Video: Bill Clinton targets Cheney
Former Pres. Bill Clinton took a shot at former VP Dick Cheney Wednesday on CNN's The Situation Room.
'I’m tempted to become a Republican. They need me'
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Garrison Keillor
Salon.com
Only one out of five Americans is willing to describe himself or herself as a Republican these days, and frankly I am tempted to become one of them. For the variety, and because they need me and because when I heard former Vice President Cheney talk about the meaning of Republicanism the other day - "We are what we are," he said - I felt drawn to the simplicity and dignity of that. And I have never been a Republican, just as I've never been to South America, and that makes it tempting.
I look at pictures of Machu Picchu and think, "Why don't I get on a plane and go?" And I look at Dick Cheney and think, "This man needs friends." I voted for Obama, and will vote for him again in 2012, Lord willing, but in the meantime, it's a free country.
And it is just a whole lot more satisfying to be part of a militant righteous minority than to be in the anxiety-ridden confused majority - to be a nightrider and ambusher rather than one of the people in the long wagon train - to be free to juke around and say wild stuff and know that it doesn't make a dime's worth of difference.
Video: Cheney on the attack
Anderson talks with his panel about former Vice President Dick Cheney going on the attack against the Obama administration.
Is Dick Cheney emboldening the enemy?
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David Gewirtz | BIO
Editor-in-Chief, ZATZ Publishing
I am seriously concerned that our former Vice President may have gone off his meds.
During the post-9/11 years of the Bush administration, whenever anyone in the media or the loyal opposition spoke out against the administration's policies, that person was immediately accused of emboldening the enemy.
The theory was that if Al Qaeda, or the Iraqis, or the Iranians knew that there was some disagreement among Americans, they'd feel safe in attacking us - perhaps even fighting us over here, instead of fighting us over there.
Hiding out in his secret, undisclosed lair for nearly the entire duration, Vice President Cheney ran the country with an iron fist. Our enemies knew that if they attacked us, he'd put on his Darth Vader hat, and hunt them all down single-handedly.
When anyone in America voiced opposition to the Cheney/Bush policies, retribution (or at least accusation) was swift. The opposition voice was accused of emboldening the enemy, and even of possible treasonous activities. Had someone ranted then, like Dick Cheney is whining and complaining about the Obama administration now, Mr. Cheney would have lost his mind.
Former VP Cheney does have fans
Greg Clary
CNN
Who says nobody likes former Vice President Dick Cheney? The ex-number two man in the White House left office with a 30 percent approval rating, but he still had quite a few fans waiting outside for him Sunday at CBS’ Washington, D.C. studios.
Cheney was a guest on CBS’ 'Face The Nation with Bob Schieffer,' where he continued to defend the Bush Administration’s use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. About a dozen people waited for him to come outside after his appearance.
Once Cheney exited the studios, he obliged one person in the crowd by signing a baseball. There’s no word on exactly why the fan wanted Cheney to sign a baseball.
If you remember, the former VP was booed loudly when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals’ home opener back in 2006.
After Cheney greeted the onlookers, he hurried back to his car but not before a CNN Radio producer could ask him why he is the one left to defend the Bush Administration. Cheney replied simply, “Because that’s what Vice Presidents do.”
Signing a baseball and defending the legacy of a Presidency; all in a day’s work for the now retired Dick Cheney.
Cheney for president
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Ross Douthat
The New York Times
Watching Dick Cheney defend the Bush administration’s interrogation policies, it’s been hard to escape the impression that both the Republican Party and the country would be better off today if Cheney, rather than John McCain, had been a candidate for president in 2008.
Certainly Cheney himself seems to feel that way. Last week’s Sean Hannity interview, all anti-Obama jabs and roundhouses, was the latest installment in the vice president’s unexpected – and, to Republican politicians, distinctly unwelcome – transformation from election-season wallflower into high-profile spokesman for the conservative opposition. George W. Bush seems happy to be back in civilian life, but Cheney has taken the fight to the Obama White House like a man who wouldn’t have minded campaigning for a third Bush-Cheney term.
Imagine for a moment that he’d had that chance. Imagine that he’d damned the poll numbers, broken his oft-repeated pledge that he had no presidential ambitions of his own, and shouldered his way into the race. Imagine that Republican primary voters, more favorably disposed than most Americans to Cheney and the administration he served, had rewarded him with the nomination.
Cheney hypocritical on big government
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Paul Begala
CNN Contributor
Editor's note: Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN political contributor, was a political consultant for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992 and was counselor to Clinton in the White House.
Dick Cheney has finally found the limits of government power.
In his interview with CNN's John King - his first television interview since leaving the vice presidency - Cheney revealed a view of federal power that is incoherent and hypocritical.
According to recently released legal memos from the Bush-Cheney administration, the former vice president believes that the federal government can ignore the First Amendment and suppress free speech and freedom of the press as part of its "war on terror."
An October 23, 2001, memo from Justice Department lawyers John C. Yoo and Robert J. Delahunty said, "First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully."
AC360° Panel: Cheney speaks out
Anderson talks to his panel about former Vice President Cheney criticizing President Obama and his administration.
Cheney warns of new attacks
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John F. Harris, Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei
Politico.com
Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.
In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects.
And he asserted that President Obama will either backtrack on his stated intentions to end those policies or put the country at risk in ways more severe than most Americans — and, he charged, many members of Obama’s own team — understand.
Cheney v. Biden: War of words
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Program Note: Tune in to AC360° at 10p ET tonight for the latest on the war of words between Cheney and Biden.
Dugald McConnell
CNN Producer
Vice President Dick Cheney will soon be handing the Vice Presidency over to Joe Biden, but not before first questioning whether the newcomer is up to the job of filling his shoes.
This Sunday, Cheney, who has had unprecedented influence on policy, was asked about reports that his successor sees the scope of the office differently from the way Cheney does.
"If he wants to diminish the office of vice president, that's obviously his call," Cheney answered. "I think that President-elect Obama will decide what he wants in a vice president. And apparently, from the way they're talking about it, he does not expect him to have as consequential a role as I've had during my time."
Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander fired back:
"Only Vice President Cheney would think that putting the Vice Presidency in its proper constitutional role "diminishes" the office. What the American people want from a Vice President is not boasting about how much power they have, but rather, a promise to use that power for the right purposes.
But Biden told CNN's Larry King Monday that he does still expect to have the president's ear.
"My role as vice president is unlike some of the others. I've asked for no specific portfolio – that is, I take care of the environment or one particular area – and that I be essentially his counselor-in-chief."
The shape of any vice presidency is driven more by the president's wishes than the vice president's, says Prof. Stephen Wayne of Georgetown. "In his first year, the president said Dick Cheney has a lot of power. That's what I want: I'm delegating a lot to him. I don't think Barack Obama is going to delegate that much to Joe Biden."
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