It’s bad enough that Dick Cheney is on Fox News as a credible foreign policy expert – instead of, say, in jail for war crimes. But for the guy who was so disastrously wrong about the invasion of Iraq to get away with accusing President Obama of not understanding “reality” is downright sickening.
Dick and his daughter, Liz Cheney, have a new book out, just in time to malign President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
Early in the interview Cheney said he doesn’t think President Obama believes that America is exceptional. That’s a falsehood right there. As FactCheck.org noted (with numerous examples) President Obama has repeatedly and publicly proclaimed America’s exceptionalism.
Which made it all the more ironic that Cheney went on to accuse, “I think his world view just doesn’t reflect reality.”
Let’s just take a quick stroll down Cheney’s Iraq War Memory Lane. Here are a few choice quotes:
- “There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.” August 26, 2002
- “We know [Saddam has] been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.” March 16, 2003
- “I think it will go relatively quickly. Weeks rather than months.” March 16, 2003
- “My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.” March 16, 2003
- After liberation the streets of Basra and Baghdad are sure to erupt in joy.” August 26, 2002
- “I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.” July 20, 2005
And yet, this guy has the nerve to complain about President Obama’s grip on reality!
Of course, lapdog host Sean Hannity ate up every word. “Think about what you just said!” he exclaimed delightedly. “We have a president of the United States that his world view does not reflect reality. And he has his finger on the nuclear buttons. That’s a little scary when you combine them, no?”
Cheney went back to the “American exceptionalism” falsehood. “What he represents is a break in the history of the last 75 years, where on a bipartisan basis, we’ve had presidents who believed in American exceptionalism.”
“And he said as much,” Hannity added. Just like with the Iraq war, Hannity validated Cheney’s lie.
Esquire’s Charles P. Pierce likened Cheney’s media resurgence to “giving Pol Pot a late-night TV gig.”
Believe me, if Pol Pot were a Republican willing to trash talk President Obama, he’d be a Fox News shoo-in. Just ask Donald Trump.
Watch the Cheneys below, from the August 31 Hannity. Having a barf bag handy is advised.
Obama also represents a break in the history of the last 227 years, where we’ve had presidents who were white — and I suspect that’s whats REALLY got ’lil dick and his fellow wingnut noisemakers upset . . .
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