Opinion> Bill Oreilly> Unchaining Cheney

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Unchaining Cheney

Dick Cheney is unleashed! After eight years of being nearly invisible to the media, the former vice president has come forth bearing wrath. He is now a man on a mission, an angry messenger. Very simply, Cheney believes the Obama administration is putting the United States in danger by dismantling the Bush anti-terror programs.

And Cheney has one very large point. Since the sneak attack on September 11, 2001, America has not suffered another violent terrorist episode on its soil. That is not in dispute, and the former vice president believes tough interrogations and aggressive anti-terror moves were the cornerstones of the shield.

Cheney also has two big bullets in his rhetorical arsenal. First, the Obama administration recently released classified interrogation memos but did not release the follow-up reports detailing what was gleaned by water boarding and other rough stuff. Cheney wants those memos out.

And second, there is no doubt that Democrats like Nancy Pelosi knew all about water boarding and went along with the interrogation program because the CIA told them it was vitally important for national security.

So, believing the truth is on his side, Cheney has launched a one-man jihad against the Obama administration for canceling what he believes are life-protecting anti-terror strategies.

The reaction on the left has been just short of hysterical, with personal attacks on Cheney all day long. At the White House Correspondents dinner last week, comedian Wanda Sykes said she advised her kids to get in a car with strangers rather than with Cheney.

Writing for The New York Times, Maureen Dowd spoke for many liberals when she called Cheney, among other things, "batty" and "jejune" (lacking value).

Dowd's disdain poured out as she described the former vice president's "Genghis Khan side," his "numbskull ideas" and his "nasty campaign of fear and loathing."

The only thing missing from Dowd's column was holding Cheney responsible for swine flu.

As best I can tell, the left is growing desperate because they are losing. This week, President Obama announced he will fight the ACLU over releasing pictures of captives hurt by the U.S. military, rightly saying those pictures were part of criminal investigations, some of which led to the conviction and punishment of the American perpetrators. Even though the vile ACLU doesn't care a wit, Obama understands that any damaging photos would put U.S. forces in the field in even more danger.

The president also has no heart for a witch hunt against those who ordered tough interrogations of al-Qaida big shots. Again, this would damage America. Obama understands his own party would be hurt, as well, as Pelosi and others would have to testify under oath about what they knew.

So the vengeance-minded far-left is bereft. They want to "get" Bush and Cheney, but their dreams of revenge show-trials are vanishing quicker than MSNBC's ratings.

To make matters even worse — Cheney may be the one getting revenge.

Veteran TV news anchor Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" and author of the book "Who's Looking Out For You?" To find out more about Bill O'Reilly, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. This column originates on the Web site www.billoreilly.com.

Comments

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Cheney's idiocy and extreme dishonesty are well documented.

Cheney asserted that Iraq was going to be quick and cheap. One would have to be very stupid to "think" that. There were many of us who knew better.

Cheney went in for a whole lot of lying during the run-up to the Iraq war. One would have to be certfiable to go along with Cheney's views.

Comment: #1
Posted by: Pericles
Sun May 17, 2009 6:21 PM

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Sir....I can certainly agree with Maureen Dowd about Mr. Cheney...I would add that he seems alternately like Dr. Strangelove, and the Cheshire Cat; staying on the stage too long, and evoking for all a more miserable time.... Who is it, after all, who can contemplate in peace and joy the happy times past followed up with some great tragedy???The stupidity of the desire for revenge and war should be clear to all... We may well be better prepared for terrorism, but we have let terrorism push us into war, and waste our wealth and resources for little positive gain... We might have gotten in and out of those time zones a dozen times for the price of going in and staying in once..There is simply not enough of us to garrison the whole world... People do not love us, and do not fear us; but Cheney and those like him, with narrow minds and little inteligence have taught the world to hate us; and that is dangerous... People hate scorpions, and few people keep them as pets...People fear scorpions, and will not bear them around... Who ever thought we might own the world does not understand the basic nature of capitalism...We do not want the world as slaves... We want them free, as in a free market... The South sold Cotton; but it did not buy cotton...Its slaves were dressed in cast offs...They were no market to their own products, and so it is always with slaves...Given a choice, the people of the world will not buy American because they do not buy America... They do not buy what America stands for, and they do not buy the lies we tell them... Those muscle headed fools who think we can run the world should stick to running their mouths...No one should elect such fools to office, and any such fools ought to be removed from office..The damage Mr. Cheney has done to this county is beyond estimation...Has he done anything to make this country safer???He has made attacks around the world all the more certain... Our best defense is not fear or hatred from others, but their love...I know it sounds so sixties; but it is true... What stops all people from falling on their brothers with knives and clubs??? Those who think it is law which regulates human behavior do not understand human behavior...Rather; law works when it follows human behavior and supports what is good in humanity... Mr. Cheney was breaking the law, and not just our law, and international law; but the basic law of all human interaction, of doing unto others as you expect... What would we feel about Mr. Cheney if all the war, the bloodshed of children and other innocents was visited upon us, and laid at our feet??? Once embarked on the course Mr. Cheney has chosen for us we can do not more but follow up murder and destruction with greater and greater outrages... Mr. Cheney knows this... Like Dr. Strangelove, he invites world wide conflagration....Like the Cheshire Cat, his smile will last long beyond his departure....His smile is our grimace... Thanks...Sweeney

Comment: #2
Posted by: James A, Sweeney
Mon May 18, 2009 4:59 AM

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Keep your eye on the ball, O'Reilly. Here's a guy who's never seen military service, dishing out challenges to die to kids like mother's milk. It's all about an overgrown gremlin, a radar-evading patient with some deep psychosis who never had the courage to put his own self anywhere near danger. On he goes, like the energizer bunny, dumping his diseased world view like a load of toxic waste onto innocent victims who happen to be vulnerable enough to soak up those easy-fling words of pseudo patriotism. He's basically exhorting our kids to serve themselves up to perpetual bloodshed. It's not unlike those twisted lords in the middle east recruiting their own poor pathetic targets for suicide bombings. In fact, it's downright indistinguishable.

Comment: #3
Posted by: Masako
Thu May 21, 2009 9:03 PM

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Re: Pericles. Leave the Iraq War out of it. (You're wrong on that point anyway....Bush and Cheney never said any such things. Just the opposite in fact.) The question that needs to be asked is - Is Cheney right on this issue, or not? It appears from here that the facts indeed support his position...that A) Obama is telling only half the story by releasing the memos that are already out, and B) the half that HAS been told is actually harming the country by what it's revealed about our interrogation methods. Now the terrorists can train their men to resist these methods! Additionally, because of the media's campaign of lies about waterboarding and other so-called "torture," it's generated a firestorm of outrage against fairly mild discomfort which has actually yielded some high-value intelligence in the case of Khalid Sheik Mohammed. You, and Sweeney there don't have your facts straight. (And Masako, your comments are completely disgusting. I won't even respond to them. You're a typical leftist...engaging in rabid character assassination instead of debating the issue at hand.) What the hell is wrong with you people?

Comment: #4
Posted by: Matt
Fri May 22, 2009 12:06 AM

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Re: Matt You said: "Bush and Cheney never said any such things."

Cheney did say that Iraq was going to be quick and cheap. Here's the source for the quote: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080244) Cheney is a liar and an idiot. One would need to be quite stupid to trust Cheney's ideas.

You don't seem to be able to aknowledge the facts of this matter. If I knew that Iraq wasn't going to be quick and cheap how can Cheney have been that stupid?

Is Cheney the best the right has? Do right-wingers actually "think" Cheney is someone they can trust?

Comment: #5
Posted by: Pericles
Mon May 25, 2009 7:02 AM

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