I did not see this posted as it was lost in the Bush administration-inspired economic meltdown news of last week. If already discussed, my apologies. Here is an excerpt from a very interesting read from John Dean: Cheney's Bold Face Lie To Congress According to Gellman (and to paraphrase from the Post story on his finding), in the run-up to the war in Iraq, the White House was worried about the stance of Republican Majority Leader Richard Armey of Texas, who had deep concerns about going to war with Saddam Hussein. According to the Post, Armey met with Cheney for a highly classified, one-on-on briefing, in Room H-208, Cheney's luxurious hideaway office on the House side of the Capitol. During this meeting, the Post reports, Cheney turned Armey around on the war issue. Cheney did so by telling the House Majority Leader that he was giving him information that the Administration could not tell the public -- namely (according to Armey), that Iraq had the "'ability to miniaturize weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear,' which had been 'substantially refined since the first Gulf War,' and would soon result in 'packages that could be moved even by ground personnel.' In addition, Cheney linked that threat to Saddam's alleged personal ties to al Qaeda, explaining that 'we now know they have the ability to develop these weapons in a very portable fashion, and they have a delivery system in their relationship with organizations such as al Qaeda.'" The Post story continues, "Armey has asked: "Did Dick Cheney ... purposely tell me things he knew to be untrue?" His answer: "I seriously feel that may be the case...Had I known or believed then what I believe now, I would have publicly opposed [the war] resolution right to the bitter end, and I believe I might have stopped it from happening." In short, it was this lie that sealed the nation's fate, and sent us to war in Iraq. By lying to such an influential figure in Congress, Cheney not only may have changed the course of history, but also corrupted the separation of powers with their inherent checks and balances. Cheney's monumental dishonesty, the news of which has been buried under the current meltdown of the nation's economy, did not strike me as a topic for a Constitution Day speech. But a realistic discussion of the working of the separations of powers did seem a fitting topic, for college students need to understand the basics of our system. After we remind ourselves of those basics, Cheney's great lie can be viewed not only as a great immorality and violation of the criminal code, but also and more fundamentally as the significant breach of his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution that it is. http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20080919.html The WP story cited: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wa...ns/2008/09/cheney_misled_gop_leaders_new.html This is the party of John McCain and Sarah and the war they so fully support.
My favorite excerpt from that book was Cheney's plan to unilaterally change the order of succession of the presidency in the event of his & GWB's death. What a total psycho.
Dick is exactly that. I can't believe that dude ever got into his position. I can' believe I'm saying this, but thank God Bush was never unable to fulfill his duties for that reason alone. Excuse me while I puke.
Cheney doesn't belong to any branch of government and therefore is not subject to its checks and balances.
at the risk of missing the joke, care to elaborate? I mean, you arent being serious right? if you are....allow me to show you this link. http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/branches.html if you arent, carry on.
It was a joke. Since the position of VP has responsibilities in the legislative branch, Cheney has claimed that the office of the VP does not fully fall under the executive branch and isn't subject to laws that apply to it. FWIW, Joe Biden says the VP is definitely a part of the executive branch and Sarah Palin won't give an opinion. Read the last quote I bolded, it explains the joke. http://thehill.com/leading-the-news...r-veep-is-an-executive-post-2008-09-18_2.html
Dick Armey: "Feeeelings...nothing more than feeeeelings..." I have feelings about a lot of things, too, Mr. Armey. BTW- This is afterthought re-positioning... "Had I known then, what I know know" yadda yadda speak.
So... now you think Dick Armey is a bad guy... really? Have you gone over his resume and what he meant to the country and the GOP? Can't we all agree that Dick Cheney is the least transparent national politician in our lifetimes, and that's he's fully capable of gross distortion of facts in order to achieve his goals? Is that really not an obvious fact to everyone? I'm not ripping on Bush, or the GOP (heck, Armey is GOP!). But Cheney thinks he knows better than you, or me, or anyone else, and he'd step on all of our throats in a second, if we were in his way.
