by Nomad
Minds were boggled this week as ex-vice president Dick Cheney managed to flip history on its head in order to escape his record in advocating the invasion of Iraq.
In yet another example of Republican delusional thinking, former vice-president Dick Cheney penned an op-ed for the (Rupert Murdoch-owned) The Wall Street Journal this week, blasting President Obama on foreign policy.
Specifically he accused the president of "'fantasy' policies that weaken the US armed forces, embolden terror networks like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and reduce Washington's ability to influence global events."
It was a startling piece of writing, given the source. For a full appreciation of the text, an experienced mental health expert is perhaps required. Psychological projection is evident throughout and frankly, it's a little frightening to see how detached from reality the man has become.
(If Liz Cheney truly loved her father, she would keep as far from access to the media as she could. Even Nancy Reagan had the common decency to do that for her husband.)
(If Liz Cheney truly loved her father, she would keep as far from access to the media as she could. Even Nancy Reagan had the common decency to do that for her husband.)
“Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many.”
(A White House spokesman, when asked about the remark, dryly replied,"Which president? The press couldn't help giggling like teenage girls in their first sex ed class.)
And it would be funny if a few people did not still- even now- think Dick Cheney's opinion still had credibility.
With no indication of self-reflection, Cheney wrote about the "Obama rhetoric 'crashing into reality' in Iraq." In fact, with the long predicted uprising in the north of Iraq of insurgents, it is the Bush doctrine of preemptive attacks on nations that harbor a potential threat to the US- it's that's rhetoric that is now crashing into reality.
The whole piece is riddled with curious statements like this:
“Iraq is at risk of falling to a radical Islamic terror group and Mr. Obama is talking climate change. Terrorists take control of more territory and resources than ever before in history, and he goes golfing.”
However, even this rather cheap shot backfires on Cheney. As one commentator writes:
Mr. Cheney must think that we have all forgotten the scene from “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Michael Moore’s 2004 documentary, in which President George W. Bush, brandishing a club on a golf course, looks into the camera and says, “I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you.”That is quickly followed by, “Now, watch this drive,”and a shot of Bush swinging at the ball.
The former president himself defended Obama's occasional golf games. For what it's worth, Bush said:
"Because I know what it's like to be in the bubble. I know the pressures of the job, and to be able to get outside and play golf with some of your pals is important for the president. It does give you an outlet."Here's is an article from Liberaland for its own analysis of the Cheney letter.
Concluding our trilogy of Republicans who we shouldn’t take seriously on Iraq, patient zero in the series has to be former Vice President Dick Cheney. His total lack of credibility in this issue notwithstanding, The Wall Street Journal published an editorial by Cheney, titled “The Collapsing Obama Doctrine: Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many,” in which he blasted the Obama administration’s handling of Iraq. It’s an article so completely loaded with irony, contradictions and hypocrisy that it’ll be difficult to unpack without bloating this post into a novel-length volume.
The article takes the Wall Street Journal article apart in agonizing (but necessary) detail, pointing out each of Cheney's misrepresentations. Of course, Cheney has a long history at creating deceptive remarks about the war.
According to one study, top Bush administration officials made 935 false statements about Iraq. 48 of those were attributed to Vice President Pants-On-Fire.
Oblivious of the irony, Cheney might be able to launch attacks against the president. That's not a big surprise. (Why he hasn't been charged with war profiteering is a bigger surprise, perhaps.) Conservatives nearly always come out swinging when they are most vulnerable and the more desperate they are, the more wildly they swing. In this case, it amounts to flailing.
The real challenge for the "Great Deceiver" is attempting to refute his past incarnation. Here is what Dick Cheney said back in 1994 about invading Iraq.
Of course that was before he became the Chairman and CEO of Halliburton Company which, according to the International Business Times, made an astounding $39.5 billion on Iraq War.
