it's time to write the history of this era.I think the fact that we were able to protect the nation against further attacks from Al Qaida for 7.5 years is a remarkable achievement. To do that, we had to adopt some unpopular policies that have been widely criticized by our critics.
But I think in terms of — is 29 percent good enough for me? Well, we fought a tough reelection battle. We won by an adequate margin in 2004. We've been here for eight years now. Eventually, you wear out your welcome in this business.
But I've — I'm very comfortable with where we are and what we achieved substantively. And frankly, I would not want to be one of those guys who spends all his time reading the polls. I think people like that shouldn't serve in these jobs.
Funny thing about "wearing out your welcome in this business": When Bill Clinton left office in late 2000, his approval ratings were at 66 percent. And that was not only after the same eight years that Bush and Cheney had, it was after he had been impeached by the Republicans in Congress.
I don't know about you, but I would interpret that data as suggesting that one wears their welcome out in this business mainly when you do the job you were elected to do poorly.
After all, one only need look at the differences in the two administrations in terms of managing the economy -- employment and the economy generally soared under Clinton/Gore, and it now teeters on the brink of collapse under eight groaning years of Bush/Cheney -- to get a look at the drivers in the differences in their poll numbers.
Of course, the looming economic collapse went entirely unmentioned (except for a brief discussion of the bailouts) in this interview. But then, maybe it's a sore subject for Fox interviewers too.
Now, there certainly are political vissicitudes that ebb and flow over the course of the years in Washington, and polls are often the main indicators. Real leadership does indeed mean being able to stand on principle in the face of these winds.
But these polls showing sub-30 approval ratings for both Bush and Cheney have been a fact of life for nearly two whole years now, and more importantly, they were directly manifested in the 2008 elections, which were as clear a repudiation of Bush/Cheney policies and their decision-making as one could imagine. Even the Republican nominee ran by casting himself in contrast to them.
The polls showing such a high disapproval rating for Cheney are more than mere polls: they reflect the public's judgment of his job performance.
Not that guys like Cheney or Bush really care: Their ruling view of input from people outside their corporate bubbles was always "Who cares what you think?" and "Go f--k yourself." That's what Cheney means when he says, "We set out to do what we thought was necessary and essential" -- they weren't interested in what anyone else thought.
This was as true of their governance style in economic matters (the Bush crew never met an upper-income tax cut or a deregulation scheme they didn't cream their jeans over) as it was in foreign policy, embodied by the misbegotten invasion of Iraq, which of course has demonstrably made us more likely in the long term to suffer terrorist attack (see the 2006 National Intelligence Estimate for the final word on that) -- only one of the many ways Bush/Cheney actually made us less safe.
These people were oligarchs who demonstrated an open contempt for democracy and democratic values at every turn. This contempt is part and parcel of modern movement conservatism. And it has finally come home to roost -- not just for them, but unfortunately, for the rest of us as well.
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And who said boosh/chainey haven't created any new jobs?
http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20081222/882/twl...
The fact that he is not in prison is proof our great democracy is about to epic fail.
I would love Obama to be a voice of reason and start reshaping this government, but I believe that the forces of big business are just too great.
In 20 years we will all be wearing numbers and shuffling through soup lines at the gulag nearest you. Those that haven't been purged or diseased or starved or nuked.
Do gulags ever serve goulash, while requiring us to wear galoshes?
Ghoulish garrish gaba gool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPaCa6BOQbc
In the interest of "reaching out" or "bipartisanship" or "not putting the country through the ordeal" Obama isn't going to lift a finger to bring any of the monsters to justice. And by his abdication of that duty, he is going to be helping to create a precedent under our internal legal system that legitimizes war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It's going to be business as usual...just with more polished and better developed rhetoric.
will be the case.
We'll all be in China in coal mines, paying back Bush/Cheney's loans for country-club CEO's.
Were well on our way to a return to the feudal societies of the 13th and 14th centuries where we will have a nobility, who will live high on the hog and and the rest of us will be the vassals whose only function from birth to death is to make SURE the nobility lives high on the hog.
torture loving b*astard probably cost him a few percentage points
and you think these oligarchs are just going away because of something represented to be as an election?
Cheney's highlight was 9-11. Cause he gave the orders, under witness of Sec'y Mineta, to stand-down the USAF.
You really have to wonder about the Bush Administration role in 911 because from my vantage point in Austin, Texas, there certainly were some strange things going on -- at least in my neighborhood -- while Bush was governor.
We moved back to Texas last year after being away for far too long, and want to make a run to Austin (my birthplace, which I don't remember) soon.
What kind of wierd stuff happened?
What a set of nuts to have the greatest domestic terrorist attack occur on their watch start two wars of choice and be responsible for the economy completely falling apart and claim they kept us safe.
Go Cheney Yourself!
He's worn out his welcome ON THE PLANET.
Maybe his low poll numbers are because he's trashed our Constitution, our moral standing in the world, and our economy.
The sooner this jackass has a fatal heart attack, the better. And I hope it happens in the public square, and no one lifts a finger to help him. I certainly wouldn't.
I wouldn't piss on that fascist fuck if he was on fire.
please allow me to then as ive been told so often by my uroligist that i piss gasoline!
Then by all means Tyree!
Could you f**k my car?
NICE!
Not only does Darth have a permanent pacemaker, but he also has a freakin' DEFIBRILLATOR implanted into his chest so if his heart goes into ventricular or atrial fibrillation he'll automatically be zapped!!!
Now, THAT's some damn good health care insurance! We should ALL be so fortunate!
No, I don't want Cheney to have a fatal heart attack. I want him to stay perfectly healthy during his war crimes trial.
Maybe this is why you poll so low you lying crooked sinister mutherf*cker http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I and http://www.rawstory.com/news/2005/Cheneys_sto...
Maybe the unrepentant terrorist will care about an indictment since he doesn't give a shit about what Americans think about him.
All of those innocent people died or permanently maimed thanks to this freak....and he couldn't give a fuck at all.
He set out to do what was BEST for his bank accounts...I mean the country.
the counry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfw4AFiDwxg
I am wondering while I read this kind of revisionist history where the right tries like hell to claim they have always been for the best interest of the people of the United States that how many people understand that are not and have never been. They are for the top few, their philosophy has always been that the great unwashed masses need to be led by the top few. They have always believed that the masses of people are dangerous and government and laws are there to protect the select few from the common folk. Of course they could never run on such a platform so by their very nature need to lie and cheat. The end always justifies the means. Over the years fear has been a great tool to use in convincing millions that if they do not go along with what the rich and powerful want they will be not be protected from some dark evil. There have been fear of the Germans, Japanese, Mexicans, Chinese, Koreans, Africans, Muslims, Communists, Fascists, and Terrorists in my lifetime alone. Looking back most of these symbols of fear were not scary at all and a few were not near as scary as advertised. Scratch any Right Wing Republican and you will get a scared little person longing for safety from about 80% of the people they hope to attract.
History is written by the victors.
The difference between the "left" and the "right" is not that great in terms of mainstream US politics. Human rights are secondary to corporate rights.
Elite blood is more valuable than your blood.
Israeli blood is more valuable than Palestinain blood.
European blood is more valuable than African blood.
The war on terror is a marketing plan.
The war on drugs is an industry.
Left or right, those maxims don't change.
You and I must have 180 degree views on what constitutes left and right. What you seem to be saying is that all are right even if they pretend to be left and corporate money has control of everyone. I don't completely disagree but in their real form there is and always has been light years between left and right.
We more than likely agree on what makes left or right. My point is that in American Politics some issues transcend the "aisle".
The war on terror is bipartisan, the war on drugs is bipartisan, nafta is bipartisan, killing brown people is bipartisan, oppressing palestinians is bipartisan.
Not always. The South lost the Civil War, yet for decades after that, history was spun by southerners (w/o any pushback from northerners) to show that the South had a "noble cause" rather than show it for what it was: a backward area of the country that had WAY too much political influence on national politics (slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person, so the number of Congressmen was radically skewed toward slave holding states. Of course the slaves couldn't vote.)
Throw in the fact that the rich landowners did much like today's rich neocons have done: convince the poor "common man" that they (the rich) really had their best interests in mind, when really the fight was about the right of the rich to keep slaves and line their own pockets.
Oh, sure, they spun it to say it was about "states' rights," but what they always fail to mention is the number one "states' right" was to enslave other human beings. (Don't believe it? Get a copy of each confederate state's constitution - slave-owning is the prominent "right.")
It's taken a long while, but we're only now getting objective views on the Confederacy, much to the chagrin of those "noble causers."
We had to wait for at least two generations to die off before the bullshit could be buried.
History is written by historians, and they dont always take the winners word for it (or in the case of your annalogy, the losers).Todays modern Republican has more in common with President Jefferson Davis than they do to President Abraham Lincoln, I am however confident that they will be remembered historically for exactly what they are and in a shorter time period as well. The Confederates did not have the internet or YouTube against them at the time. All they had was fatigue over the war and the whole slavery issue which had plagued the republic since 1776.
I don't know how Sandra Day Oconnor could sleep at night knowing she was the swing vote that wrecked America and caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents. The American people didn't elect this band of thugs, the 5 Republican appointed conservative activist judges on the Supreme Court did and America has paid a heavy price for their electing throwing. Conservatives have done what Al-Queda could have never accomplished, they have brought America to it's knees perhaps spelling the end to America's world dominance. I'm sure bin Laden is pleased with the GOP's work, with the help of BushCo binLaden's attack accomplished its goals, just not in a way bin Laden expected.
..expect to dominate the world?? It's not all it's cracked up to be.
And there you`ve hit the nail on the head whenever any of these jackasses make the claim to have kept us safe, no more attacks have come (or really been attempted) because Bush Jr did everything that bin Laden wanted him to do. Not to mention that it takes years to plan and pull off anything big like 9/11.
what we achieved...."
Yes, and the devil is very comfortable with the flames of Hell crackling around him and the shrieking and gnashing of teeth of the damned frying for eternity. No prob. He's comfortable, and that's what counts. Somehow this scenario puts me in mind of the aforementioned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aeWKX2PZ_s
That's a really easy claim to make when you, personally, were responsible for the terrorist attacks that you are referencing.
I want to see this serial mass-murderer curl his lip at the tribunal judges in the Hague.
More likely, he will die of a heart attack before trial and be lauded by Republicans and the Rightwing as one of the greatest Vice-President's ever.
Of course, we know better.
That works for me.
Quick! Everybody! Send him gift wrapped packages of bacon for Christmas!
How about bacon, battered and deep fried in lard, with sausage gravy to wash it all down?
masses of hot buttered biscuits, and a big tall cafe breve to go with...
acres and acres of Flan!
http://www.rasamalaysia.com/uploaded_images/f...
Hey forget Cheney. Send that all to me!
Mmmmmmmm......
some batterfried twinkies and anything with partially hydrogenated crud and lots of High Fructose Corn Syrup.
In fact, make it for two. KKKarl Rove can dine with him.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:/...
Or better yet:
http://blogs.menupages.com/sanfrancisco/haggi...
But I will one day be compelled to have one of these!
http://www.danamania.com/burger/
and ears of corn...
I'm already fat enough as it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ4EUHmotY4
my heart valves slam shut.
Yeah...
It's disgusting...but you KNOW you want to try one!
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/matts...
Looks like....well...it looks like spew!
Ah yes, the world-famous "Shit On A Single"
But it didn't look like that!
...but you want to fuck her anyway!
But, lets leave my ex wife outta this! ;)
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/images/sandra...
?
I'd forgotten all about that skank.
Ain't enough liquor in all the world...
She looks like she smells like urine.
http://www.belly-timber.com/photos/black_pud_...
Takes me to teh site...but no images.
Any better?
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:/...
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:/...
LOL
Rightbackatcha.
http://www.blogjam.com/wp-content/uploads/200...
http://www.karendecoster.com/blog/archives/bu...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/shakes...
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc193/bloo...
Take THIS!
Actually Spotted Dick is pretty good, kinda like a rum cake.
I couldn't stop snickering long enough to try it.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:/...
http://learnsomethingnewtoday.us/wp-content/u...
Students saluting chainey:
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc233/mrza...
Evil, delusional psychopaths can never acknowledge reality.
ya...scorched earth
oh, and cheney's poll numbers are much lower than 29 percent
those are bush's numbers
cheney's are somewhere around the teens
death is too good for this fuck
But then again, Cheney thinks he is the defacto president.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqTLolHFSCc
the theme song for these arseholes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5zFsy9VIdM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZur5v3uLJI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0_1F0_20mE
retrospective in private, but he's not the sort of person who would express failure publically. That sort of honesty is a rare bird in American politics, regardless the party affiliation.
Nevertheless, I'm living for the day he takes a vacation somewhere in Europe and he is seized for crimes against humanity. Anything less represents a win-win for him.
Of course he's comfortable, he's as rich as Croesus.
Cheney forgets that Bill Clinton didn't have an attack on U.S. soil since the 1993 World Trade Center and kept the us safe from foreign terrorist until George Bush took office in 2001. (8yrs) So much on his 'remarkable achievement' comment.
...of Cheney giving that defense of their record, which just as well could have been used to describe Bill Clinton's record on terrorism:
Cheney describes Clinton's Record on Terrorism as huge Success 12/21/08
Clinton didn't commit an illegal act of aggression on two countries.
His DOJ investigated the crime and brought the doers to court, as opposed to bombing the shit out of one country that had tenuous connexions to the incident (surely it wasn't not the gov't attacking the US) and tearing apart another country for no good reason.
YES HE DID!!!!!
Serbia?
Sudan?
Iraqi Sanctions?
Somali debacle?
Both Clintons supported the war.
of this crooked administration.
I can't wait.
How can it be that we must wait for years and years for the decisions of history,
BUT!!!
When we study a nefarious story from the past?
We are told to consider it in CONTEXT OF IT'S TIME.
WHY OH WHY IS THAT?
I say let's make history. Let's turn these guys over to the Hague.
Why can't we hold them accountable ourselves? It would be that much more justified.
We should, for several reasons.
It's our mess. We should clean it up.
If we try them here in the US for treason, war crimes, war profiteering, and so many other things...it would be a huge step to restoring our credibility worldwide...
It's the RIGHT THING TO DO!
John Adams probably poo-poohed polls too. His Alien & Sedition acts are historically indefensible & probably unconstitutional. Like torture. and domestic eavesdropping. and unilateral war against civilians.
So unpopular, indefensible, unconstitutional? Let us not even speak of unwise or dare I say it, criminal?
for that sneer, you think?
I don't.
as further proof that the Republican party stole the 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections. Republican ideology has been rejected by Americans for years, and yet, with the support of the corporate media, we are being sold the narrative that their government is somehow legitimate.
In the face of the deaths of Raymond Lemme and Mike Connell, anyone who laughs at the idea of stolen elections in America is either an idiot or an accomplice.
...but whatever happened to Greg Palast's prediction that it would be impossible for Obama to win the election? Remember he said KKKarl and his henchmen had it all sown up beforehand with the Ohio-stealing tactics...Anyone?
Oh yeah, and Cheney is an asshole.
There is substantial evidence that the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen. And Mark Crispin Miller, Greg Palast, and others have documented ways in which Republicans again messed with the vote in 2008, perhaps accounting for the fact that Obama's victory was far from a landslide at 52/48. Understandable that Palast and Miller would predict another stolen election in '08 given the Republicans' record and the fact that around 50% of Americans consider themselves "conservative," a.k.a. right wing. Because of Republican manipulation of media and issues over the past quarter century, even Noam Chomsky predicted a Republican win until the economy crashed.
Yeah, its possible that this time there were too many swing states up for grabs as opposed to '04 where pre-election polling showed just Ohio alone could determine the winner.
He is steepeling. In other words, lying! I'm shocked! Shocked!
He never looks the host in the eye, always at his hands when he speaks. Textbook body language of the pathological liar.
What do you mean? I didn't see Sarah Palin doing ANY of those things. Cheney could take LESSONS from the Master of pathological liars. Cheney is just doing a lousy impression of Ernst Blofeld.
Sure, he's lying. He always is. But the belief that people who don't look you in the eye are lying is foolish. I'm a person so self-conscious that I don't like to look people in the eye, but it does not mean I'm lying. And I have extreme right-wing relatives who will look you straight in the eye and lie repeatedly, using all the textbook examples of "honest" body language to fool people.
Maybe he was the inspiration for THIS character?
This is who the New York Times thinks is worthy of it's paper? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82xjBWG_4cw
http://www.ohiocitizen.org/campaigns/electric...
I wonder if you might elaborate just a teensy bit on your comment:
"I'm very comfortable with where we are and what we
achieved substantively." ????
Is it me or do I just see 2 DICKS looking for some thing to F*#K. They would fit in,in a prision. they have the same ATTITUDE as some of the i/m. F*#K you,I dont care if it is against the law. this guy is a "PSYCHOPATH"
Why does Cheney always insist on using these James Bond Villain hand gestures, as if to CONFIRM what everybody already believes about him. The Darth Vader thing is too much of a compliment. Cheney is more of a weedy, insecure little James Bond Villain, who obviously took his cues from all the characters that Donald Pleasance played in the movies.
Where's Mr. Bigglesworth?
Donald Pleasance was the worst Blofied, monotonous and boring. Much better were Telly Savalas in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Charles Grey in Diamonds Are Forever.
I heard his trying to draft extra extension time to have his secret service. Why does the tax payer has to pay for this his fucking rich and he seems cocky confident that he didn't care what people think of him.
Why do the American senate approve this unnecessary expenditure.
As someone with a load of sinister right-wing relatives, I can tell you that a lot of them pride themselves on going against what's considered right or good, even if it's against the public will. In doing so, they'll sometimes liken themselves to Jesus, "who was also persecuted for doing what he thought was right" - never mind that Jesus's idea of right involved helping instead of harming people. But such are right-wingers. What's amazing is that after eight years of this guy, preceded by eight years of Republican light under Clinton, preceded by twelve years of the most radically right-wing administration up to that point under Reagan/Bush, the election of someone that Americans believed would bring real progressive change was still so close.
Some of what Cheney says here, though, is true. They didn't fail because they didn't set out to do what most of us think of as succeeding. They did set out to destroy Iraq, which they have accomplished. They did set out to expand US use of torture and encourage endorsement of the practice among the public, which they have also accomplished. They did set out to set up more military bases with which to slaughter more people. They did set out to do as much damage as possible to the "big government" that they claim to hate so much, which means obliterating social services, education budgets, and environmental regulations. They did set out to continue the Reaganite tradition of "going it alone" whatever the world's opinion of them. And like Reagan, they transformed so much that they may well see their reputations refurbished in the history books, especially since it looks unlikely that Obama will change course. After the revitalization of Nixon's shattered reputation, anything is possible.
He breaks the law w/o remorse, violates the constitution, and then continues to tell the American people F**k Off. Cheneys' soul must be the most putrid rotten smell ever. My fondest wish is that he is held accountable for crimes against humanity and spends his last years of life in prison.
If there is such a thing as Karmic action. If there is such a thing as reincarnation. If the God Jehovah has the sense of humor I think the GREAT IT does. Then Dick will be coming back as an illegal taco stand owner being put out of business because he can’t comply with the health laws that require a business selling food must have a restroom with running water.
Isn't CHENEY'S approval ratings in the low teens?
What does Cheney have to do to piss off someone at Fox, rape their mother? Or would they spin it so that the mother was asking for it?
Let's see if Cheney still doesn't care about polls when they take the form of jury verdicts convicting him of war crimes.
two words: WAR CRIMINAL.
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