November 1, 2008
PUTTING CHENEY CENTER STAGE.... Barack Obama sure does seem pleased about Dick Cheney's endorsement of John McCain. From the prepared text of a speech Obama will deliver in Colorado today:
"I'd like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it. That endorsement didn't come easy. Senator McCain had to vote 90 percent of the time with George Bush and Dick Cheney to get it. He served as Washington's biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq, and supports economic policies that are no different from the last eight years. So Senator McCain worked hard to get Dick Cheney's support.
"But here's my question for you, Colorado: do you think Dick Cheney is delighted to support John McCain because he thinks John McCain's going to bring change? Do you think John McCain and Dick Cheney have been talking about how to shake things up, and get rid of the lobbyists and the old boys club in Washington?
"Colorado, we know better. After all, it was just a few days ago that Senator McCain said that he and President Bush share a 'common philosophy.' And we know that when it comes to foreign policy, John McCain and Dick Cheney share a common philosophy that thinks that empty bluster from Washington will fix all of our problems, and a war without end in Iraq is the way to defeat Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who are in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"So George Bush may be in an undisclosed location, but Dick Cheney's out there on the campaign trail because he'd be delighted to pass the baton to John McCain. He knows that with John McCain you get a twofer: George Bush's economic policy and Dick Cheney's foreign policy -- but that's a risk we cannot afford to take."
Cheney probably thought, "I'll give a short speech endorsing McCain in Laramie, Wyoming. Who'll know?"
If the Obama campaign has anything to do with it, pretty soon, everyone will know.
—Steve Benen 5:20 PM
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no, i think dick cheney is delighted to support john w. mcsame so there won't be any congressional investigations of the bush/cheney cabal.
but that's just what i think.
Posted by: mellowjohn on November 1, 2008 at 5:23 PM | PERMALINK
Why would Cheney, Mr. Paranoid, assume that no one would know? Hell, almost everyone has a camera phone even in Wy. This shows that the McCain has no control or discipline. It is just stupid.
Posted by: ecthompson on November 1, 2008 at 5:30 PM | PERMALINK
I totally dig it when Obama wraps the stinking corpse of the Bush Cheney administration firmly around McCain's neck. ( See Molly Ivins Nov 2004 article about how they cure a dog from killing chickens.)
Also The Jed Report has a bizarre video of McCain meeting Anna Nicole Smith that is just weird. Also in the comments is a Youtube link of Sara Palin getting pranked by two French Canadian radio hosts that should not be missed.
http://www.jedreport.com/2008/11/egads.html#disqus_thread
Posted by: Dee Loralei on November 1, 2008 at 5:32 PM | PERMALINK
If the Obama campaign has anything to do with it, pretty soon, everyone will know.
What? And deny people the opportunity to hear how Palin thinks we're on the verge of winning the wars with >a href="http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/did_palin_suggest_were_at_war.php"?Iraq and Iran?
Posted by: Danp on November 1, 2008 at 5:35 PM | PERMALINK
If the Obama campaign has anything to do with it, pretty soon, everyone will know.
Try again?
What? And deny people the opportunity to hear how Palin thinks we're on the verge of winning the wars with Iraq and Iran?
Posted by: Danp on November 1, 2008 at 5:38 PM | PERMALINK
Dick.
The guy who headed up GWB's VP team until he decided that he'd be the best VP for George.
Dick. The Straight Talk Express gets endorsed by the guy who can't shoot a shotgun straight!
Dick. Thanks for the dark places you have taken our country these past 8 years.
Dick embraces John.
Here's to ol' white guys!!!!
Posted by: Tom Nicholson on November 1, 2008 at 5:38 PM | PERMALINK
Cheney won't get any coverage.
"Win war in Iran" won't get any coverage.
"First amendment should protect me!" won't get any coverage.
McCain, for all his flailing, clearly sets the media narrative (Ayers, socialism, etc.). Or rather, the corporate media let's McCain dictate the narrative.
Posted by: John McCain: Worse than Bush on November 1, 2008 at 5:40 PM | PERMALINK
I think Dick Cheney would love to continue the eight-year shadow government he's established by pulling Sarah Palin's strings. It's no wonder he endorsed John McBush and Bible Spice today.
Posted by: Den the blogger on November 1, 2008 at 5:48 PM | PERMALINK
Oh, I wasn't informed we're also at war with Iran! Thanks, Palin for setting the record straight.
Whew--good thing we have intelligent folks with sound political science knowledge running for office.
Is this a war we're also fighting so that we all have the right to protest at her rallies? For freedoms like those the Iraqi Occupation (er, I mean war) brings us?
In Palin's mind, in that crazy space there, I somehow don't think it a stretch to say she'd have us wanting and believing to be 'at war' with nearly everyone.
Isn't that the space and mind-set many Pit-Bulls and Ariel Wolf Hunters are most happy with? With something to conquer, something to win?
And McCain kinda still thinks he's in prison, and we'll all end up back there if we're not careful.
Wow, what a pair. A pair of what? Whackos.
Posted by: icanseeRussiafromyhouse on November 1, 2008 at 5:54 PM | PERMALINK
Now that Palin's been mention, this is funny as a punk'd on S-Pal:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/USElection/2008/11/01/7275526-cp.html
Posted by: Neil B on November 1, 2008 at 6:00 PM | PERMALINK
Now that Palin's been mention, this is funny as a punk'd on S-Pal: Neil B
Thank you so much for that link. It was hillarious.
Posted by: Danp on November 1, 2008 at 6:20 PM | PERMALINK
Chris Mathews just declared on MSNBC in general he thinks McCain has conducted an above board campaign and he specifically just indicated
"McCain deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for not bringing up the Wright thing these last couple of months"
Say What??????????????????????????????????
I know Mathews over-states things (as in a huge way), and he's way too over the top dramatic for my liking-- but this is preposterous. There are so many negative choices McCain has made throughout, replete with his choice to offer lame excuses for the negativity (i.e., Obama refused to do Town-halls), his insisance on looking at Obama's connection with Ayers and ACORN-- and equally significant-- his continued choice to say nothing at all re: the horrific comments made at rallies, made by Buchanan and so forth.
Mathews--time for a vacation for you.
And yet now he's going to have Pat Buchanan on discussing Obama's Aunt story....argh..
How is it that MSNBC (aside from Olbermann and Maddow) is a leftie network? Can someone tell me?
Posted by: we should look at his associations on November 1, 2008 at 6:37 PM | PERMALINK
icansee...
i thought we've always been at war with euraisa.
Posted by: mellowjohn on November 1, 2008 at 6:39 PM | PERMALINK
meant to say comments made by Bachman (not Buchanan)
Now Buchanan asserts that Obama has been cut more slack than any candidate ever--and Mathews does NOT ask him in what regard...
I am turning it all off, unplugging and going to my 'happy place'.
Wake me up in three days, please.
Posted by: on November 1, 2008 at 6:41 PM | PERMALINK
If there is anyone who STILL thinks McCain is an honorable man and a war hero, please check out http://tinyurl.com/McCainTalked
Posted by: No way, no how, no McCain on November 1, 2008 at 6:58 PM | PERMALINK
Two things to take away from this:
Cheney was never a politician, and so has no idea what kind of damage he's doing (swinging independents away from McCain)
Have ANY of these people heard of the series of tubes called the interwebs?
Posted by: Monty on November 1, 2008 at 7:50 PM | PERMALINK
ROFLOL!!!
I'm sooo glad I had nothing in my mouth when I read Mr. Obamas' response to Dick Cheney's endorsment of McInsane - I would have spewed everything all over my keyboard and ruined my keyboard!
Once I stopped laughing, I went to Mr. Obama's website,
https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/backstage1?source=feature , and donated... AGAIN!
Posted by: on November 1, 2008 at 8:35 PM | PERMALINK
Cheney was never a politician, and so has no idea what kind of damage he's doing (swinging independents away from McCain) -- Monty, @ 19:50
I don't know... Among the maladministration's cabal, Cheney strikes me as the most intelligent, wily and efficient (as well as most evil), so I'd have to go with the explanation that it was *not* an accident done in all ignorance/innocence.
Bush is amiable enough to -- after a lukewarm endorsement -- keep in hiding for the last few days of campaign, to oblige his almost-faithful servant McCain, but Cheney is an entirely different goblet of blood. I think that that whole- hearted endorsement of McCain was done *specifically* to inflict as much damage as possible.
For one thing, if Cheney had really *meant* it, he'd have done it way back in May or June, not 3 days before the election. Nobody expected him (or the Shrub) to endorse Obama, for goodness sake. But that both of them postponed endorsing McCain to the last possible minute sounds to me like a resounding snub, more than an endorsement.
There's never been any love lost between the Bush/Cheney on the one hand and the Senator from Arizona on the other, despite the public hugs and endorsements. That McCain might have thought, even for a minute, that his 8yrs of grovelling would change that in any way just confirms his lack of judgment, is all.
Posted by: exlibra on November 1, 2008 at 8:43 PM | PERMALINK
My favorite part of Cheney's endorsement was his insistence that McCain has looked into the face of evil. Well, if anyone should know, that would be Cheney - heck, I'd bet that McCain has probably spent an evening at Number One Observatory Circle and has actually had dinner with the face of evil.
Posted by: N.Wells on November 1, 2008 at 9:37 PM | PERMALINK
"Cheney strikes me as the most intelligent, wily and efficient (as well as most evil), so I'd have to go with the explanation that it was *not* an accident done in all ignorance/innocence."
He's also driven by narcissism and ego (he's his own branch of government in case you didn't know). Of course he has to have some words in this election before it's all over. Cheney's endorsement is political calculation, however if he is blinded by arrogance then it's a political miscalculation. I don't think Bush or Cheney actually realize how grossly unpopular they actually are.
Posted by: on November 1, 2008 at 10:31 PM | PERMALINK