Mr. Cheney's World

"Are you more scared now than you were (eight) years ago?" Perhaps this should be Dick Cheney's mantra... and public-service epitaph. Just two weeks into the new administration and the de facto leader of the thankfully-departed one is already on the attack. (In a 2/4/09 Politico interview).

Amazingly, I happen to agree with Mr. Cheney that the U.S. must remain vigilant about homeland security and toward global terrorism. And I further agree that the U.S. must be cautious about if, when and where Guantanamo detainees are to be released, or re-incarcerated. But to immediately jump on the two-week old administration with the ol' trusty fear-mongering (at)tack....that's classic Cheney.


Unlike the ex-V.P., I'm confident that key administration figures Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, (yes) Robert Gates, etc. are/will quickly be up to speed about threats to America, and take them seriously. And -- since he actually reads and is capable of comprehending intelligence briefings, etc. -- so will President Obama. Unfortunately, he's also a bit occupied with other serious problems that didn't exactly "crop up" this year. (I.e., We're still living in the world Mr. Cheney helped create. Many of the rest of us are now trying to fix it.)

What really still gets me is the old guys' tunnel vision, still focused primarily upon one thing: terrorism (= Iraq?); to the detriment of just about everything else that on a day-to day basis impacts most Americans. Thwarting/deterring further attacks on America is a significant accomplishment (after 9/11/01, occurring on Bush's-Cheney's watch), but what about everything else? If your main focus is on one task you better be successful at least at that.

Yeah, it's not completely the government's responsibility but the two excerpts from the Politico interview (below) demonstrate to me how Bush, Cheney and other key figures continue to run away from the disaster that the U.S. economy has become. The laissez-faire approach with the economy, federal regulation, the environment and just about everything else EXCEPT terror (totally opposite approach).... hasn't worked out too well for most of your "subjects", dudes.
(Aside: Ask Mr. Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (see previous post here) what they now think of your Fed's management/regulation of the U.S. economy (and its consequences)).


Then again, those outside of the Bush/Cheney "base" of oil barons and Halliburton execs. weren't really considered anyway. (But at least we were advised how to "duct tape in place" if attacked....)

(Additional comment/link follows, below clip.)

Link to Politico interview: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18390.html

clipped from www.politico.com Other highlights of the 90-minute interview: * The potential consequences of $1 trillion in deficit stimulus spending: “It’s huge, obviously – potentially huge. You worry about what ultimately happens to inflation. You worry about what’s going to happen to the ability of the government to borrow money. … I’m nervous.” * Whether the Bush administration should have done more about the economy: “We did worry about it, to some extent. … I don’t think anybody actually foresaw something of this size and dimension occurring. It’s also global. We only control part of the world economy – a very important part.”

'America's Finest News Source': The Onion gets it right (link):

"Cheney Dunk Tank Raises $800 Billion For Nation"

Oh, and I can't wait to find out (from Mr. Cheney, see Politico article) how waterboarding saved us in the United States. Were legal interrogation tactics even attempted?