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I could have just as easily titled this post, “Cheney, would you please just shut the hell up!?”  Actually, don’t get me wrong, if an ex-Vice President wants to share his opinion, I actually do not have a problem with that.  I am not one of these people who think those in the prior administration are obligated to just go away.  Bill Clinton has stayed fairly active, and I think that’s OK.  My problem is the subject matter in which Cheney chooses to share his opinion, and whether or not this guy has any credibility in this area.

I think it is safe to say that Cheney had a good amount of influence in the terrorism policy enacted while he was in office.  Did these policies make us safer, really?  Let’s see, two ill-advised invasions and occupations, Guantanamo Bay, Patriot Act,  and a general ‘up yours’ attitude toward the world.  These all worked right?  We now have thriving democracies in both Afghanistan and Iraq.  The prisoners of Guantanamo all received due process and were all locked up, because we certainly would never take prisoners of innocent people and create a breeding ground for new terrorists.  The Patriot Act has not been abused and has been enacted within the guidelines of the Constitution.  And the world realized that our ‘up yours’ attitude was just a bit of tough love, and we are now more popular than ever, making the recruitment of terrorists virtually impossible.  As a result of 7 years of sound Cheney-endorsed terrorism policy, terrorism had disappeared…….oh wait.

Though to hear Cheney tell it, I guess terrorism had disappeared, only to reappear effective November 4th, 2008.  I am sure that the Detroit underwear bomber was cowering in fear of the U.S. until that day, when he knew we would suddenly and instantly become vulnerable on January 20, 2009.  The reason Mr. Wannabe Terrorist waited until December 25th?  Have you ever shopped for exploding underwear?  Believe me, it’s harder to find than bread in a grocery store in Birmingham the night before a predicted snow event (if you live here, you know how hopeless that is)!

Really, maybe I missed it, but have our policies regarding air travel changed much since Obama has taken office?  I do not believe they have.  And maybe they should have.  But certainly that is not the argument that Cheney is making, that our own polices stunk so you should have changed them, Mr. Obama!  Then again, Mr. Cheney seems to be a lot more worried about the things Obama says, such as whether we use the term “war” or not, than what actual policies are implemented.  So this all boils down to rhetoric?  We call it “War On Terror” and the bad guys all hide in a hole?  This is all so ridiculous.

On a somewhat related topic, I have noticed a trend among right-wing pundits that I believe can no longer be called accidental.  Republican pundits are now pushing the idea that there were no domestic terrorist attacks during the Bush terms while we have had attacks under Obama’s term.  I personally saw Dana Perino and Mary Matalin (I think her words was that Bush “inherited” 9/11) make the claim on separate occasions.  Now I have read Rudy Giuliani has made the same claim.  I really believe that this is a case where they are going to try to say it enough times to make it become “true”.   That takes some real chutzpah! (yay!  I have used the word chutzpah in a post!)  Republicans really do not lack in that area.  It’s the same chutzpah to go after Obama with an all-out attack on his handling of the latest terror attack attempt, when the attack and presidential reaction was virtually the same as the shoe-bomber attack and Bush’s reaction in December of 2001.  Both sides are willing to take cheap shots.  But it does seem that there are some lines the Democrats are not willing to cross, whether for ethical reasons or political reasons (perhaps they think such actions would ultimately backfire).  Republicans, however, never miss an opportunity to attack.  Just something I find interesting.