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Here is the transcript courtesy of the Huffington Post. (You can read their post by clicking the headline.)
DAVID GREGORY: Let me ask you about some of the criticism that's been leveled at this Administration by former Vice President Dick Cheney. He has argued that this Administration has failed to treat the fight against terrorists as war. He cites the decision related to Khalid Sheik Muhammad to offer him a civilian trail as one example. Giving the Christmas Day Bomber the privileges of the American criminal justice system is another example. The decision to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison. What do you say?
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Let me choose my words carefully here. Dick Cheney's a fine fellow. He's entitled to his own opinion. He's not entitled to rewrite history. He's not entitled to his own facts. The Christmas Day Bomber was treated the exact way that he suggested that the Shoe Bomber was treated. Absolutely the same way. Under the Bush Administration there were three trials in military courts. Two of those people are now walking the streets. They are free.
DAVID GREGORY: What about the general proposition that the President according to former Vice President Cheney doesn't consider America to be at war and is essentially soft on terrorism? What do you say about that?
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don't think the Vice-- the Former Vice President Dick Cheney listens. The President of the United States said in the State of the Union, "We're at war with Al Qaeda." He stated this-- and by the way, we're pursuing that war with a vigor like it's never been seen before. We've eliminated 12 of their top 20 people. We have taken out 100 of their associates. We are making, we've sent them underground. They are in fact not able to do anything remotely like they were in the past. They are on the run. I don't know where Dick Cheney has been. Look, it's one thing, again, to-- to criticize. It's another thing to sort of rewrite history. What is he talking about?
DAVID GREGORY: You have often said, when I've asked you and others, that you never impugn a man's motives. But why do you think Dick Cheney is speaking out and being so critical of the President and the Administration so publicly?
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don't know. I-- I-- I'm not gonna guess about his motive. All I know is he's factually, substantively wrong. On the major criticisms he is asserting. Why he's insisting on that. He either is misinformed or he is misinforming. But the facts are that his assertions are not accurate.
DAVID GREGORY: You would not be this outspoken or critical when you're out of office. Is that fair to say? VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, I-- I-- I would hope I-- look, it's one thing to be outspoken. It's another thing to be outspoken in a way that misrepresents the facts. And I-- I guess-- again, I-- it's almost like Dick is trying to rewrite history. I can understand where the-- why that would be-- you know, an impulse. And maybe he isn't-- literally, I'm not being facetious. Maybe he's not fully informed of what's going on. I mean, the progress we have made. There has never been as much emphasis and resources brought against Al Qaeda. The success rate exceeds anything that occurred in the last Administration. And they did their best. I'm not-- I'm not impugning their effort. It's simply not true that the President of the United States is not prosecuting the war against Al Qaeda with a vigor that's never been seen before. It's real. It's deep. It's successful.
You know I would like to see more of this. Just like when President Obama engaged in that "steel cage match" with the Republicans, I want to see this administration calling bullshit on the lies coming from the past administration, the Republicans, and their media arm, Fox News.
This administration is infinitely more capable than the last, and it is time they demonstrated that for all of the world to see.
I watched this simply because I knew Rachel Maddow was going to be on. However, during Vice President Biden's portion (about 18 minutes), I was struck by the thought: Oh, my God! Suppose that was Sarah Palin up there, responding to David Gregory's drilling. Can you see her with the same calmness, directness and aplomb (whether you agree with Biden or not) that our current vice president displayed? NOOOOOOOOOOO.
ReplyDeleteI like what he said, but he could have been a little LESS tactful. I wish he hadn't appologised for his remarks by prefacing them by saying he was sure Cheney was a "fine fellow". Cheney is NOT a "fine fellow". There was no reason for Biden to be so nice.
ReplyDeleteAnd when he said that he was sure that the last administration "did their best" against Al Qaeda? Not so, Bush/Cheney completely dropped the ball in Afghanistan.
Listen, I'm glad Biden spoke up and I'm all for his continuing to speak up forcefully. I'd like to see him joined by every Administration official. But, please, don't appologise for speaking up...
Joe Biden is Real America.
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin? Not so much.
VP Biden did a great job about bringing up FACTS!! Joe Schooled the crypt keeper!
ReplyDeleteKudos Joe, I have utter and complete respect for VP Biden..what many people fail to realize is that Joe Bidens 3 state plan brought peace in Bosnia.
Cheney doesn't heart $arah
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he has not decided on a candidate to support for president in the next election, sidestepping a question on whether he would support Sarah Palin for the office.
Cheney declined to throw his support behind Palin when asked Sunday on ABC's "This Week" whether he would back the former Alaska governor as a presidential candidate.
Cheney said the person he supports is going to have to prove capable of being president. He did not say whether he thinks Palin is qualified.
http://www.fox2now.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-cheney-palin,0,274023.story
Not only did cheney not support $P/Grifter Granny, he smirked when she suggested Pres Obama start a war with Iran. Watch This Week to see the mouth gesture and the wording of his $P smackdown.
ReplyDeleteThat was great!!!
ReplyDeleteJoe Biden did a great job! He parsed his words...but gave Facts unlike Dick & Co (Sarah) that pass out Lies!!!
Why is Biden being nice to a warcrimes criminal? Excuse me but why are the mediaheads putting DICKHEADS on for opinions? Cheney should be waterboarded for 180 days first then listen to what he has to say.He belongs in an undisclosed location some where in Bizerkistan.
ReplyDeleteVP Biden indirectly smacked down Sarah Palin, too. She's been parroting Cheney's positions on the trials and Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteWhat did Biden say about closing Gitmo?
ReplyDeleteSo Joe Biden called Dick Cheney a liar.
ReplyDeleteIt's about time someone did.
So you're bragging about Biden? Really?
ReplyDeleteGryph - I think you're overdue for a reality check. You're now celebrating Joe Biden's defense of the Obama admin's record against the verbal assaults of a malfeasant frmr VP and war criminal whom the Obama admin refused to prosecute. As a direct result of that decision, Cheney remains influential in American politics and his crimes of torture (and likely worse) have been reduced to a debate of policy options. I'm sure we'll be reading your expressions of outrage when the next Repub candidate for the WH makes torture a part of his/her platform - no matter that it's inevitable. Everything Cheney does and says is part of the future Obama chose when he spinelessly decided to take a myopic look forward because that was easier than taking a stand for the higher principles that used to define us. Please, spare me the cheers. Every time anyone has to respond to Cheney, it is a reminder of this administration's moral failure and that the dark shadow of Dick Cheney still hangs over us - and that it won't be gone any time soon.
ReplyDeleteHoken,
ReplyDeleteYou are misinformed. The executive branch of government does NOT get to choose who to prosecute that would be the judicial branch.
CR46 --
ReplyDeleteYou are entitled to believe that Atty Gen Eric Holder took it upon himself to ignore the crimes of those who were on TV bragging (falsely) about the efficacy of their criminal acts. I choose to believe that Holder was guided by the President, who no doubt had even more to say privately about not conducting prosecutions than he did publicly - and he had plenty to say publicly on the subject.
Here's a refresher on the Department of Justice and its position within the gov't structure.
Department of Justice
http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/executive-branch
Biden was very impressive, articulate, well-prepared and surprisingly no gaffes. He handled it like a champ. He looked directly into the camera, did not hedge, flinch or hesitate and his demeanor was relaxed and confident. When you have the truth on your side, it shows and people sense it. Today was no exception.
ReplyDeleteCheney started over a year ago and continues making wildly false accusations, ranging from the ridiculous -- Obama coddles terrorists because he does not use the term: "global war on terror" (WTF! will it embolden the terrorists or ...?) -- to the patently false, contemptuous almost treasonous: Obama is careless, inefficient, irresponsible, weak and dangerous.
In other words: Cheney wants Americans to be afraid, very afraid -- terrorists are coming to kill you. You are going to die. Obama doesn't care.
Cheney misrepresented facts, made false accusations, lied to the American people, criticized Obama mercilessly and did so freely without challenge: the WH was virtually silent, the Democrats ran -- they just left Obama out to dry and the media, apparently, were too busy gushing over Sarah Palin.
Joe Biden on Meet the Press on Sunday April 29, 2007:
ReplyDeleteMR. RUSSERT: I want to go back to 2002, because it’s important as to what people were saying then and what the American people were hearing. Here’s Joe Biden about Saddam Hussein: “He’s a long term threat and a short term threat to our national security.”
“We have no choice but to eliminate the threat. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world.”
“He must be dislodged from his weapons or dislodged from power.” You were emphatic about that.
SEN. BIDEN: That’s right, and I was correct about that. He must be, in fact—and remember the weapons we were talking about. I also said on your show, that’s part of what I said, but not all of what I meant. What I also said on your show at the time was that I did not think he had weaponized his material, but he did have. When, when the inspectors left after Saddam kicked them out, there was a cataloguing at the United Nations saying he had X tons of, X amount of, and they listed the various materials he had. The big issue, remember, on this show we talked about, was whether he had weaponized them. Remember you asked me about those flights that were taking place in southern Iraq, where—were they spraying anthrax? And, you know, what would happen? And, you know, so on and so forth. And I pointed out to you that they had not developed that capacity at all. But he did have these stockpiles everywhere.
MR. RUSSERT: Where are they?
SEN. BIDEN: Well, the point is, it turned out they didn’t, but everyone in the world thought he had them.
The weapons inspectors said he had them. He catalogued—they catalogued them. This was not some, some Cheney, you know, pipe dream. This was, in fact, catalogued. They looked at them and catalogued. What he did with them, who knows? The real mystery is, if he, if he didn’t have any of them left, why didn’t he say so? Well, a lot of people say if he had said that, he would’ve, you know, emboldened Iran and so on and so forth
Joe Biden did a fine job, and I hope he continues to put Cheyney in his place. This revision of history has to stop.
ReplyDeleteAbu Gareb and Gitmo were the worst blemishes against our country's values, and they happened under Bush/Cheyney's Regime. I'm still not convinced Iraq had WMD's nor had anything to do with Al Quida- it was a personal vendetta because Hussein tried to have Bush Sr. killed.