Because I’m Bad
EmailOn the Rush Limbaugh radio show YESTERDAY (link), Vice President Dick Cheney used the same adjective — "bad" — to describe Syria’s Bashar Assad for supporting terrorism and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for meeting with Assad.
"She, in this particular case, by going to Damascus at this stage it serves to reinforce, if you will, and reward Bashar Assad for his bad behavior," Cheney said. "This is a bad actor, and until he changes his behavior he should not be rewarded about visits by the speaker of the House of Representatives."
Moments later, Cheney — chuckling — said "I’m obviously disappointed. I think it is, in fact, bad behavior on her part. I wish she hadn’t done it, but she is the speaker of the House, and fortunately I think the various parties involved recognize she doesn’t speak for the United States in those circumstances. She doesn’t represent the administration. The president is the one that conducts foreign policy, not the speaker of the House."
In other Cheney news, we hear from ABC News’s Ann Compton that the grandchild Cheney is expecting through his daughter Mary Cheney and partner Heather Poe will be a boy.
Thoughts?
– jt
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It seems that the VP is taking the supercilious and haughty tone of an exasperated parent with unruly children when talking about Seaker Pelosi and Bashir Assad, an utterly and completely inappropriate tone to take. The only person I see in this situation who is exhibiting bad behavior is the obviously delusional VP himself, by once again insisting that Saddam Hussein not only funded al-Qaeda operatives before the war but also provided them a safe haven from which to wreak their havoc. Never mind that the 9/11 Commission, as well as numerous Pentagon intelligence reports, have concluded that no such relationship EVER existed. It’s quite clear that the VP isn’t going to let facts get in the way of his opinions, nor reality get in the way of his carefully-constructed fantasies.
Posted by: chuck | April 6, 2007, 10:09 am 10:09 am
What are the VP’s thoughts on the republicans visiting Syria?
Posted by: reyonthehill | April 6, 2007, 10:25 am 10:25 am
For an administration that has done nothing but lie, cheat, and steal during its entire regime, I don’t feel Dick Cheney is qualified to be assessing or judging “bad behavior”. The Bush administration has taken “bad behavior” to a new level.
And, Mr. Cheney, for your information, although you feel that Nancy Pelosi is not representing this administration, that in itself is irrelevent in light of the fact that this administration is not representing the will of the American people. We all know that you and your buddy George decided to ignore the mid-term elections and the implications therein of how unpopular and unwanted the two of you are now.
By this point, the majority of the American people are ready to see the two of you leave, and if it be by impeachment, so be it, and the sooner the better.
Nancy Pelosi is demonstrating something that the Bush administration doesn’t have a clue about… diplomacy, something this country was supposed to stand for until the two of you took over. Why don’t you both do this country a big favor and just shut up. Foreign policy is something the Bush administration has been a total failure at, so why don’t you just go back to stealing our tax dollars to give to your favorite corporations and let somebody else take over the foreign policy. Yours obviously DOES NOT WORK.
Signed… the Mother of a U.S. Army Soldier
Posted by: Jackie T. | April 6, 2007, 10:30 am 10:30 am
This is amazing. This article proves that Cheney and Bush do not know how and do not even want to settle anything diplomatically. They just want to hand our kids a gun tell them “go shoot them, they disagree with this administration!” Where has the world experienced this mindset before, hmmm. I don’t think any of us need to think too hard on that one. Thank God they will both be out soon. I only hope we can last the next couple of years without being dragged into another conflict by these two nincompoops. I pray our congress stops them.
Ron
Posted by: Ron N. | April 6, 2007, 12:50 pm 12:50 pm
It says alot that the only place Dick Cheney can go to express his mean-spirited opinions and spread his propaganda is the Rush Limbaugh Show. Does anybody really still listen to that windbag?
Posted by: Linda | April 6, 2007, 2:13 pm 2:13 pm
The most remarkable thing about Cheney is that he is even tolerated. The type of fantasy he lives is symptomatic of a mental disorder. He feeds the few in this country who take him seriously a steady diet of certifiable lies. And he doles them out as though he actually believes what he’s saying. Is he as delusional as he appears? Yes, he is! Cheney points out the need for regular competency evaluations while on the job. How remarkable would it be if we later learn that his mind was clinically broken as he led Bush through one massively wrong-minded choice after another? There should be some serious consideration for impeachment before he destroys what’s left of this once great nation.
Posted by: Frank Tiller | April 6, 2007, 4:55 pm 4:55 pm
Would Dick have called it “bad behavior” if he was referring to a male speaker of the house? How condescending. And, how off the mark given the Middle East’s very positive, hopeful reaction to her being there.
Cheny and his heavy-handed, out of touch boss are an embarrassment. 2008 can’t come fast enough.
Posted by: Joan | April 6, 2007, 11:22 pm 11:22 pm
When are Bush, Cheney and company going to learn the language of diplomacy? Calling people “bad”, members of an “evil empire” erc. doesn’t win any friends. Maybe it’s time we stopped vilifying everyone who isn’t like us and tried to find out what makes them tick. After all, does Iran have nay less right to nuclear powet than India or Pakistan?
Posted by: mary | April 7, 2007, 10:49 am 10:49 am
I haven’t seen a single reference to cheney’s grandchild in the press lately, even though I believe he’s supposed to be born this month. Why this extraordnary delicacy and deference for a war profiteer who supports keeping our troops in Iraq forever for ‘business reasons’?
Posted by: drindl | April 7, 2007, 12:42 pm 12:42 pm
Fact finding missions by members of Congress are perfectly acceptible, even if against the wishes of the President. But to encroach upon the President’s role of setting foreign policy is a serious breach of the separation of powers.
There is an interesting article in yesterday’s (April 6, 2007) Wall Street Journal Editorial Page by Robert F. Turner. He states that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “may well have committed a felony in traveling to Damascus this week, against the wishes of the president, to communicate on foreign-policy issues with Syrian President Bashar Assad.” “The Logan Act,” as Mr. Turner, continues, “…makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, ‘without authority of the United States,’ to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government’s behavior on any ‘disputes or controversies with the United States.’”
Posted by: James Danley | April 7, 2007, 2:12 pm 2:12 pm
The liars and deceivers who control the executive branch of the federal government will (apparently) be in power until mid-January 2009. How many more American servicemen and women must die or be maimed for life to satisfy whatever it is that drives them in their delutional state to continue the conflagration they created in Iraq? Pelosi et al should continue to use their good offices to at least talk with the regime in Syria. Jaw, jaw is always better than war, war.
Posted by: sophillyfatz | April 7, 2007, 8:30 pm 8:30 pm
If anyone one is delusional it is those that believe that bringing the troops home now will bring peace to the world.
The Islamic extremists envision turning the entire world into their Caliphate — one nation under Allah. But President Bush envisions a free and democratic Middle East. Total democratization of the Middle East, with economic success, is the ONLY hope for true peace in the Middle East. If Afghanistan and Iraq were to succeed in becoming free democratic governments, they would become examples for the other Islamic nations. Then maybe the peoples of the other Islamic nations would — over time — seek freedom and democracy for themselves. But even that is too simplistic. Changing the oppressed mindset of the people and changing the Islamic schools’ curricula to no longer teach and promote hatred towards Western Civilization is just as daunting a task as democratization. And without the former, the latter will never succeed.
Posted by: James Danley | April 8, 2007, 6:52 pm 6:52 pm
Impeachment is the only answer.
Posted by: Richard | April 9, 2007, 10:36 am 10:36 am
Bottom line?? Pelosi was wrong in going. It is making a mockery of our nation and it appears that we are acting like a group of immature children. To call the entire executive branch a bunch of “Liars and deceivers” only proves that you Hard Line Left Wingers don’t know anything about what’s really going on!! Get real!! The Speaker of the House is NOT in charge of Foreign Policy and it’s ridiculous for her or anyone else to think that.
Posted by: Mark Porter | April 9, 2007, 10:41 am 10:41 am
Cheney? Why is anyone listening to anything this man says? His approval rating shows that the measure of “some of the people all of the time” is about 20%. If Dick Cheney says it’s sunny, I’m grabbing my raincoat and umbrella.
And as for another commenter here (and elsewhere): Speaker Pelosi did NOT violate the law in visiting Syria, as the law specifically says that no one but the President can “conduct foreign relations,” but a Congressional visit that reiterates the fact that both the President and the Congress have the same views concerning Syria’s role in the Mideast (as attested to by the Republican members of the Pelosi enturage) cannot be said to be “conducting foreign relations.” Contrast this to the treatment President Clinton got when Republican Congressmen visited Colombia and told the government there to disregard the administration, totally in opposition to the policies of the US Government (and those policies concerned drug enforcement, a more immediate threat to the US population than far-away Syria ever could be). Now, THAT’s “conducting foreign policy.”
Ed
Posted by: Ed Drone | April 9, 2007, 11:29 am 11:29 am
The biggest delusion of all is thinking that leaving our troops over there will bring ‘peace to the world’. That is also tied hand in hand with the delusion that countries in the Middle East want to become “Little Americas”. How simplistic and naive to believe that the Bush administration envisions a free and democratic Middle East. The Bush administration only envisions a place where they can continue to rape our tax dollars for the profits of their favorite corporations as long as possible and hold the patriotism of the citizens of this country hostage in the meantime.
Anyone who has ever bothered to read anything about the culture of the Middle Eastern countries would know that their form of democracy is a vastly different form of government and ideology than Western style democracy, and they don’t want any part of a Western style democratic government or any part of our culture. Iraq wants to go back to being three separate territories instead of the one country that Britain forced them to be back around WWI. You can’t force a culture of people to suddenly change to be like you, just because you don’t understand why they are different from you. Total democratization of the Middle East is only directed towards the economic success of the United States, not the Middle East, and it is nothing more than an impossible pipe dream that is bleeding this country dry, not to mention weakening our military strength to a dangerous level. The Iraqis did not invite us there, and they do not want us to stay, or to try to turn them into us. It will never happen. It will be impossible for the U.S. to try to sell “freedom and democracy” to other countries as long as we have a president and vice president who are not practicing it in this country.
If anyone wants to accuse Nancy Pelosi of commiting a felonious act, then you are going to have to give recognition to the many and varied illegal and unethical acts committed by this president and vice president, up to and including constitutional infractions, which by far exceed in number and severity anything Nancy Pelosi has ever done. For a president to exploit his power over the military for his own personal agenda and cause the loss of military lives in the process goes beyond unethical… it’s immoral.
My son has spent an entire year in Iraq in the military, so I think I have a better handle on the situation than the bleeding heart Bushites who have probably contributed nothing to the fight and believe all of George and Dick’s delusions, manipulations of the truth, and down-right lies. Bush just honestly doesn’t have the intelligence or depth of character to possess stoic and noble traits. All he is concerned about at this point is ‘his legacy’, without having the good sense to realize that it has alrady been written.
This country needs to take a new direction, and they need to take it quickly.
Posted by: Jackie T. | April 9, 2007, 12:45 pm 12:45 pm
I think it’s time for Cheney to slink back into his “undisclosed location” for good and disconnect the phone. The damage he has caused to this country will take decades to overcome…
Posted by: Jim | April 9, 2007, 2:01 pm 2:01 pm
It really is sad that the Left’s vitriolic hatred towards President Bush and Vice-President Cheney blinds them from reality. According to the Left, Usama bin Laden, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, Iran, Iraq and North Korea are the true victims in the world — victims of the evil, capitalistic imperialist United States. According to the Left, President Bush is the greatest terrorist the world has ever known. With this kind of logic how can anyone take anything the Left says seriously?
Posted by: James Danley | April 9, 2007, 3:13 pm 3:13 pm
For the most part the comments above have said it all. There is no worse personna than a person who is so wrapped up in their own ego, they actually betray themselves without knowing it. Most of us would hide in a cave had we said and done the things Cheney has. Furthermore, we’d all be in prison. It takes more than guts to keep going out and bad-mouthing the Democrats – or anyone else for using good will to try and make peace. He must have had a terrible childhood – I feel very bad for his parents to have raised a child like this. The bones in his body must have snake venom in them, to possess such a cruel, evil mind.
Posted by: norma schultz | April 9, 2007, 4:21 pm 4:21 pm
… Did I fail to mention? Along with my son, both of my parents were career military officers, as well as my brother-in-law, niece, nephew, nephew’s wife… My father, a pilot in the USAF, was a veteran of WWII, the Korean War, Berlin Airlift, Cuban Missile Crisis… My mother, an Army nurse, served in the Pacific during WWII and in Europe (with concentration camp survivors) in the aftermath of WWII. Members of my family have served active duty in the US military in every generation back to the War of 1812. So my family has paid (very dearly in some cases) for my air time.
I’m not “Left” or “Right”. Nor am I a Republican or Democrat. My father (a Republican who despised George Bush and Dick Cheney) once told me that just because a person runs under one party or the other does not mean they will make a good President. He also told me not to ever be blinded by partisan loyalty when assessing who to vote for. That’s why I sit very firmly in the middle, where there is a clear view of the “Real Reality” on both sides. Those who view from the “Left” or “Right” are the ones seeing a distorted view, and therefore blinded from reality.
It doesn’t take a “Left-winger” to see what an idiot this president is, or what a crook his veep is. It just takes someone who is Paying Attention.
I rest my case.
Posted by: Jackie T. | April 9, 2007, 8:27 pm 8:27 pm
Talking to somebody isn’t “rewarding” them. It’s just dealing with the real world instead of claiming to run it.
Posted by: John Dziak | April 13, 2007, 2:49 pm 2:49 pm