I actually met him. We talked fly fishing for about 10 miuntes. Solid guy IMHO. He supports gay marriage equality. Liberals must like that.
Paso? well BO was also wrong on Iraq and is also wrong on Afghanistan as well and he is the current POTUS whose actions affect us NOW. Cheney was VP and has been out of office for nearly 6 years. One would think a concerned citizen would keep up with and be concerned about things happening now. But I guess the haters can't let go or can't face the crap now and are trying to deflect.
Actually he's been pretty much right on everything. You are confusing the current President on not being right on anything. Solyndra he went on and on how great of an investment it would be for America. Poured in millions and millions and it went bankrupt in 6 months. That was just the start. Keep you doctor, pulling out of Iraq, he can't do an executive order for immigrants. And the lies. Just amazing how someone can lie as much as he does. I swear not an exaggeration that I've never known someone in history that lies every time his lips move and he doesn't even care because the sheep are nodding their head with approval. A lying cult is what it is. Unbelievable.
We were both drinking beers [correction, I was definitely drinking a beer, I can't remember what he was drinking]. It was at a holiday party. FWIW, I actually have met President Obama at Arlington Cemetary and shook his hand on Memorial Day. He was very gracious, I was there with some friends in the "new" section when a whole bunch pf Secret Service agents start prepping the area. 3 minutes later Cadillac ONE pulls up, and out walks Obama, Michelle, and Admiral Mullen. I strategicaly placed myself in his walking line, and we shook hands with like 30 people surrounding us. He thanked me for my service. My GF was more excited about Michelle. I got to admit, it was pretty fun. Joe Biden goes to my church. Yes I go to the Catholic Lite church where Pelosi also attends. It's right next to an awesome lobster roll place in GTown, so it is what it is. Anyways, I sit in the Choir Mezzaine in the back of the Church on an afternoon mass, and after the Lord's Prayer, I turn around and there's freakin' Joe Biden. I say peace be with you. And them turn to the Second Lady, who is quite foxy for an older woman, and go, "And peace be with you Dr. Biden." I thougt that was more fun. I've also met several other political figures who we frequently talk about here on WM in my old job. John McCain was the skipper of my old squadron, and when I met him we swapped some sea stories. But I'm a fly fishing nut, so I enjoyed Darth Vader the most.
Paso To most people who are living in the present with all the difficulties that confront us your bringing up Cheney and things you might think he did or said wrong many years ago when he was VP looks like desperation to change the subject or deflect from the issues of today. Cheney is in no position to affect anything. What is the reason you are so obsessed with Cheney now?
Pretty cool 2000. Although I wouldn't vote for him, I would love to meet Obama. I've seen W and his father in person several times but never met them. I drank shiner with perry a couple of times. He's an idiot. I am constantly amazed at how far he has made it in politics.
I've met and interviewed almost every significant player in Texas politics from 1997 - 2010, and it was clear to me that they're almost always nice and seemingly down to earth. It may be an act some of the time, but they'll always seem nice. George W. Bush was a hell of a nice guy. (Strangely, his daughters both act like the arrogant, entitled skanks you'd assume they are.) Cheney is a nice guy to meet - a little weird but nice. Probably the least personable politician I've met was David Dewhurst. He's just an aloof, sanctimonious ********. It's easy to see why Ted Cruz and Dan Patrick (who are both much more personable) kicked his ***. Also, even though he's a big, tall guy, he's got a limp wristed, feminine handshake. It's like shaking hands with a gay organist. I don't trust men with that kind of handshake.
Although I never voted for him, I have always thought George W. Bush was a nice guy. Ronald Reagan gave me similar vibes. He reminded me so much of my grandfather that I could never dislike him personally even though I despised many of his policies. Cheney seems off to me. He gets way too gleeful about inappropriate things like torture.
*Cheney's remarks are actually geared toward acknowledging the difficulty during the time after 9/11 and acknowledging that we haven't had a repeat attack AND we got OBL. I guess haters will see what they want to see.
I think Dick Cheney and what the CIA and White House did was what needed to be done. These people committed suicide to kill about 2000 Americans, they are now beheading people, hell yea torture them do what we need to do to get what information we need to protect American citizens. Then lock them up or give them the death penalty. I don't understand any other opinion...... Muslims and most Mid-Eastern folks understand an eye for an eye.......Wasn't that Hamurabi's Code?
paso, Did you agree with the Senate Intelligence Committee's conclusion that "enhanced interrogation" techniques are not an effective way to obtain information from terror suspects?
mwa but but but WE are better than that. We don't need no stinkin intel. We just kill them all including innocent civilians and American teen agers. Because using drones to kill innocent people seems to be what BO thinks is moral. I wonder if we could ask any of the ones BO has killed if they'd rather have Cheney's EIT used on them and be ALIVE or BO's drone and be dead what would be an answer?
The Senate Select Comm on Intel Report is hack job BTW. 1st Key Finding: Enhanced Interrogation was not effective at acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees. Why? Because 7 of the 39 detainees subjected to to it produced no intelligence? So what about, you know, THE OTHER 32?! 2nd Key Finding: CIA justification of use of enhanced interrogation rested on innacurate claims of its effectiveness. See Key Finding 1. Apologies if this offends somebody, but in the words of Robert Downey Jr, they have gone full retatd here. They criticize the CIA for not being fully prepared for the program at 6 months after being granted detention authority...because of course completely spinning up something like in this in 6 months with zero issues after decades of chasing Russian Submarines is as simple as they make it out to be. They also say it was "brutal," that it simulates a drowining sensation. Duh. How exactly do they they think enhanced interrogation goes for terrorists? I was waterboarded at Navy SERE school in January 2003. I didn't think I could say that before, but the Senate Report disclosed that both the Navy and Air Force SERE programs trained students in waterboarding resistance. I didn't like it of course, but it wasn't the worst part of the week. More pertinent is that this intelligence method was used reguarly on our own servicemen and women. They also throw CIA and military personnel under the bus for making unprofessional comments at detainees. Whoop de freakin doo. Should we expect professionalism from every officer of the goverment and military? Absolutely. Are these folks human beings risking their lives for the United States? Human beings who sometimes say stupid $€%t? Yes.
2000 If haven't said this before Thank you for your service. I see it means you were serving in the months after 9/11 as well .It must seem sometimes that many Americans don't understand what defending our country means so they can go whine, protest , loot. destroy people's businesses and then complain about getting free bologna sammies when arrested. IIRC only 3 terrorists were ever water boarded. Cheney was right to praise those who worked to make sure we were not killed like on 9/11 This chit must either make you laugh or drive you nuts.
I listened to Cheney speak about torture on NPR (I think this was from an interview or appearance on FOX). His tenor was disgusting. He sounded almost giddy about it. I personally do not know whether any useful information was gained from torture. I tend to believe the FBI interrogators who have indicated that conventional techniques are and were far more effective. I also think using torture makes us little better than the terrorists who attacked us. We should be better than them. I can think of extremely rare circumstances where "torture" is acceptable to me (the atomic bomb near the White House scenario). I do not think any of this applied after 9/11. This really should not be a political issue. I get why Cheney wants to make it one, but torture is sort of either right or wrong. I think it is wrong. We can debate what constitutes "torture", but it is pretty bizarre to me for Americans to claim torture is generally acceptable because terrorists are bad.
Paso, I'm almost 100% with you philosophically. I don't believe we should torture terrorists or spies. Not only is it illegal, I find it wrong on moral grounds to various levels of reprehension depending on the context. We disagree on the definition of torture. That's the long pole in the tent. Holder's special prosecutor seems to agree with my perspective on enhanced interrogation as no one in the programs have been indited. One method I personally believe is torture is mock execution. Now of course someone will say, "waterboarding is a mock execution...they think they're drowning." The sensation of drowning is unpleasant, yes, but prisoners know they aren't being executed. They know full well what it is and what's going on. Now I also believe that parties to the Geneva Convention, professional military members, civilians, etc., have rights that spies and terrorists do not. That is why we wouldn't waterboard uniform solider POWs. I believe Congress passed a law granting all future GWOT detainees Geneva Convention status. While that is the law now, I think not only is that a mistake tactically, but an insult to military professionals.
It does not defy common sense. The best German interrogators in WW II spoke perfect English and were nice to the airmen. They got way more information this way than by Gestapo techniques (the few times they did this with US prisoners). It may be counter-intuitive, but it is more effective. The Luftwaffe hated to turn over any prisoners to the SS because they would not get any information from them after this. You should look at Hanns Scharff. _______________ I think water boarding is torture. It is not pulling out nails with pliers or using a blow torch on someone, but it is a little over the line. I think I saw a list of like 10 things that we did and I thought 3 were torture. I also will readily admit that this is a very grey area and I am not judging anyone who did this. It is a close call.
