Cheney stands by "last throes" statement (Video from today)

[Cocoa]

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/19/cheney-defends-last-throes-2/

VIDEO: Cheney Reasserts That Iraqi Insurgency Entered Its ‘Last Throes’ In May 2005 »

In May 2005, Vice President Cheney declared that the insurgency in Iraq was in its “last throes” and predicted “he level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline.” Since that time, violence in Iraq has continued unabated.

Today at the National Press Club, Cheney was asked if he still believed that May 2005 was when the insurgency entered its “last throes.” He said he still did. Watch it:

video at link...

[ContraBass Black]

1. He made no claims as to how long the last throe would be.

Oh, ye of little faith.

[sabra]

2. First, he isn't sounding so good... Second, what in the world is he talkin

about? Starts with 1995 jumps to the future, and throws in some blah blah in between...

[Fridays Child]

10. He's listing to one side and taking in sharp gulps of air at every pause.

His health is clearly far worse than anyone is admitting publicly.

Edit: I imagine that this was a good day for Cheney. Notice that he had to cough, which is sometimes an indication of shortness of breath. Also, he mistakenly referred to the events of 1995 when he meant 2005. Is his brain getting enough oxygen?

[rodeodance]

3. Here is the spin: I heard him ealier--it was laughable as her 'spinned"

....Cheney tries to spin his previous comments as a prediction of political progress. Cheney now says he meant that May 2005 would be the beginning of a “series of events when the Iraqis increasingly took over responsibility for their own affairs.” Actually, Cheney predicted that violence in the country, from May 2005 on, “will clearly decline.”

Full transcript:

REPORTER: About a year ago, you said that the insurgency in Iraq was in its final throes. Do you still believe this?

CHENEY: I do. What I was referring to was the series of events that took place in 1995 . I think the key turning point when we get back 10 years from now, say, and look back on this period of time and with respect to the campaign in Iraq, will be that series of events when the Iraqis increasingly took over responsibility for their own affairs. And there I point to the election in January of ‘05 when we set up the interim government, the drafting of the constitution in the summer of ’05, the national referendum in the fall of ‘05 when the Iraqis overwhelmingly approved that constitution, and then the vote last December when some 12 million Iraqis in defiance of the car bombers and the terrorists went to the polls and voted in overwhelming numbers to set up a new government under that constitution. And that process of course has been completed recently with the appointment by Prime Minister Maliki of ministers to fill those jobs. I think that will have been from a historical turning point, the period that we’ll be able to look at and say, that’s when we turned the corner, that’s when we began to get a handle on the long-term future of Iraq.

[Roon]

4. 1995?

[Cocoa]

6. Cheney became CEO of Halliburton in 1995

so there's some truth in there being key events that year.

[Cocoa]

5. Cheney is getting soft

the Dick Cheney I know would have simply answered "I never said that."

[warrens]

13. Evil. Greedy. Deluded. Lying. Loon. nt

[Fridays Child]

7. These people will not admit error even when their failure to do so...

...borders on the psychotic.

[coalition_unwilling]

8. Goebbels stands by his statement that Stalingrad has

been secured for the Third Reich. All that remains are "mopping up" oeprations, Goebbels said.

:)

[neoblues]

9. Seems Like Cheney--ought to know all about being in "Last Throes"...

After all, he's certainly experienced his mortality approaching an end... then again, maybe they have indeed replaced his heart with a top-secret heart replacement device. In any case, being in his last throes, apparently hasn't given him pause--spurred the thought of redeeming himself (so he doesn't have such a long chain to lug around in the afterlife like Bob Marley--in Cheney's case, it would be one of those Gigantic Chains used by ships like the Queen Mary or, better yet, the Titanic), no indeed, it seems rather to have sparked the motivation to do as much evil and harm as he possibly can before he expires.

We'll have such a period of mourning when he's done, though none for him.

[Cocoa]

18. Cheney's afterlife will be different from Bob Marley's

you might have meant Jacob. :-)

[neoblues]

19. Yeah, that's the guy I meant ! Sorry for any confusion... nt.

[gratuitous]

11. How many Friedmans per throe, Mr. Cheney?

Just so we can gauge how long these last throes are going to last. It's been more than two Friedmans already.

[smoogatz]

12. Cheney stands by "We'll be greeted as liberators" statement.

"I never said ALL of the Iraqi people would greet ALL US troops as liberators ALL the time," the VP explained, contorting his face into his trademark grimace, to indicate that he'd made a "joke." "But seriously--it happened at least twice that I know of. Unfortunately, the Iraqis who greeted our troops as liberators were both killed by insurgents, who we referred to as 'dead-enders' back before the insurgency was in its final throes."

[fooj]

14. What? He didn't get the US Embassy "MEMO" either?

Lying, treasonous, rat bastard.

[tabasco]

15. If it's in its last throes then Ol' Dickie Boy should be able to go

over there and walk down the streets of Baghdad without a military escort.

I mean, last throes is lying on the ground about to die.

Certainly not a problem on the main streets in the capital city.

An insurgency in its last throes surely couldn't have any capability in the secure capital city.

So go walk down the Baghdad streets Dickie Boy - - maybe then I'll liten to your opinion.

[Roland99]

16. Does *THIS* look like the last throes to anyone?

[originalpckelly]

17. Cheney has been in his "last throws" for 28 years...

so I don't think he is lying when he says that.

"Cheney sustained the first of four heart attacks in 1978, at age 37. Subsequent attacks in 1984, 1988, and 2000 have resulted in moderate contractile dysfunction of his left ventricle and his crooked smile."

[DemoTex]

20. Abuse of language: Cheney again uses "last throes" and "turned corner."

Rove tries desperately to marginalize Jack Murtha by comparing Murtha's expertise on Iraq to that of a "dog catcher."

[stepnw1f]

21. S-O-C-I-O-P-A-T-H (nt)