Cheney: Obama Will "Appreciate" Our Expansion Of Power

In an interview with Rush Limbaugh (via Politico), Vice President Dick Cheney predicted that the next president will appreciate the way he and George Bush expanded executive power.

"Once they get here and they're faced with the same problems we deal with every day, then they will appreciate some of the things we've put in place," Cheney said.

"We did not exceed our constitutional authority, as some have suggested," Cheney added. "The President believes, I believe very deeply, in a strong executive, and I think that's essential in this day and age. And I think the Obama administration is not likely to cede that authority back to the Congress. I think they'll find that given a challenge they face, they'll need all the authority they can muster."

Cheney went on to express doubt that President Obama would, as he has promised, close Guantanamo Bay.

"Guantanamo has been very, very valuable. And I think they'll discover that trying to close it is a very hard proposition," he said. "They're unlawful combatants. And you if you're not going to have a place to locate them like Guantanamo, then you either have to bring them here to the continental United States and I don't know any member of Congress who's volunteering to have al Qaeda terrorists deposited in his district."

Cheney also expressed grave concerns about the automobile industry.

"We're on the downside of a recession that may be the worst since World War II," he said. "And if the automobile industry goes belly up now, there's a deep concern that that would be a major shock to the system."

Comments

[SENATORCALLENBOWE]

AT WHAT COST?

[mero909]

Exactly! Exactly!

[samaire]

Cleaning up the mess after 8 years of terror, abuse of power, criminal behavior from the white house..I doubt Obama will appreciate anything these jokers leave behind. Cheney is crazy.

[nazirmo]

Watch Conspiracy starring Val Kilmer

[rshrink]

When Cheney screwed up so much, and robbed the country blind, out of greed and disdain for the country and what it stands for, what do you think this @$$ h0l@ is going to say? Cheney is a prime example of sociopathy. He has no conscience. Funny how people like that think that everyone is like them. That is the narcissism that goes along with sociopathy. If there is any justice, Cheney, Bush and those who followed them will spend the rest of their days in prison.

[me again]

The 21st Century Dr. Strangelove........

[mero909]

Epic movie

[eggman]

I had thought bailing out the automakers was not a bad idea until I learned Cheney thinks so too.

[rshrink]

Cheney can lie faster than a speeding bullet. He can launch tall tales in a single bound. He can boast more than a loco prizefighter. He can stun the most polished of politicians. He can lie from the hip and never miss a beat. He will go down in history as the most notorious of elected officials.

[AngieMom57]

Ah, you are just being nice, go ahead and say it, our VP Cheney needs to do community work in Iraq for a few years then the human part of him just might return, as it is now he is less than slug slime.

[souroil]

Yuck...yuc­k...yuck!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!! Goodbye Dick.

[DG77]

Spoken like a man with a god complex.

Mr. Cheney, your retirement has been a long time coming. I hope the next we hear of you is how you enjoy craft time and Wheel of Fortune at your nursing home.

[amessenger]

President of Vice -- that's our "Scattergun Dick" --- Dick like Jon Stewart would use the name,.. that is.
Cheney abused his constitutional powers behind the scenes, being careful in the selection of his words to avoid the auspices of decision making and instead steering with "we supported them" (recent interview on Water-boarding).
Oh Yezzzzzzzzzzzz! We all wanted to make sure that Sarah Hawk--ey understood that the Veep was to Officiate in the Senate, not participate, yet we stood by and let Cheney work his dark magic of fear and hatred financial rape on us for 8 years, manipulating the "Brush cutter" in an endless game of Good Cop Bad Cop.
He believes "very deeply in a strong executive"; his understatement of omnipotence and speaking Ex Cathedra, like an evil bishop manipulating the Buffoon Prince.
Obama must be convinced that given six months to enter into some recovery pattern, both Cheney and Bush need to be held responsible for their many "high crimes and misdemeanors", which IMHO are ponder-able as treasonous. Cheney strikes me as a traitor.

[kareemachan]

Sooooo - basically he's saying that Obama will appreciate the inroads he has made on our Constitution? I really don't think so.

[billw8017]

Right. Obama taught Constitutional Law. We can expect him to take his oath of office seriously and to know what he is saying.

Cheney has not been successful even as an emissary to the Mideast. His advice -- as when he said, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter -- is self serving and contrary to reality. Cheney's influence may have been exaggerated. His bias toward the oil industry, his contempt for laws, his secrecy which assumes informed people must oppose him, his false distinction between national and person virtue all are in service to his President.

As the Bush administration comes to its end, we want more hope and less bitterness. There is much to be bitter about, yet even after the Civil War with its thousands dead, an amnesty was extended to the leaders of the Confederacy. Such generosity of spirit is one of the reasons Americans have an orderly transfer of authority.

[GravitonX]

Thank you, Mr. Cheney. Thank you, very much.

Though, whereas you used the power to unleash untold devastation on the lives of millions around the world, Obama will use those powers and the sum total of his Presidency to clean up your mess.

By the ways, tell your cronies to enjoy those hundreds of billions you looted for them from the US Treasury while they last, one day that knock on the door might be the FBI.

[kalidescopemind]

Maybe a few weeks in "Club Guantanimo" may help Mr. Cheny re-think his advocation of war crimes such as water-boarding, that we executed Japanese as war criminals in 45' for doing?

[me again]

Cheney ran amok through the halls of Washington for the last 8 years. His dangerous legacy cannot continue..­..........­........

[Bubba Gump]

So Dick Cheney thinks Barack Obama "will appreciate some of the things we've put in place" in expanding executive power. Isn't Cheney the guy who said that Iraqis would greet U.S. military forces "as liberators" before the 2003 invasion? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080244

The only thing I appreciate from Dick Cheney is that he's leaving office on January 20, 2009.