Reid snaps back at Cheney on Senate floor

[sniffa]

“Tonight the Vice President has come out of his bunker and is speaking at a gathering of Washington DC insiders, which is closed to the press.

“Unfortunately, he brought his bunker mentality with him. He is repeating the same tired attacks we’ve heard from administration officials over the last two weeks.

“In the last 24 hours, 10 of our brave soldiers have been killed in far off Iraq. On such a night, you would think Cheney would give a speech that honors the fallen and those still fighting by laying out a strategy for success.

“Instead we have the Vice President of the United States playing politics like he’s in the middle of a presidential campaign.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Reid_snaps_back_at_Cheney_on_1116.html

:patriot:

a great read.

[blm]

1. Well done Mr. Reid.

.

[UpInArms]

2. "closed to the press" but televised?

hmmmm...

methinks there was no audience and the applause was a sound track :eyes:

[MADem]

58. No doubt the audience was full of fatcats with checkbooks

...but I'll bet plenty of them are writing those checks with increasing reluctance. They didn't want any commentary from those types, who have made their bed, but are finding it a bit lumpy and uncomfortable....

[madmark]

73. Its so he can't get hecked; which apparently happens everytime

he speaks in public.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Another salute to the Senator!

:patriot:

[NanceGreggs]

4. You tell 'em, Harry ...

... you tell THE WORLD!

:applause:

[jf24]

5. More and More impressed

I am becoming more impressed with Senator Reid every week.
Hey, modern mom, I understand your frustration, but I don't think the upside down flag is at all cool.

[hwmnbn]

8. Hi jf24, welcome to DU.....

:hi:

The upside down flag is the international signal for distress.

DeepModem Mom is using it to express her distress at what the chimp has done to OUR country.

Cool is in the eye of the beholder. :patriot:

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[stevedeshazer]

18. Does this bother you?

http://presidentmoron.com/

[Virginian]

52. Thanks for the link n/t

[VaYallaDawg]

65. Good link, thanks! n/t

[Megahurtz]

66. Hahahahaha!

:rofl:

[Marthe48]

27. a sign of distress

nt

[LostinVA]

37. Do you have any idea what an upside down flag means? Do you?

It means distress, as my three-war decorated ex-Navy grandfather will tell you.

It is cool. This is DU. We're open-minded, intelligent, and progressive. Or should be. Seriously, show some respect towards a long-time poster who's earned their spurs. Your showing respect will go a long ways towards respect being shown to you.

[Virginian]

51. It is a distress signal

Flying the flag upside down is a symbol of distress. It isn't a matter of cool or uncool. It has as much validity as flying the flag at half staff as a sign of mourning.

[TankLV]

78. I have one on my front door and on my car - it's there for a very good

reason since the 2000 coup.

I will remove it once our country is no longer occupied by these repuke criminal thugs.

[leftstreet]

6. "bunker mentality" that's great!

[Dangerously Amused]

54. Bunker as in... "Archie Bunker"? /nt

[leftstreet]

55. ROFL! Hadn't thought of that. n/t

[understandinglife]

7. And, keep your handy Rep Waxman debunker ready whenever any ...

... of these clowns open their mouths, like Cheney did tonight:

http://democrats.reform.house.gov/IraqOnTheRecord

It IS Tribunal Time in the United States of America.


Peace.

[Virginian]

53. So, when Cheney comes in from de bunker

all he says needs to be debunked?

[onenote]

9. Give em Hell Harry!!!

[msongs]

10. why no source for this? was the writer actually there in person? nt

[jody]

11. "Some of you might die on this quest but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to

make." Lord Faraquaad in Shrek and now Bush/Cheney in America's Demise.

[stop the bleeding]

12. Can you say Ballssh!

Reid has got Ballssh

[DemoTex]

13. Cheney snaps and snarls 24/7. Thank you gentle Harry for snapping back!

The footage of Cheney's speech at tonight's closed GOP fund raiser showed Cheney spitting his vile words through that ever-curled lip. What a detestable Mo-Fo!

Dear Dick,
Your Highland Park nemesis, my friend Sirius, is gone. But long live the memory of the many smelly dog turds he left in your front yard on Euclid Ave. It took our "owned" a lot of liver treats to convince Sirius that your yard was the most deserving place in the world for dog-shit. And, as all dogs and dog-owned know, dog-shit begets more dog-shit.
Nick-Nick

Sweet Sirius (7/25/93-8/25/05) .. left many a smelly sausage in the Cheney's front yard in Dallas (Highland Park). I can only hope that the Dick stepped in a pile and tracked it into Lynn's pristine mansion.

[Dangerously Amused]

19. Many thanks to dear sweet Sirius...

...for a job - well, many "jobs" - well done! So sorry you lost him. We can only hope for another righteous canine liberal activist to carry on his legacy.

[DemoTex]

33. I skirmished with Dick and Lynn at the Highland Park Village Starbucks ..

.. a number of times in 1998-2000. I've posted this on DU before. I had a vintage, dolphin grey 1965 Porsche 356SC coupe (that a Dallas Porsche dealer bought as a museum piece for his show-room) that Cheney once eye-fucked (at that Highland Park Village Starbucks). When he got to the back (as I watched) and saw the "Texas Democrat" sticker, I thought he would puke!


Much stronger than Dick's ticker!

[stevedeshazer]

35. That engine is a familiar sight

Beautiful car.

Cheney's still a DICK, though. :)

[DemoTex]

36. Generic pic of a '65 356 engine.

But look at those big carbs! Hot-damn, that engine gets some air! I forget if I had Solex or Weber carbs. I owned a '78 911SC for 10 years too. Great car!

[stevedeshazer]

40. My dad had a '59 Karmann Ghia with dual solex carbs

That's how I relate. :)

[EuroObserver]

57. Very similar to my old '66 beetle engine(s)! n/t

[autorank]

15. Well, you know I'm recommending this post.

Damn, he's doing what I thought and hoped for.

Reid has the perfect set up...he's been saying the right things all along but they've not been reported. As a result, people think he's coming out of no where, outraged at current * behavior.

Oh boy, he'll rock the house. This is just the warm up.

We need Michael Buffer & Mr. Lampley:

[bettyellen]

16. i kicked as hard as i could....

with my bare OTK'd toes.
:hi:

[sniffa]

23. *swoon*

you know i Love it when you kick.. especiaLLy with those OTK'd toes. :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[stevedeshazer]

17. That ABSOLUTELY rocks.

Democrats have finally found their voice in Harry Reid.

I'm in awe.

[TheCowsCameHome]

20. Harry, I am truly impressed with your style. Great comments, sir.

That snarly bastard Cheney looked like the Devil himself giving those remarks.

[AnneD]

62. Hubby and I were watching

CBS at crack o'dawn. I told him that I could tell when Bush lied (his lips are moving), but can't tell with Cheney (he has that permanent Joker sneer). They played Harry Reid right after Bush Co. and the contrast was night and day. Harry spoke in soft, calm, measured tones. His whole demeanor was open, low keyed, and reassuring. Very grandfatherly. I mean, if I needed to hear bad news, I'd feel much better if Harry told me.

Sorry to hear the passing of Sirius. What a hoot. I always thought they were anally retentive in Highland Park. Glad to hear that someone had functioning bowels...

Guess Dick didn't think a DEM could have enough money to buy a Porsche. Good visuals.

[Mythsaje]

21. And there it is again...

The new Democratic slogan... "America can do better."

Isn't that about the third or fourth time I've heard that in the last week or so?

Not perfect, but it'll work. Americans respond well to slogans, the silly bastards.

[europegirl4jfk]

34. "America can do better" Wasn't that a campaign slogan in 2004 already? n/t

[oneold1-4u]

46. Symbols and slogans

The upside down flag for distress or backward and doing it better by turning it over or right side up? Perhaps a good rendition of it turning all the way back? "Lets get it straight". Maybe a soiled flag with "Lets clean it up"? Or lets "Clean this up and then clean house and senate"?

[MissWaverly]

22. they are campaigning, 2004 election never really held

it was pre-empted by "Rise of the Machines, Let's NOT tell the truth,
and the attack of the Zombie Congress" We are still waiting for
an accurate vote count.

[fooj]

24. These rat bastards are corrupt and vile traitors who should be

LOCKED UP!!! Why are they still allowed to run this country into the dirt?

Way to go, Reid! Truth is our most powerful weapon!

Peace.

[truthisfreedom]

25. "The White House needs to understand that deceiving the American people is

what got them into trouble."

amen, Brother Reid!

[DS1]

26. Yes! I love the 'bunker' comment, he's calling in a

p***y

[lovuian]

28. Cheney is still in control or making it look like it!!!

Good for Reid!!!

[bvar22]

29. Love this line:

“If he has time to talk to DC insiders… oil executives… and a discredited felon – Ahmad Chalabi - who is under investigation for giving this nation’s most sensitive secrets to Iran, he has time to answer the questions of the American people.
:dem:

[novak goes postal]

30. WELL DONE SENATOR HARRY

[Roland99]

31. And people were doubting Reid over Daschle? Pfffft!!!

Daschle would be drooling from the mouth and waiting for direction from someone.


Give 'em hell, Harry!!!

[Mechatanketra]

32. Mixed feelings, yet again.

On the one hand, there's a lot of potential meat in this.

On the other hand, Reid makes two of the same mistakes that always seem to appear in Democratic speeches.

1) Focussing on "success in Iraq" undermines the very point of bringing up the deceptions in their war case. If the case for war was a lie, then insistence on a "winning" outcome is just compounding the atrocity of that lie, and buying into a share.

It reminds me of the Gary Dotson (non-)rape case here in Chicagoland. You'd think after it turned out that Cathleen Crowell, shall we say, "misled the people" into believing she'd been raped, sane people wouldn't be discussing the best way to punish Dotson. But the justice system took around 4 years afterward to stop approaching the case from a 'parole' or 'leniency' standpoint and just admit there was never a crime to punish.

2) It's frustrating to keep hearing Dems "call on" Republicans to do address this or that wrongdoing of their party, as if they were, y'know, honest public servants. It just throws the ball back into the GOP's court, and they'll make word-like noises which the press will describe as a rebuttal or adequate response, and nothing good for anyone happens. The useful approach, I'd think, is not to challenge the GOP to do the right thing, but to emphasize that they haven't and won't.

In this case, why bother asking Dick to "answer the people" when you have to know he's never going to really give the honest answers the people have a right to (because, uh, he's neck-deep in Crooked Creek)? Instead, just hammer on the truth: that until and unless Dick addresses his critics face to face and under oath (and until or unless he stops citing "executive privilege" over all the people's business) all of his denials and counterattacks are only doing what we'd expect a guilty man to.

[Voltaire99]

44. Good analysis. Give 'em ho-hum, Harry.

You've seen through Reid's empty gesture.

Reid, as always, is a day late and a dollar short. He's only discovered his tongue in this safe context--badgering a weakened White House and trying to appear the more competent technocrat to prosecute the war, just as Kerry did in 2004. But unlike a real leader such as Cindy Sheehan, Reid still stands for war.

And to those of you satisfied with Reid's burp: the dead in Iraq ask for more from that empty suit. Much, much more.

[Seabiscuit]

56. I've been thinking the same things about the dems for a long time -

They're always making those two huge mistakes when dealing with the war and the Repukes.

Not many here seem to get it - witness all the cheering Reid just got in this thread in our peanut gallery.

[AnneD]

63. Howard Dean is the flame thrower...

Reid doesn't need to do too much of that. He just needs to make sure the DEM's are togather in the Senate and draw in some moderate GOP's. I am sure his demeanor will be working to his advantage. I have been watching him for a while now. He really has been fighting back, just now getting much press.

[Mechatanketra]

77. Bob save me from bloodless technocrats.

Reid -- as a human being, not merely a Democrat -- "needs" to understand that effectively there are no moderate Republicans now. There are only open crooks, closet crooks, and accessories after the fact. Any attempt to court the opposite party, no matter how well-intentioned, is (a) ultimately doomed to failure, and (b) just makes you one of the final group.

That's the heart of it: crimes are being committed right now. The GOP is the cartel committing them, and the government is the instrument they wield to do it. We know this. (As I've gotten fond of saying, it's not a conspiracy theory, because conspiracies work IN SECRET, whereas a great deal of the Republicans' crookedness is a matter of public record).

To make this clear, I'm not talking about scoring feelgood "red meat" points; I'm talking about the fundamental perception of the opposition. As Paul Krugman put it once, the modern GOP is a revolutionary agency, in the sense that they won't tolerate any dissenting position -- hence, anyone who is not one of them is branded unto a traitor, i.e. "so-and-so hates America". In other words, they're not looking to bargain.

The more boldly one can highlight the intolerable criminality of the administration, the more solidly you can establish tolerance for the administration as a litmus test. If there really is such a thing as a "good Republican" left anywhere in office, going for the jugular ought to help "draw them out" -- making them stare at the beam in their party's eye ought to make them break away from their party leaders. The ones who keep breaking for them as the heat turns up, who when the chips are down choose party interest over the people's interest, aren't actually good people. Stop being scammed.

And for this reason, everyone who isn't for the GOP's agenda needs to be a "flamethrower". Because everyone allowed in front of a microphone (to ostensibly speak on OUR behalf) who keeps treating the GOP with kid gloves is implying "Hey, these guys are just trying to do a tough job. Their heart's in the right place. They're not bad people." But they're not, it isn't, and they are. And those of us who know it are being drowned out, or just outright disowned, by our so-called "leaders".

[Joe Chi Minh]

67. A brilliant post, taking the discourse to a deeper,

more incisive level.

[Charlie Brown]

38. LOL! He called Chalabi a "discredited felon"

"Gime 'em Hell" indeed!

[Joe Chi Minh]

68. Well, it's funny, but it's also factual, isn't it?

[tanyev]

39. Bif! Boom! BAM!

Better than Adam West! WTG, Harry.

[Maat]

41. Woohoo!

Senator Reid, we salute you! (And I love the 'bunker' remark!)

:patriot:

[yurbud]

42. awesome

[David Zephyr]

43. Everytime Cheney attacks Democrats, Bush will sink even lower with public.

Here's hoping we will be seeing more of this dick.

[wiley]

50. Agreed

Is it legal to say "likely felon Republican Crime Cartel VP DicK Cheney"?

[President Kerry]

70. he doesn't care that he sinks in the polls.

he's too damn selfish and too damn stupid. It's bigger than that. People are becoming enlightened to the corruption embedded in the the Republican PARTY. * and Dick are doing a great job of cementing that in the minds of the voting public.

Can't wait for 2006 elections. Once we get our majority back we can take the next logical step - impeacher the fuehrer, and liberating America from this evil cabal.

[ChiciB1]

45. Well Damn Sam.... Harry Is Really

giving them HELL!!

I NOW have to admit that I underestimated him! He's Give 'Em Hell Harry & Quick Draw McGraw all in one!

Way To Go SENATOR!!!

[JudyM]

74. I also underestimated Reid. Happy to admit that now. n/t

[Wordie]

47. Go, Harry, go! I'm glad we've got Harry on our side, because when I heard

Cheyney's BS, I wanted to throw something at my tv! Love the part about Chalabi, too.

[kurth]

48. DISHONEST & REPREHENSIBLE CHENEY CALLS CRITICS "DISHONEST & REPREHENSIBLE"

[upi402]

49. Reid is a real Democrat. It's an honor to read his words

because they're backed by his actions.

[EFerrari]

59. Harry Reid can talk. Love it. n/t

[Tight_rope]

60. Great...Keep kicking while their down!

[Uncle Joe]

61. Give them Hell Harry,

"It's not really Hell, it's just the truth but it sounds like Hell"
President Harry Truman

[Romigi]

64. Keep up the work Reid

We need you to fight that corporate sucking asshole.

:patriot:

A true, fine patriot you are sir.

[ckramer]

69. Do not forget to kick him when Bush is down;

for Republicans would do that same to you!

[rd_kent]

71. GO HARRY!

Now, if the re rest of 'em would do the same.............

[President Kerry]

72. Amen. Thank you, Senator!

:applause:

[Martin Eden]

75. I was DIAPPOINTED when I read the speech

Most of it was just political rhetoric, which is what he accused Cheney of spewing. For example:

Tonight the Vice President has come out of his bunker and is speaking at a gathering of Washington DC insiders, which is closed to the press. Unfortunately, he brought his bunker mentality with him. He is repeating the same tired attacks we’ve heard from administration officials over the last two weeks.

In the last 24 hours, 10 of our brave soldiers have been killed in far off Iraq. On such a night, you would think Cheney would give a speech that honors the fallen and those still fighting by laying out a strategy for success.

Instead we have the Vice President of the United States playing politics like he’s in the middle of a presidential campaign.

The American people will be shocked -- shocked! -- to learn that politics is being played in Washington. If Cheny's attacks are old and tired, Reid should explain why they're old, tired, and false. Countering criticism by indignantly citing our "brave soldiers" is a tactic out of Rove's playbook, and it cuts both ways. If the troops are undermined by bickering in Washington, then both sides are guilty.

Reid and other Democrats have rightly attacked the Bush administration for misleading the country into war. The evidence is heavily on our side. It is to be expected that Cheney et al will fight back with all the political spin they can muster, yet rather than laying out a solid case based on facts, Reid chastises Cheney for counterattacking by emoting that Cheney should honor the fallen troops instead.

More from Reid's speech:

The White House needs to understand that deceiving the American people is what got them into trouble. Now is the time to come clean, not to continue the pattern of deceit.

So again, I ask Vice President Cheney to make himself available and answer the American people’s questions.

If he has time to talk to DC insiders… oil executives… and a discredited felon – Ahmad Chalabi - who is under investigation for giving this nation’s most sensitive secrets to Iran, he has time to answer the questions of the American people.

The Vice President needs to stop stonewalling and hold a press conference.

Finally, I would urge the members of the Bush administration to stop trying to resurrect their political standing by lashing out at their critics. Instead, they need to focus on the job at hand – giving our troops a strategy for success in Iraq.

Just this week, we’ve seen Stephen Hadley… Donald Rumsfeld… President Bush… and Vice President Cheney lash out at their critics….yet they all remain silent when it comes to giving our troops and the American people a plan for success in Iraq.

Tired rhetoric and political attacks do nothing to get the job done in Iraq.

America can do better.

Reid made good points about Ahmed Chalabi and oil executives, but the rest has little if any substance. He demands a strategy for success but fails to state an alternative to the strategy Cheney will insist is working. He calls for Cheney to give a press conference, but what good would that do? Cheney is very skillfull at sounding calm, reasonable, and informed as his answers to tough questions are turned against his political enemies.

Reid is playing politics. That's his job. It's what our elected representatives do in Washington. But it's disingenuous to feign indignation when his politcal opponents play politics. Intelligent people will see through Reid's speech as the same kind of tactics he criticizes.

[ignatius 2]

76. Like that evil bastard(Cheney) gies a rats ass about our soldiers..

just more cannon fodder.

I am glad to see the senator fight back,I hope it continues.