After thirteen months, former President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney meet again on the steps of Cheney’s residence in McLean, Virginia. Cheney recently suffered a mild heart attack, but thank God he survived it.
Is it just me or does Dick Cheney look slimmer, taller, and younger?
He has a spunk about him I haven’t seen in a while, especially with that open shirt. I guess that brief appearance at CPAC boosted his spirits.
President Bush looks well too.
So what did the two men say to each other?
“Mr. President, welcome,” began Cheney.
“Lookin’ good,” replied Bush.
“Holding up,” said Cheney.
“Lookin’ good,” said Bush again.
“Could be worse,” said Cheney.
One thing that has been a constant this year is that Dick Cheney has come out and spoke against the President’s policies and attitude regarding keeping America safe. And now, with the terrorist attack on Christmas day, Cheney has come out again to question this administrations attitude and response. But it’s not just ‘the right’ that have come out against the president. Ruth Marcus from the Washington Post is not happy with the administration’s response either:
“The more I think about the Christmas all-but-bombing, the angrier I get. At the multiple failures that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to get on the plane with explosives sewn in his underwear. And at the Obama administration’s initial, everything’s-fine-everybody-move-right-along reaction.”
Be sure to read her entire article.
Below is Dick Cheney’s response – from the Politico:
“As I’ve watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think if he has a low-key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of Sept. 11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we won’t be at war.
“He seems to think if he closes Guantanamo and releases the hard-core Al Qaeda-trained terrorists still there, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gets rid of the words, ‘war on terror,’ we won’t be at war. But we are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe. Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency — social transformation — the restructuring of American society. President Obama’s first object and his highest responsibility must be to defend us against an enemy that knows we are at war.”
A short interview, but a good one. Part One is here.
Michelle Norris from NPR co-interviewed President Obama recently and asked him about Dick Cheney. When asked about Dick Cheney, Obama referred to a Fact Check when stating Dick Cheney is wrong – this from a our especially intelligent President.
Also, note the loaded question:
The entire interview.