Dick Cheney

Ten Years Since Onset Of Iraq War: Worst Foreign Policy Disaster In American History

Ronald 6 Comments

It has been ten years since George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and others took America into a war on false pretenses, a war in Iraq that turned out to be the worst foreign policy disaster in American history.

It was a war of choice, based on faulty intelligence, but backed by many major newspapers and by Democratic political leaders, as well as Republicans.

The Iraq War prevented America from winning the Afghanistan War, as it diverted our attention from the war against Al Qaeda..

It led to about 4,500 dead American soldiers and about 32,500 wounded. And the involvement was the longest war in American history, except for the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

The question is whether the United States has learned anything, and will not allow itself to be fooled and misled about intelligence in the future, as we face possible threats of war with Iran, ironically the more dangerous nation than Iraq, and emboldened by our war there to build up its nuclear potential.

Roger Ailes Calls Obama “Lazy” And Biden “Dumb”: Is He Really Thinking Of Republican Presidential Contenders And A Past President?

Ronald 12 Comments

Roger Ailes, the President of Fox News Channel, the station where those who watch know less than those who watch no news at all, has the gall to say that Barack Obama is “lazy”, and that Joe Biden is “dumb”!

This man is delusional, when one could say that a lot of the Republican Presidential contenders of 2012 were “dumb”, including Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and Herman Cain, as well as President George W. Bush, who showed no evidence of any intellectual thoughts crossing his brain, far different than his brother Jeb, who comes across as very intelligent and perceptive. How much better off we would have been if Jeb Bush had been President, instead of his brother!

And as far as “lazy” goes, what about George W. Bush being on “vacation” multiple times more than Obama, and NOT reading the intelligence information while at his ranch for weeks on end in late August and early September 2001?

And to call Joe Biden “dumb” when he is one of the most outstanding US Senators in American history, and has played a major role in both foreign policy and constitutional matters for the past 40 years, and is in many ways the most active Vice President in American history, more than even Walter Mondale, Al Gore, and Dick Cheney were, shows that Ailes and his channel are just out to character assassinate our leaders, but intelligent people well know that Fox News Channel has no validity, no credibility at all!

Presidential-Vice Presidential Relationships Rarely Warm

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When one looks at the relationships between Presidents and Vice Presidents historically, it is clear that most Presidents look at their Vice Presidents and see their own mortality; often see the Vice President as a rival; often have disdain for the Vice President; and often do not support the Vice President in his Presidential ambitions to follow the President in office.

Examples of the above abound:

George Washington ignored John Adams, and Adams lamented that he was in an office that had no influence or respect.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were at constant odds, being of different political parties, and elected together by the early quirks of the Electoral College, later resolved by the 12th Amendment to the Constitution in 1804.

Thomas Jefferson literally refused to recognize Aaron Burr, after Burr tried to steal the Presidency from him in 1800, with Burr’s contention that he and Jefferson had ended up in a “tie” vote in the Electoral College, forcing Alexander Hamilton, a rival of both Jefferson and Burr to intervene and call for support of Jefferson, which led to the gun duel between Hamilton and Burr in 1804, and Hamilton’s tragic death.

John Quincy Adams discovered that John C. Calhoun was undermining him, and Calhoun switched sides and ran with Andrew Jackson in 1828.

However, Jackson and Calhoun became bitter rivals, and the Nullification Crisis over the protective tariff, with Calhoun enunciating the doctrine of states rights, nullification, interposition, and secession almost led to civil war, prevented by the intervention of Henry Clay, but only after Jackson threatened to hang Calhoun, a threat that could not be ignored, since Jackson had killed several opponents in gun duels.

Abraham Lincoln hardly dealt with his first term Vice President, Hannibal Hamlin, and then “dumped” him, for Andrew Johnson, someone he hardly knew.

When Theodore Roosevelt decided not to run for another term in 1908, he ignored his own Vice President, Charles Fairbanks, and backed his Secretary of War, William Howard Taft.

Woodrow Wilson gave little concern to the role of his Vice President, Thomas Marshall, and when Wilson suffered a stroke in 1919, he did not intervene to prevent his wife from preventing Marshall from visiting him, and ascertaining the state of his health, or allow him to take over Presidential authority.

Franklin D. Roosevelt ignored his three Vice Presidents—John Nance Garner, Henry A. Wallace, and Harry Truman. This led Garner to say the Vice Presidency was not worth a pitcher of “warm spit”. Wallace was allowed to “hang in the wind” over his public statements on civil rights, and be “dumped” on the demand of Southern Democrats in 1944. Harry Truman was not informed of anything, including the atomic bomb project, in his brief Vice Presidency.

Dwight D. Eisenhower had a strong dislike for his Vice President, Richard Nixon, as shown by his original plan to “dump” Nixon in 1956; his lukewarm support of Nixon in 1960; and his having problems remembering Nixon as a potential future nominee in 1964. At the end, however, Ike witnessed his grandson, David, marry Nixon’s younger daughter, Julie, and was supportive of Nixon in his last year of life, the first year of the Nixon Presidency.

John F. Kennedy failed to use the talents of Lyndon B. Johnson, his Vice President, to a great extent due to the hatred of his brother, Robert Kennedy, for LBJ. Robert Kennedy went out of his way to embarrass and humiliate Johnson in every way possible.

Johnson abused his Vice President, Hubert Humphrey, once he realized that Humphrey was critical of his Vietnam War policies. He threatened to leave Humphrey out of his cabinet meetings, and forced him to speak up for the war, which undermined Humphrey’s own Presidential campaign in 1968. And secretly, because Humphrey started to veer from support of the administration policies late in the campaign, Johnson hoped for a victory of Richard Nixon.

Richard Nixon utilized his Vice President, Spiro Agnew for political gain, but showed little respect for him, and let him “hang in the wind” when Agnew was forced out of the Vice Presidency in 1973. And Nixon picked Gerald Ford as his successor Vice President under the 25th Amendment, thinking that this insured that Nixon would not be impeached and be removed from office.

Gerald Ford had a strong respect for Nelson Rockefeller, who he selected as his Vice President, but yet “dumped” him for Bob Dole in the 1976 Presidential race.

Ronald Reagan was never close to George H. W. Bush, who had been his chief rival for the 1980 Presidential nomination, and never invited the Bushes to a private dinner at the White House, although he utilized Bush’s expertise in foreign policy and intelligence, as Bush had been head of the CIA.

Bush did not care for Dan Quayle very much, and considered “dumping” him in 1992 over Quayle’s embarrassing flubs. Quayle was given less involvement in the administration than his recent predecessors, and when he tried for the Presidential nomination in 1996, Bush did not back him in any way.

Bill Clinton was closer to Al Gore, but their friendship and collaboration suffered greatly during the scandal over Monica Lewinsky, and the pursuant impeachment trial. Gore decided not to ask Clinton, who remained popular, to work for him in the last days of the 2000 Presidential campaign. After his defeat, there were recriminations between Gore and Clinton over who had been responsible for Gore’s defeat.

George W. Bush relied on his Vice President, Dick Cheney, a lot in the first term, but became estranged from Cheney in the second term over the Scooter Libby scandal and in other ways, as Bush asserted himself much more, making clear he did not need Cheney as much as in the first term.

With all of the above examples of estrangement, or lack of closeness of Presidents with their Vice Presidents, there are two shining examples of very close, warm relationships between two Presidents and their Vice Presidents.

These would be Jimmy Carter with Walter Mondale, and Barack Obama with Joe Biden.

Carter and Mondale were the closest team in American history, with Carter allowing Mondale to share just about every decision in a way no Vice President, before or since, was able to do, and they remained close personal friends, for what is now the all time record of 32 PLUS years out of the Presidency, the longest lasting team in American history, with Carter now 88 plus and Mondale just passing 85, and both still in good health. No sense of any rift has ever existed between the two men, and their relationship was the smoothest ever, a lot of it due to Carter’s lack of insecurity about his Vice President, a testimonial to the former President!

Also, every indication is that Obama and Biden have as close a relationship, but with Biden nearly a generation older, while Carter and Mondale are less than four years apart in age. It seems as if there might be some issues between Obama and Biden, but that will have to be left to the future to find out. Also, a question arises as to how Obama will handle a possible competition for the next Presidential nomination between Biden and Hillary Clinton, both of whom have been crucial to his Presidency’s success so far.

So the Presidential-Vice Presidential relationships have been almost always far from warm and close, with only the two exceptions mentioned above.

This would be an excellent topic for a future scholarly study!

Cheers To Former Senator Richard Lugar For Blistering Conservative Talk Radio As Out To Promote Discord For Monetary Gain!

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Former Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, one of the few “decent” Republicans left in the GOP, came out yesterday in condemnation of conservative talk radio and other right wing extremists as out to promote discord for monetary gain, in a speech at Duke University.

He also was critical of the attacks on Defense Secretary nominee, former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, by right wing spokesmen, both in the Senate Armed Services Committee (including Ted Cruz of Texas and James Inhofe of Oklahoma), by former Vice President Dick Cheney, and by the usual right wing activists on Fox News Channel and talk radio.

Both Lugar and Hagel are a dying breed, conservative Republicans in a field of right wing loonies taking over the party, led by Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and others. One might not always agree with Lugar and Hagel on every vote, but one could have respect for their intelligence and fair mindedness, and willingness to “cross the aisle”!

It is good that Lugar, despite his defeat last year, is willing to speak up on principle about the extremist turn in his party, and how people are making money off of promoting hate and division!

ONLY when we have future Lugars and Hagels will the GOP rise again to the White House and Senate control, as the Tea Party Movement is the destruction of the party and its future!

Former Vice President Dick Cheney And Obama Foreign Policy: Total Hypocrisy!

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Former Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the architects of the disastrous Bush foreign policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, has now denounced the Barack Obama foreign policy as a failure, and termed his appointments of John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, and John Brennan as dismal and second rate. when the Bush team, including Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet and others demonstrated total arrogance and total incompetence in their leadership of our foreign policy for eight years!

The fact that Obama has fought terrorism effectively is ignored, an amazing development when it was under Cheney and George W. Bush that America was attacked. Imagine if Al Gore had been President on September 11, 2001, and the literal hell that Gore would have suffered for such an attack occurring!

Cheney predicted that the war in Iraq would be won easily, and the fact that more than 4,000 Americans were killed in that war does not concern him, or the tens of thousands of men and women disabled by the war.

Cheney helped contribute to a feeble war effort in Afghanistan, and ten years later, we are still in that nation, with over 2,000 Americans killed, and still with 68,000 troops there facing threats every day of loss of life or serious disabilities.

This man also said that deficits and the national debt were not important issues, but of course, now his party emphasizes that, after the destructive financial policies they pursued, including NOT raising taxes in time of war, and helping the top two percent gain the biggest tax cuts in history, and yet see total abuse by Wall Street and the corporations, leading to the Great Recession!

The fact that this most despicable man of recent times has the nerve to even speak up on Presidential leadership, when his own President was a true disaster in so many ways, shows he has no shame or feeling of guilt or responsibility for what he and George W. Bush have wrought!

Drones Policy Of Barack Obama A Very Troubling Issue For Civil Libertarians

Ronald 11 Comments

The government memorandum obtained by NBC that justifies the use of predatory drones against American citizens overseas presents a real quandary for civil libertarians.

Since September 11, 2001, in the name of national security, we have seen the administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney justify the use of “enhanced interrogation” and torture to gain information from suspects believe to be allied with Al Qaeda, and these suspects imprisoned in some cases now for a decade without any legal representation. Civil libertarians have condemned this violation as accomplishing little, except to besmirch the American image, and creating future generations out to attack America in revenge for such harsh treatment.

But now the administration of Barack Obama, led by John Brennan, who has been Chief Counter Terrorism adviser to the President, and is the nominee to be head of the Central Intelligence Agency.,has been engaged in the use of predatory drones to kill Americans overseas believed to be working with Al Qaeda, including Anwar Al Awlaki in Yemen, alleged to be involved in plots against the United States, and his son, killed in Yemen in a drone strike a couple of weeks after his father was killed in September 2011.

Critics would say that Awlaki should have been apprehended, brought to trial, and evidence presented publicly of his involvement in conspiracies, and that basic American values under the Bill of Rights were denied, and that his son was killed because of guilt by association, an even more egregious abuse of civil liberties.

The condemnation of Bush and Cheney has not been matched by condemnation of Obama, which makes it seem like pure politics.

This is, of course, not the first time Presidents have been engaged in violations of civil liberties, but with politics often determining the response.

Other Presidents who became involved in civil liberties violations include Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War; Woodrow Wilson in World War I; Franklin D. Roosevelt in World War II; and probably every President since in the Cold War period; and Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama in the Age of Terrorism.

It is a complex issue, as certainly, the national security is at stake in wartime, and we could define what we are in now as an age of war, even though most Americans do not think of it that way, since there is no draft, as in other war periods until 1973.

One could also say that there could be trust of Barack Obama for some, while no such trust existed for George W. Bush. But the danger of such trust is that once policy is justified, how does one have the ability to retract that trust and implied right to be involved in such civil liberties abuses, for future Presidents, who we may not trust?

Therefore, this policy of using drones against American citizens is a very disturbing and troubling issue, which will expand the ability of the government to be judge, jury, and executioner of its own citizens overseas, and who knows, maybe one day in American territory itself!

Sadly, it turns out that Osama Bin Laden has triumphed in undermining America’s Constitution and Bill or Rights by what he wrought on September 11, 2001, and all Americans are the losers in this tragedy!

Chuck Hagel Will Survive Rough Treatment Of John McCain And Other Republicans On Senate Armed Services Committee, And Be Confirmed As Secretary Of Defense!

Ronald 18 Comments

Former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel will survive his rough handling in the Senate Armed Services Committee and be confirmed to be the next Secretary of Defense, despite the efforts of Arizona Senator John McCain, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, and newly minted Texas Senator Ted Cruz, to derail his nomination, more on vindictiveness than anything else. Here was a basically conservative Republican, who like Richard Lugar, had the nerve to be independent, and be willing to cross the aisle and work with Democrats, and even, in the case of Hagel, endorse Barack Obama in 2008.

Hagel is a man of principle, a man of courage and determination, a man of levelheadedness, a man who has served his country well during his years in the military, a man who has been a successful businessman which makes him able to handle the massive bureaucracy of the Pentagon, and a man who is able to deal with adversity as it already has visited him, with his two Purple Hearts while serving in Vietnam, including his bravery in saving his own brother when both were wounded at the same time.

Hagel has a steadiness about him that will make him an outstanding Secretary of Defense, and his criticism of the “surge” in Iraq in 2007, which killed 1200 soldiers and wounded thousands others will stand the test of time, long after John McCain and his hawkishness, which calls for constant military intervention and invasion, is repudiated, as having been the wrong choice for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, two “chicken hawks”, to make.

John McCain will be looked back upon as a man who, fortunately, we did not elect President of the United States, while we will look back upon Chuck Hagel’s service as Secretary of Defense under Barack Obama as one of the best cabinet choices ever made for the Pentagon, if not the best, since the agency was created in 1947!

The Battle Between Bush I Loyalists And Bush II Loyalists Begins Over Chuck Hagel Nomination For Defense Secretary

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Hard to conceive, but the battle between loyalists to President George H. W. Bush and loyalists to President George W. Bush has begun over the nomination of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to be Barack Obama’s Secretary of Defense in his second term in the Presidency.

The “old guard” Establishment Conservatives around the first President Bush, including Brent Scowcroft, James Baker, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and the former President himself, have no major problems with Hagel.

On the other hand, the neoconservatives, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and conservative ideologues like Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Elliot Abrams, Frank Gaffney, John Bolton, and Charles Krauthammer all will find Hagel wanting in his foreign and defense policy views. It is not clear where President George W. Bush will come down, but in theory, he would agree with his key advisers and consultants mentioned above. Note that Powell and Rice are more linked to father Bush, and both were certainly involved in major battles with Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others during the second Bush Administration.

It will be an interesting battle, and it is likely that many Republican Senators will refuse to back Hagel, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, newly sworn in Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has particularly gone on the attack already against Hagel.

A key person to watch will be Senator John McCain of Arizona, who still harbors resentment that Hagel backed Obama over him in the 2008 Presidential campaign, and vehemently disagrees with Hagel on issues involving Afghanistan and Iraq and Iran. McCain has been attacking Obama on every front lately, but will he concede that Obama has a right to the Defense Secretary he wants?

Stay tuned for the fireworks, particularly to wonder where Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky will take their stand–with the old line establishment figures, which include also many military and naval leaders; or with the neoconservatives who brought us into long, drawn out wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with very little success!

Vice President Joe Biden At His Most Charming And Genuine At Senate Swearing In Ceremonies!

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There is only one Joe Biden, our Vice President, who is the most genuine and sincere politician on the scene today!

Biden is criticized for his flubs and gaffes, but while no one is perfect, his flubs and gaffes are harmless, and at most, may invoke laughter and embarrassment over the Vice President’s sometimes, slightly inappropriate, comments!

Biden put on quite a show as he went through mock swearing in of Senators yesterday, on opening day of the new 113th Congress. He got to meet the Senators’s wives, children, grandchildren, mothers, cousins, etc, and he was absolutely charming, charismatic, and funny, drawing laughter and smiles from both Democratic and Republican Senators and their family members.

He was flattering to mothers of the Senators; attentive to young children of the Senators; able to relate to teenage and older children of the Senators; and left an overall good feeling to all who gathered for the ceremonies, and caused much laughter and chuckles for those observing the events live on C Span.

Biden is always entertaining, but at the same time, one realizes how brilliant a mind he has; how talented a speaker he is; how effective he is in getting things done for President Barack Obama; how much expertise he has on such a wide variety of subjects; and how he knows how to bridge gaps between differing sides and viewpoints.

He is a tremendous asset to Obama, and as the Atlantic Monthly Magazine and National Journal have declared, there is a case for stating that Barack Obama is the most active, involved, and influential Vice President in American history—more than Richard Nixon under Dwight D. Eisenhower; more than Nelson Rockefeller under Gerald Ford; more than Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter; more than George H. W. Bush under Ronald Reagan; more than Al Gore under Bill Clinton; and more than Dick Cheney under George W. Bush!

We could do far worse than Joe Biden to be the 45th President of the United States, by election in 2016! Imagine 44 years of service to his country being brought to the forefront as qualifications for the nation’s highest office!

Obscene, Crude Behavior By Republicans And Conservative Ideologues: No Common Decency!

Ronald 2 Comments

Republicans and conservative ideologues have no limits as to their obscene, crude behavior.

Witness the news that Speaker of the House John Boehner, passing by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, uttered “Go F—Yourself”, which startled Reid, and Boehner repeated it. This was done, all because of the frustration of Boehner with Reid and the Democrats over the difficult bargaining on the “Fiscal Cliff”. It is certainly believable that anyone can have such thoughts, and might even state so to his friends and colleagues about someone else, but to use such language directly eye to eye with the person being attacked by such invective, is totally unacceptable, totally crude and obscene, totally unbecoming of a Congressional leader or anyone else in the public eye! Boehner needs to apologize publicly to Reid, but is unlikely to do so, but this makes further communication and negotiation with political rivals all that much more difficult! As a public figure, Boehner needs to set an example of good and appropriate behavior!

Let us not forget that during the George W. Bush Administration, Vice President Dick Cheney said the same words that Boehner utiliized against Reid, against Senator Patrick Leahy in the Senate chamber, and never apologized, and in fact bragged and gloated about his misbehavior and lack of class!

But it is not just foul language as mentioned above, but also the attack on Hillary Clinton by Republicans and conservatives who think her concussion and hospitalization with a blood clot is a lie, designed to prevent her from having to testify about the Benghazi, Libya terrorist attack on September 11, which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.

So fun has been made, and accusations have been uttered, that Hillary is not really sick, that it is all a cover up!

Among those saying this on camera are:

Former Florida Congressman Allen West
Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton
Conservative ideologue Laura Ingraham
Charles Krauthammer of Fox News Channel
Bill O’Reilly of Fox News Channel
Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel
Rush Limbaugh, radio talk show host

And this is just a short list of cynics, who have no common decency, no compassion, no humanity, and know very well that the Libya matter is all conjured up, not a real issue. But it is the view of the right wing wingnuts that they must attack Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden and other Democrats, simply because they are alive and breathing!

Nothing will stop the nasty, insulting, disgraceful behavior of Republicans and conservative ideologues in their mission to destroy America through character assassination of our political leaders, as long as they are Democrats!