Is Cheney becoming a national embarrassment?

[wurzel]

He is, whether we like it or not, the Vice President of the United States. First we have him yelling obscenities to a Senator in the Senate. Now we have this offensive and puerile "sensitive" speech. It is not just the Republicans who should be embarrassed by this man.

[mermaid]

1. Would You Terribly Mind Referencing And Sourcing The Speech

to which you are referring here?
Thanks!

[Stephanie]

6. Check LBN - it was a top story yesterday

Cheney gave a speech in which he ridiculed Kerry for saying that his Iraq policy would be more "sensitive" - one word out of a long string of adjectives, which Dick seized on and exploited. They forgot that Bush Junior had used the same word a day or two before, in the same context, in the same venue, IIRC. There's a thread in the campaign folder.

[wurzel]

8. I assumed everyone knew

about the speech widely reported by the network news yesterday where Cheney, and his wife, repeatedly mocked Kerry for being "sensitive" about war. Needless to say he took Kerry's words completely out of context. Kerry was clearly talking of sensitivity to our allies. Cheney twisted it to mean sensitivity to terrorists. And he did it in a very, very childish and pandering manner. The one thing good out of this was the response from Gen. Clark.

[H2O Man]

2. I think you need to remember

that Cheney was a hero in the Vietnam war. He single-handedly ..... oh, wait .... no he didn't. He let other people do it. Just like he let's other people do it in Iraq. Well, at least he's consistent.

[NewJeffCT]

9. well, he did single-handedly

Knock up his wife who gave birth 9 months and a few days after the fatherhood exemption to the draft came into being.

But, still, given that, if he was so patriotic, I am sure his wife & child would have understood him volunteering to go to war?

[H2O Man]

11. We'd have won that war.....

if guys like Kerry and Wes Clark didn't screw it up. Jerks. There were so many born losers over there, that heroes like bush and cheney didn't get a chance. That chapter of American history would have been a little different if dick cheney gotta hold of Uncle Ho.

[Nimrod]

3. Becoming?

I think he's been a national embarrassment from the first time his mug appeared in public. Before that he was just his family's embarassment.

[NicRic]

12. That was my frist reaction !

When has he not been an national embarASSment ! Only when he wasnt in the public eye,then he was only an embarassment to those around him ! Perhaps they figured if they had to suffer with his exsistance, why should'nt the rest of us have to !

[TransitJohn]

13. We have a winner.

That was my first reaction, too.

[Tsiyu]

24. Me Too! Me Too!

As in, "Becoming?" Jeepers Creepers, Two DUI's, Halliburton, Draft Dodging Coward Chickenhawk Warmonger? He's been an embarassment since the 2000 Campaign and I predict the meds and the machines propping him up will fail soon.

Maggot-infested individuals rot from the inside.

[wurzel]

15. I was thinking of the reaction abroad.

These speeches are now aired around the world. Here is this guy talking about war like a twelve year old kid. The rest of the world may not be as used to that kind of attitude as we are.

[olddem43]

4. He isn't an embarrassment because he is too arrogant.

Unlike his "boss" who is so dumb that you can almost feel sorry for him, this ass is intelligent but arrogant, greedy, crooked and mean. We should not be embarrassed over him, we should jail him for being the criminal he is. He needs to follow Spiro Agnew into the trash can of corrupt politicians.

[Ginzogravy]

5. Repugs

are all drunks

[apnu]

7. Oddly enough, I caught a bit on the Biography channel...

... this morning about Crashcart. It was all roses and pretty pictures of a "great guy." They even dug up some DINO from the 80's to talk about how open his DoD was... back in the day. How he "made time to listen to everybody -- including Democrats." How approachable and transparent of a politician he was. But, they mentioned, that he "played his personal politics 'close to the vest.'"

A regular sunny-side puke fest of Skeletor himself.

:puke:

[billybob537]

10. Bet they left out the DRUNK DRIVING arrests?

[apnu]

17. I didn't see anything... but then I only watched it for a minute or two.

That's all I could handle!

:puke: :puke:

[wurzel]

14. I guess they know some damage control is needed. n/t

Was that bio already programmed?

[apnu]

16. I don't really know I flipped by it looking for something interesting...

...on the History International channel which is the next channel up on my cable. I only paused for a few minutes. It was a disgusting display of "how cool is Cheney" with strong pictures of him "in action" at the DoD waving his arms around like Rummey does today. Then there was a montage of him today as the "outdoors man" fishing somewhere and looking like a decrepit fool.

Then I had enough and tuned in on a show about Roman Aqueducts.

I don't really know if it was something pre-programed or put together. I imagine that they made it a while a go and kept it shelved until it was needed.

[Bandit]

18. "Big Time"

Did you expect any other answer? :shrug:

[Eurobabe]

19. did he ever stop being one?

[liveoaktx]

20. No, I think MCain takes top honors for this with his chest-huggin photos

[CBHagman]

21. He speech was dangerously dumbed-down and kneejerk.

In fact, we could say Dick Cheney puts the "jerk" in kneejerk.

But seriously, his speech typifies the dumbed-down sound bite culture of current politics, and it's troubling. The words he said might draw applause from his supporters, play well on the nightly news, and make him feel like a big, big man, but that doesn't mean there's any truth or thoughtful analysis in them. What Cheney did was repeat the Bush administration boilerplate about how evil our enemies are and a litany of their bad deeds. Then there was some macho drivel about destroying them.

But what Cheney was saying was basically self-congratulatory macho preening. Look at two of the quotes from Cheney:

"America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive.

"A sensitive war will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000 Americans and who seek the chemical, nuclear and biological weapons to kill hundreds of thousands more. The men who beheaded Daniel Pearl and Paul Johnson will not be impressed by our sensitivity."

I won't get into the inaccuracies in Cheney's remarks, but the guy is so busy rushing off into the Bush boilerplate that he ignores some facts.

*The Bush administration has just announced plans not to verify nuclear compliance, saying that it costs too much. And this would help us prevent terrorists from getting nuclear weapons in what way?

*The Bush administration put the whole North Korea and nukes issue on the back burner for some time, thus ensuring that the proliferation risks grew.

*Any mature adult with international work, travel, or study experience knows that sensitivity to other cultures and nations is extremely important in any pursuit, whether it's military action, business deals, or what have you. It's all the more important in a war on terrorism, when allies matter a great deal.

*The U.S. can't afford to make any more enemies. Even Donald Rumsfeld has wondered aloud if we're making more enemies than we can capture or kill. Even someone as generally hawkish as Thomas Friedman has warned that future terrorist attacks are inevitable, partly because we have continued to make such strong enemies in the Middle East. One of the most chilling things I ever saw was Friedman's discussions with young people from the Middle East who basically explained that the U.S. didn't get why we were so unpopular.

*A recent book, "Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror," which was written by an anonymous current member of the CIA, has pointed out that our policies, not the Bush claim that "they hate us for our freedoms," cause the terrorists to attack us.

The current environment is ripe for pure demagoguery, and Cheney is taking full advantage of this. We can't let Cheney come out of his hidey-hole, make these pronouncements, and then get away with it. We have to raise the level of discussion.

[wurzel]

22. You have got my concern exactly.

The rest of the world hears this kind of "macho-drivel" stuff too. And many of them have seen wars close up and personal.

[AngryOldDem]

29. Veterans Loved the Speech

What is even more disgusting is his audience ate it up -- an audience full of vets, some of whom looked like they were WWII era. How they can support someone like Cheney (and Bush, for that matter), I wish someone would explain.

I was at the protest rally across the street from Cheney yesterday. There were a lot of veterans among us, some unemployed. How those vets who heard Cheney could walk right past their brothers and sisters in arms and not feel a pang of conscience...again, I do not understand. Maybe I don't want to understand.

Deferred Dick Cheney appearing before an audience of veterans is perhaps the biggest insult I can think of to anyone who has served. But if they don't care...

I think the administration counts on the general public not to pay attention to what it says -- hence the fertile ground for a demagogue. Sadly, I think too many times their strategy works. Yesterday was a good example.

[canuckybee]

23. "He speech was dangerously dumbed-down and kneejerk."

Which is exactly why republicans love him.

[Electile Dysfunction]

25. Has he ever not been?

He makes me embarrassed to live in the country next to his.

[ItsMyParty]

26. I hate to be the ant at the picnic

..but Bush's base must be thrilled at that speech. My stomach got a lot of acid in it when I heard these Vets snicker and laugh AT Kerry as Cheney is speaking. That was not a good day for us. You and I know it was out of context. The numbnuts of America don't. He's launched another "bite" to go with "flip flop". They have a Kerry theme that they keep adding to. We need to get a Bush theme ("liar" for example) going because these numbers we like to celebrate are not going to last. Bush/Cheney basically just started campaign 2004 about a week ago: high alerts in 3 cities, terrorist arrests, blowing up crap in Iraq (and we know how Americans love that), nominating a CIA director (so concerned about the Commission report, you know), the "senstive" attack on Kerry. Don't you see the theme: "Fighting Men Fighting for America". Expect poll changes. The right loves Cheney and if they keep talking and attacking this way without someone on our side doing the heavy lifting, so will a bunch of easily swayed 'moderates' and 'indpendents'.

[wurzel]

27. I agree completely. Kerry is looking like a wimp.

I don't want him to "fight fair". I want him to win. I want him to show me he can fight dirty when he has to. It is a dirty world. I want an AWOL ad as mean and vicious as that "swift boat" ad. Gore fought fair in Florida and look where he got him?

[mitchum]

28. I hate the goddamn sonofabitch (and will be happy when the worms...

are well-fed)