Split-Screen Irony Alert
Politico on a remarkable moment in the political history of television:
President Barack Obama plans to say in his speech Thursday that the U.S. lost its way in fighting terrorism over the last eight years by failing to trust its institutions and values, according to an administration official.
That’s fascinating. Couldn’t agree more. Living through the last 8 years of “Bush lied, people died,” Code Pink outrages, Cindy Sheehan being a shrill demented moonbat, not to mention the astonishing self-serving flip-flops of Congress as it tried, along with Obama, to betray the sacrifices of American soldiers, abandon millions of people to genocide, and cede the Middle East to al-Qaeda and the terrorist-supporting Iranian regime…. it’s true, can’t argue, vast swaths of the United States really did lose its way.
Obama will also renew his pledge to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying he will honor the commitment he made in the first week of his presidency.
Huh? Oh. Still in the wilderness. OK, meanwhile …
In a remarkable split-screen presentation of opposing world views, former Vice President Dick Cheney will speak on the exact same topic moments after Obama finishes. Cheney is appearing at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, where the audience will watch the president on large TV screens.
Cheney plans to say that the U.S. lost its way in fighting terrorism over the last eight years by failing to trust its institutions and values.
Ha ha, just kidding. I cut and pasted that last bit for laughs. It actually says:
Cheney will say: “When President Obama makes wise decisions, he deserves our support. And when he mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer.”
And Cheney intends to give him one as only Cheney can.
Cheney will say: “When President Obama makes wise decisions, he deserves our support. And when he mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer.”
Cheney will argue that his intent is not to look backward, but will say that a truthful telling of history is necessary to inform our choices going forward.
I’m with you, Dick, but if the American people were interested in truth, do you think they’d have voted for … Never mind.
“Though I’m not here to speak for George W. Bush, I am certain that no one wishes the current administration more success in defending the country than we do,” Cheney will say. “What I want to do today is set forth the strategic thinking that drove our policies.”
Both the president and Cheney will rest a good part of their case on effectiveness, with the president saying the last administration’s approach to fighting terror was not effective, and Cheney arguing that those programs are the reason there has been no second Setp. 11.
It sounds like it’s going to go something like this:
Obama: “This is why they hate us.”
Cheney: “Nothing went boom.”
All fun aside, the interesting question is why Obama is engaging in this exercise. Sounds like, having lost his way in the last four months, defaulting to virtually all of the major components of the Bush GWOT with minor tweaks, and under fire from his lefty peacenik base, Obama isn’t really interested in defining Bush’s place in history. He very much needs to disentangle himself from it.
OK, super double irony alert:
Obama will say that the paramount responsibility of any president is to keep the American people safe. That is what he thinks about every morning when he wakes up and every night when he goes to sleep. The president believes with every fiber of his being that we cannot keep this country safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values.
That’s odd. Based on the last eight years of squawking, I thought the paramount responsibility of any president was ensuring the constitutional rights of bomb-happy Middle Eastern religious extremists.
Referring back to the opening week of his presidency, Obama will point out that he ordered the closing of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. For over seven years, the U.S. has detained hundreds of people at Guantanamo. During that time, the system of Military Commissions at Guantanamo succeeded in convicting only three suspected terrorists.
Hey, no fair. Those drumhead tribunals were only just hitting their stride after years of ridiculous legal challenges when Obama shut them down. Anyway, since when do prisoners of war need trials?
Obama will contend that the record is clear: Rather than keep Americans safer, the prison at Guantanamo has weakened American national security.
It’s true. When the turnkeys at Guantanamo released prisoners, they kept popping up on foreign battlefields again. What’s the point of a prison camp for enemy combatants if you’re just going to play catch and release?
Turning to detainees who remain, the President will announce this framework:
–When feasible, try those who have violated American criminal laws in federal courts.
–When necessary, try those who violate the rules of war through Military Commissions.
–When possible, transfer to third countries those detainees who can be safely transferred.
Well, seeing as trials in the United States has been a non-starter, all of them are illegal combatants, and no one else wants them, sounds like his plan is pretty much the Bush plan. The only thing missing is where he plans to put them.
NYT: Obama is mulling a new law to codify Bushist detention policies. OK, that’s not exactly how they said it, but the human rights activists are “deeply uneasy.” Looks like it’s about holding terrorists captured elsewhere indefintely, without charge, in the United States. And they said if I voted for Bush and McCain, I’d see the Constitution trampled on.
Malkin, Dueling Banjos: “I, for one, (am) gratified to see this White House forced to put national security on the front burner.”
Here’s a split-screen irony for you. Lefty Greg Sargent at the Plum Line on the effrontery of cable channels pitting Cheney against Obama:
This, naturally, raised some hackles on the left, where people pointed out that Obama is the Commander in Chief, meaning his national security views have real-world significance, while Dick Cheney is a private citizen who only has his reputation at stake.
I dunno. Might want to ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and CIA Dircector Leon Panetta whether Cheney’s utterances have real-world significance.
Crooks & Liars has a fit. No wonder. Every time Cheney opens his mouth, the left digs itself deeper.
Topics: Cheney, GWOT, Guantanamo, Obama, hated Crusaders, moronocy, terrorists
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:20 am on Thursday, May 21, 2009
6 Responses to “Split-Screen Irony Alert”
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May 21st, 2009 at 9:50 am
“The only thing missing is where he plans to put them.”
Oooh! Ooooh! Mr. Kotter! I have an idea! [madly waves hand]
http://grandrants.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/torture-at-guantanamo/
May 21st, 2009 at 10:28 am
Of course, POWs can be tried for a variety of offenses by military tribunals. On the other hand, these guys are NOT POWs. They are illegal combatants, and can be summarily executed on the battlefield after a brief tribunal.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:16 am
Sure, that was shorthand. War crimes tribunals for war criminals. Drumhead trials and executions for illegal combatants. Works for me. Any questions or queasiness, sort it all in Guantanamo. Or the overseas, interference-free locale of DoD’s choice.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:43 am
Every time Cheney opens his mouth, the left digs itself deeper.
That’s his job. He’s been doing it for nearly 8 years now and it’s made me laugh hard.
He says fairly reasonable and undoubtedly true things in a manner that drives the left even more crazy than normal. Then… when the NYTimesWashPostCNNABCCBSNBCetc. goes predictably crazy, your average American watches and says, “Hey, he made sense. Why get your panties in an uproar?”
It’s the most effective way of getting around Minitru’s propaganda barrier that I’ve seen and they’re too stupid to realize.
It makes me laugh each and every time.
May 21st, 2009 at 4:23 pm
“Shut up!” they explained.
May 21st, 2009 at 7:30 pm
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