Why Is Liz Cheney On Teevee?

[babylonsister]

Well, not 'MY' teevee. Not on your life!


http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_05/023720.php

WHY IS LIZ CHENEY ON MY TEEVEE?.... Liz Cheney, who has no expertise in national security policy, continues to be given media platforms by outlets that prefer to pretend she knows what she's talking about.

Take this morning, for example, when Cheney condemned the Obama administration on "Fox News Sunday."

"When the administration captures a terrorist and their first instinct is to inform him that he's got the right to remain silent, that is exactly the wrong way to win this war.

Is that so.

Would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid was read his Miranda rights five minutes after being taken off a plane he tried to blow up. The same people who criticize the president today were silent back then.

I'm still waiting for Liz Cheney to explain why the Bush/Cheney administration had the wrong "instincts" and embraced "exactly the wrong way" to be effective on counter-terrorism.

As for the Shahzad case in particular, Liz Cheney continues to say things that aren't true. Factually, the administration's "first instinct" was to invoke a public safety exception to the Miranda process, delaying steps to make the suspect aware of his rights. Shahzad provided information before and after being Mirandized.

In other words, the Obama administration's approach was effective and successful. Why partisan hacks are whining about it now remains a separate question.

It appears that listening to Liz Cheney is exactly the wrong way to understand current events.

-Steve Benen