America and Americans are two different concepts for Cheney.

America is a collection of oil corporations. Americans are the people who work for them.

Can Cheney get any more evil?

You want to see Cheney go backwards 100 miles per hour on his absurd rationalizations? Then charge him with murder, put the death penalty on the table, and see how quickly he rats out everybody else involved to make a deal to save his miserable life.

It was a stunning interview. I really didn't plan to watch it having had enuf of that guy, but I was transfixed and Schieffer did a great job of letting Cheney be Cheney. Uncle Dick really set Bush up too with that (paraphrasing, now) "I, um, *think* he knew about the waterboarding. It was a presidential level decision, so he musta known!"

What Cheney is totally lost on Mr. Cheney, is the fact that he is parroting the same line of reasoning that dictators, despots, and mass murderers throughout history have used.

We only did it to protect our country. It is an open ended rationalization, that if accepted as legitimate, can and has lead to all sorts of evil undertakings (pun intended). It is why, we as a country, must drag this line of thought out into the sunlight, so it can be thoroughly disinfected and marked as behaviour taboo for a decent people to conduct themselves by.

And still, there are "deep thinkers" who defend Cheney. What part of "power-hungry, backstabbing liar" is difficult to understand?

what did you expect the scum bag to say? did anyone expect him to admit that he helped craft a a morally bankrupt policy?

I checked my tickler file and sure enough, I seem to still be waiting for all those secret files Dick promised would demonstrate how many terrorist plots were foiled by waterboarding Kalil Muhammed a few score and ten.

Amazing he was able to hold out for a few score and nine....he must have just unloaded when he finally gave in.

Dick Cheney is a war criminal.....plain and simple. The tragedy is it appears he will get to walk....and keep flapping his lips. The greater tragedy is that Sunday talk shows seem to think he is worth having on again and again and again.

When you say "4287 American lives that have been lost..." that's a euphemism for "4287 who were killed outright".

Let's not forget those who were maimed or who came back so mentally damaged that their lives are so unrecognizable that they too are 'lost' - to their friends, their families & themselves.

Count also among the lost those who committed suicide.

All these and more, I'm sure, should be part of the reckoning to be made.

Even a Leftist cannot be as stupid as hilzoy pretends to be.

It's just another fake posting to rile up the rubes.

First, to a, it is always the defense of the troll to call the opposition names rather than dispute what has been written. Gotta love it.

Secondly, Dick Cheney is the worst kind of war-hawk in that he is all-too-willing to sacrifice other people's lives to justify his cause. However, he would never serve his country himself. Just like most of the other war-hawks in the Bush administration. It's easy to be cavalier about going to war and torture and things of this ilk when you know perfectly well that you are not the one who will suffer the consequences.

a, I have never seen you once, once, support one of your flatulent assertions. Have certainly seen that you can part your buttocks wide for a loud blast of derision (though you don't really seem to have much control over what comes out with the rush of air) but really that's about it and well, don't really find it in place for anyone engaged in this kind of public behavior to refer to others as 'rubes.' Then again, it could just be me or even cultural - I'm not American and it may well be in your circles that this sort of behavior is the height of sophistication.

Dick Cheney is a coward and always has been.
He defers his way out of Vietnam and hides in his secret undisclosed location. In between Cheney hides his cowardice by taking the "tough" approach - Team B, PNAC, Iraq2, torture.

You write: "Dick Cheney forfeited the right to lecture anyone on their willingness to sacrifice American lives the day he decided to deceive us into an unnecessary war."

He should have forfeited that right when, because he had "other priorities," he got repeated draft deferments -- and avoided military service altogether -- during his younger days. The fact that the Repub Party elevated this coward to the positions of White House Chief of Staff, Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President tells us all we need to know about the modern GOP. How appropriate that he chooses anal cyst Limbaugh over General Powell.

And 40,000 severely injured and often crippled wounded troops.

A) they "lost" 3000 and were just lucky it wasn't 50,000 right off the bat on 9/11.

B) We have yet to really see the death toll of our patchwork health care system when it comes to dealing with the dust and debris of the fallout added to the decisions of the EPA to declare Manhattan safe for children and families.

C)40,000 or so severely damaged veterans and the stresses and horrors of that on their families.

D) the 4000++ who died in Iraq and Afghanistan so far.

Frankly, with a death toll like that, I'd have forgiven Cheney and Bush if they'd tortured *a few more people* publicly just to end the war. But they didn't. The tortured people to *start it* and they tortured people along the way--especially at Abu Ghraib--just to prolong it.

I am still waiting for the other memos, the ones that document the real planning behind the war in Iraq. The documents that reveal the plan to deceive the American people and carry out the pre-existing plans to secure our sphere of influence in Iraq.

Cheney is simply a 19th century politician who does not hesitate to use war as a means to protect corporate interests.

Even a Troll cannot be as stupid as "a" pretends to be.

It's just another nonsensical posting to rile up those still in touch with reality.

folks keep complaining about Dick being interviewed on TV too much. Well, I say, let's have him on Meet The Press every Sunday, til Nov 2010... there is no better face for the Repug Parti than him.

Hilzoy: I have a great deal of respect and admiration for your work, but here I must disagree.

[quote]Dick Cheney forfeited the right to lecture anyone on their willingness to sacrifice American lives the day he decided to deceive us into an unnecessary war.[/quote]

No, Dick Cheney forfeited the right to lecture anyone on their willingness to sacrifice American lives on or about October 26, 1965, which was the day that the Selective Service System -- having classified Cheney 1-A ("available immediately for military service") on May 19, 1965 -- announced that married men would be called up for Vietnam unless they had children.

On Jan. 16, 1966, Cheney was reclassified 3-A, "deferred from military service," because Lynne was pregnant with Elizabeth, who was born on July 28, 1966 -- exactly nine months and 2 days after fathers were exempted from the draft.

As Timothy Noah put it for Slate, "This would seem to indicate that the Cheneys, though doubtless planning to have children sometime, were seized with an untamable passion the moment Dick Cheney became vulnerable to the Vietnam draft."

"I had other priorities in the '60s than military service," Cheney told George Wilson of the Washington [i]Post[/]

From that point forward, Cheney forfeited any right to weigh in on any American's willingness to sacrifice for this country. Because when push came to shove, he failed the test. http://tinyurl.com/o3bvn4

The Bush administration had all the information it needed to protect America from terrorists prior to 9/11, all of it obtained without torturing anyone. They just weren't smart enough to know how to use it.

Stupidity is what put American lives at risk, not our unwillingness to torture. Calling torture an "intelligent interrogation program" is utterly despicable. Unfortunately despicable is what we have come to expect from Dick Cheney.

Sigh. I've noted this too many times to count over the last 6 years, but what the hell, once more:

There were not 4287 American lives lost. The true number is many times that. The source you cite only includes uniformed military personnel killed in ways officially classified as "combat-related" by a military press office with a strong desire to downplay the total. That means that all of the thousands of mercenar... er, "contractors", civilian staff, guards, embassy staff, reporters, spooks, and other non-uniformed support personnel are excluded, not to mention all the soldiers (like the poor bastards electrocuted in their own fetid showers) who were killed outside of direct "combat", are being ignored when you cite that source in that fashion.

The Dick forfeited his credibility on war when he had more important things to do than serve in the Vietnam War. He took five deferments, and now he wants to torture "enemy combatants?" What a fucking coward, let alone unmentionable body part! -Kevo

What must be remembered is that Cheney and his crowd are the remnants of the Nixon crew. They got away with subverting the constitution in the seventies and proceeded to do it again with Iran-contra. Remember Rove was a Nixon guy and so was Rumsfeld. If these criminals aren't prosecuted they'll do it again.

god damn dick cheney's shit-filled soul to hell.

Lots of dirty hands, but you have to give pathological liar Cheney the prize for being unrepentant and incapable of learning from experience.

dunno why, but this makes me think of...

Limbaugh/Bush '12

Not only *can* you imagine it, you loathe the idea.