Cheney: "Anybody who thinks that's not a serious threat...is an idiot"

[sabra]

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/...

<snip>

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Whether it resonates or not, we've got an obligation to provide leadership, to tell the American people what the problem is, to identify the threat, and to lay out and execute a strategy for dealing with it. The threat is there. It doesn't matter what the polls say about the threat, the threat is real.

If you spend as much time as we do, beginning first thing every morning six days a week with our intelligence brief, there's no doubt about the threat. Just a couple months ago, we had two dozen wannabe suicide bombers in England, the U.K. getting ready to get in airliners headed for the United States and blow them out of the sky. They're trying to acquire biological or chemical or nuclear weapons, if they can get their hands on them.

Anybody who thinks that's not a serious threat, or who sort of reverts back to the pre-9/11 mind set, thinks that we can withdraw behind our oceans here and be safe and secure is an idiot, with all due respect. 9/11 proved the vulnerability of the United States to the actions of a handful of terrorists. It's our job to make sure the American people are aware of the threat. We take an obligation when we're sworn in to defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. If we were to shape our message to the voters -- excuse me, shape our message to the polls, and say to the voters, because they don't like to hear it, or there may be resistance there, I think there's a problem. That would be fundamentally irresponsible on our part.

[sutz12]

1. Pity you weren't having those briefings and meetings....

PRIOR to when they killed nearly 3000 Americans in an attack with so many obvious warning signs.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Wish I could rec a response *high five*

[tiptoe]

25. Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, ret.: "...my prime suspect would be Dick Cheney."

<snip>

Asked if he could name a prime suspect who was the likely architect behind the attacks, Bowman stated, "If I had to narrow it down to one person....I think my prime suspect would be Dick Cheney."

Bowman said that privately his military fighter pilot peers and colleagues did not disagree with his sentiments about the real story behind 9/11.

Bowman agreed that the US was in danger of slipping into a dictatorship and stated, "I think there's been nothing closer to fascism than what we've seen lately from this government."

Bowman slammed the Patriot Act as having, "Done more to destroy the rights of Americans than all of our enemies combined."

<snip>

Former Head Of Star Wars Program Says Cheney Main 9/11 Suspect

Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, ret. flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam. He is the recipient of the Eisenhower Medal, the George F. Kennan Peace Prize, the President’s Medal of Veterans for Peace, the Society of Military Engineers Gold Medal (twice), six Air Medals, and dozens of other awards and honors. His Ph.D. is in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering from Caltech. He chaired 8 major international conferences, and is one of the country’s foremost experts on National Security.

[sweetheart]

2. He's right about 1 thing

9/11 proved the vulnerability of the United States to the actions of a handful of terrorists.

- chief terrorist himself

[RobertSeattle]

3. The Real Threat in Cheney's world: Democrats taking over Congress

Dick - If this treat is so real, then why are you executing the "war on terror" so incompetently? Where's the war tax? Where's the shared sacrifice? Where's the draft?

[sallyseven]

4. Cheney should shove 9/11 up his big ass.

Only idiots believe him.

[JHB]

5. The only people who had a "pre-911 mindset" were YOU NEOCONS, Dick

Here's a "pre-911" clue: don't throw terrorism on a backburner and expect terrorists to just wait around until you can pencil them in on your schedule...one of these years.

[HughBeaumont]

7. Microwaving the same TV dinner over and over and over .. . . .

History will regard you as a ghoul, Gunga Dick. You have showers of blood on your hands and no one's buying your shit anymore. The fact that you'll never be imprisoned and left to rot in a stench-ridden windowless dungeon for your crimes against humanity illustrates once and for all that life really . . . REALLY isn't fair.

[kurth]

8. The threat has always been there, fucking idiot

It's your political exploitation of the threat that's new.

[Cocoa]

9. Cheney tells his strawman to go fuck himself

[bif]

10. Dick has a pre-15th Century mindset!

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Ok Dickie Boy! But, You're Doing It Wrong

The threat may be real. You may have an obligation to assess the threat and develop a protective strategy.

Well two news flashes for ya, Dickie!
1) You strategy is clearly, obviously, and unambiguously the wrong one.
2) We don't believe you! And 75% of us haven't for more than 2 years.

Failing to see those two simple facts makes Dickie-boy the idiot.
The Professor

[HereSince1628]

12. More hide behind the oceans BS. No one has thought the oceans

provided us much safety since um, the British fleet landed troops here during the revolution.
Just where the hell do they get this crap?

[zbdent]

13. Reverting to the "pre-9/11 mindset" means

that Repukes are focusing on trivial shi-, like flag burning and boobs and missing "W" keys, instead of security of the nation ... whoops, I think I just exposed the Republicans ...

[magellan]

14. "Just a couple of months ago", dick

...the names of those two dozen wannabe suicide bombers in England STILL weren't on the no-fly list, even though we'd allegedly been working with the UK on the case since last year.

"Fundamentally irresponsible" is one way to describe how you terrorize the American public for votes.

"Criminal intent" is another.

[gratuitous]

15. And who's saying that, Dick?

The answer is nobody is saying there aren't real threats and problems out there. But is wasting half a trillion dollars and half a million lives really the best way to deal with these threats and problems? Because anybody who says that is an idiot, with all due respect.

[ginnyinWI]

19. Cheney's Straw Man speaks to him in his dreams. n/t

[Ravenseye]

16. Well he's right

We do have a serious threat against us. Why then, Mr. Vice President, are our ports still woefully unsecure? Why are our chemical plants wide open to attacks that could kill millions? Why are we creating more terrorists in Iraq and doing more harm to our national security than good, according to those intelligence brief's you mention?

We can't hide behind our oceans, but we can't hide behind failed policies and lies either. We need ACTUAL security, not corporate handouts mislabeled as security. We need to use our international presence to get more people to like us, not hate us. We need to lead by example not force with threats. We need to promote freedom and democracy, not remove it from our own country piece by piece.

You sir, are the idiot.

[SammyWinstonJack]

20. Why don't we get out of Iraq, where we aren't wanted and use the billions

spent there to SECURE OUR PORTS AND BORDERS so if the terra-ists follow us here we'll be prepared! Thing is, the War on Iraq and Terror isn't about keeping us safe, it's about OIL AND WORLD DOMINATION! Bu$hco will say anything to keep the sheep asleep and fearful, so they can continue to rob us blind.

[XemaSab]

17. What a jerk!

[sakabatou]

18. It's not a pre-9/11 mindset

It's a post 1776 mindset!

[bridgit]

21. we were never "withdraw(n) behind our oceans here" and he knows...

damn well we weren't, america's hand in foreign affairs is felt throughout the world quite beyond the allure of our shore & beaches...that has been part of why they want us dead in too many instances and he is a collusive, duplicitous usurper of democracies for trying to convince this america otherwise

[Atman]

22. "With all due respect," you are due none, Mr. Cheney.

So, our Vice President, Mr. Genius, a supposedly highly educated man, thinks everyone who disagrees with him is an "idiot." Yet he can't even use proper English to insult us! People who "sort of revert back to the pre-9/11 mindset..." What of those who opt to REVERT FORWARD? You fucking moron, Dick. If you're going to try to insult someone's intellect, try not to use stupid phrases like REVERT BACK.

.

[OnionPatch]

23. I don't recall arguing about whether

or not terrism is a threat. The arguement is how to deal with the threat. I'm getting so sick of propaganda that we don't want to deal with terrorism.

Oh, by the way, DICK, we live in America. We aren't going to let "threats" scare us into destroying our rights and values. That would be letting the terrorists WIN.

[MyDogSpot]

24. Right on cue for Halloween

Cheney and Rummy are the only ones who don't need scary masks. Bush has "dunce" down pat, so he's good to go.

[Supersedeas]

26. smoking guns and mushroom clouds again...and again...and again