Cheney Clings To His Delusions
In his second exclusive interview in three days with ABC's Jonathan Karl, Dick Cheney doesn't back down from yesterday's statement about
I could be wrong, but it seems to me that al Qaeda is quite content with having our military bogged down in Iraq rather than in, say, Waziristan or Afghanistan. You know, the places where the overwhelming majority of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are currently rearming against us. Then again, what do I know. I'm just a stupid blogger.
DKos blogger The Cunctator traces Cheney's patriotism quote back to Spiro Agnew in 1970. Lest we forget, W told Stephanopoulos the same thing back in October of last year.
Dan Froomkin breaks down the interview, making some important observations:
Vice President Cheney is going out of his way to make it clear that he doesn't think he has anything to apologize for.
In an unprecedented display of public verbosity from the typically taciturn vice president, Cheney spoke for the second time in three days with ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl. During today's 22-minute interview in a Sydney restaurant, Cheney showed no sign of backing down from controversy. Rather, he:
* Repeated and amplified his opinion that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's proposed course in Iraq would validate al Qaeda.
* Refused to acknowledge any failure of U.S. policy in Iraq.
* Stood by his 1991 prediction that an invasion of Iraq would result in a quagmire -- but said that 9/11 changed the dynamics such that it had to be done anyway. Read more...