the best defense (a good offense)

[HM-PuFFNSTuFF]

CHENEY FIGHTS BACK
Wed Nov 16 2005 18:56:46 ET

Excerpts As Prepared For Delivery Tonight by Vice President Cheney

THE VICE PRESIDENT: "As most of you know, I have spent a lot of years in public service, and first came to work in Washington, D.C. back in the late 1960s. I know what it’s like to operate in a highly charged political environment, in which the players on all sides of an issue feel passionately and speak forcefully.

In such an environment people sometimes lose their cool, and yet in Washington you can ordinarily rely on some basic measure of truthfulness and good faith in the conduct of political debate. But in the last several weeks we have seen a wild departure from that tradition.

And the suggestion that’s been made by some U. S. senators that the President of the United States or any member of this Administration purposely misled the American people on pre-war intelligence is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city...

Some of the most irresponsible comments have, of course, come from politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing force against Saddam Hussein. These are elected officials who had access to the intelligence, and were free to draw their own conclusions.

They arrived at the same judgment about Iraq’s capabilities and intentions that was made by this Administration and by the previous Administration. There was broad-based, bipartisan agreement that Saddam Hussein was a threat … that he had violated U.N. Security Council Resolutions … and that, in a post-9/11 world, we couldn’t afford to take the word of a dictator who had a history of WMD programs, who had excluded weapons inspectors, who had defied the demands of the international community, who had been designated an official state sponsor of terror, and who had committed mass murder.

Those are facts.

What we’re hearing now is some politicians contradicting their own statements and making a play for political advantage in the middle of a war. The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods day in and day out. American soldiers and Marines are out there every day in dangerous conditions and desert temperatures – conducting raids, training Iraqi forces, countering attacks, seizing weapons, and capturing killers – and back home a few opportunists are suggesting they were sent into battle for a lie.

The President and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone – but we’re not going to sit by and let them rewrite history.

We’re going to continue throwing their own words back at them. And far more important, we’re going to continue sending a consistent message to the men and women who are fighting the war on terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other fronts.

We can never say enough how much we appreciate them, and how proud they make us. They and their families can be certain: That this cause is right … and the performance of our military has been brave and honorable … and this nation will stand behind our fighting forces with pride and without wavering until the day of victory.

[Hannibal]

lol. Congress is a 'consumer' of intelligence, the executive branch drives the compilation and analysis...which is to say, Bush and Co. have ready access to all the bits that make up the agency summaries/reports that are fed to congress. To suggest that congress saw the 'same intelligence' is, of course, misleading at best and a fatboy-heart-attack lie at worst.

[Dek]

and this nation will stand behind our fighting forces with pride and without wavering until the day of victory.

Then he'll say they were wrong?

[Mr.Magnetichead]

looool politics

[Canis]

*plunk*

[bitWISE]

looool politics

[R00k]

CHENEY FIGHTS BACK
Wed Nov 16 2005 18:56:46 ET

I've read that Bush hardly talks to Cheney at all lately. This article is pretty interesting in that light.
This kind of public statement isn't very characteristic for Cheney. So it almost seems as if he made it to either convince Bush he's still worth keeping around, or he realized that Bush isn't doing shit anymore and noone believes him anyway, and decided to make the statement himself to try to turn the tide and maybe keep some kind of support for this debacle. Of course, it'll never work.

Cheney's a fucking lunatic though, he scares the hell out of me. He's got way too much power, and there's no telling what kind of dirty shit he might try to pull to keep it.

[seremtan]

CHENEY FIGHTS BACK
Wed Nov 16 2005 18:56:46 ET

worthless shit

[Nightshade]

Cheney's a fucking lunatic though, he scares the hell out of me. He's got way too much power, and there's no telling what kind of dirty shit he might try to pull to keep it.

It's always bothered me that the Vice President, historically the biggest weenie job in American politics, has done and said the things Cheney has. It's so easy to believe that all GeeDubya does is sit on the floor in the Oval Office, playing with GI Joes while Cheney and Rummy run shit.

[seremtan]

by george i think you've just discovered the dark secret of the bush presidency

it's pretty obvious by now that bush doesn't have the nous to run a bath, never mind america