Lawrence O'Donnell Battles Joe Scarborough Over Cheney's Fear-Mongering (VIDEO)

Lawrence O'Donnell joined the panel on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Thursday and got into a heated debate with host Joe Scarborough over Dick Cheney's recent remarks accusing the Obama administration of "dithering while America's armed forces are in danger" and "putting politics over security and turning the guns on our own guys."

Scarborough tried to defend Cheney, stating that while he personally disagrees with the former vice president's comments, Cheney "speaks for a large chunk of America who is far more aggressive in foreign policy than those of us that live inside this bubble."

O'Donnell jumped into the conversation, leveling heavy criticism at Cheney:

The dithering thing is great because Cheney, of course, did not dither, did not dither for a minute, when the time came to make a wild guess, an outright crazy wild guess, about are there weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. And Cheney sat there in the White House and said, you know what, I've got everything I need to make my wild guess. On the basis of my wild guess I'm going to tell the country it's an actual fact, and then I'm gonna help send American soldiers there to die over a lie. No dithering when it came time to do that.

An upset Scarborough replied that "every major Democrat on the national scene, including Joe Biden, believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction." O'Donnell countered that no Democrats had access to the high-level intelligence available to Cheney, evidence that painted a far more skeptical picture of Saddam's nuclear capabilities than the one Cheney painted for the American public.

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Comments

[Bush-Rolled]

I wish Cheney would simply stop lying while our troops are in danger.

[bobbybo]

I believe in justice - justice would be having Big Dick explain first to the family of an American soldier casualty and then to an Iraqi family exactly how his policy made their loved ones safer.

[maxfax]

Joe takes up for Cheney? Isn't he merely playing to his own base?

[spytheweb]

This is how Cheney protects the country, by getting 5 military deferments.

[Khrish]

Dick Cheney and "Foreign Policy" should never be used in the same sentence.

[alwqb]

They were all given false information and Tenant was forced to lie. Even sitting at the UN behind Powell they both knew the evidence they were presenting was false. Dick Cheney had an agenda and it all had to do with power and oil.

[DestinationsUnknown]

Thanks LO!

that am show is not worth the electricity

no news there

all opinion

unreal

C-span Washington Jouranl 6a-9a the only show to watch!

[Aikaterina]

If Cheney wasn't trying to twist, spin, skew facts, and obfuscate, why did he discredit Amb. Joe Wilson, who found no evidence of procurements of yellow cake (by Iraq) from Niger, then reveal the identity of Valerie Plame (Joe Wilson's wife), an active CIA agent (an act of treason)?

If the administration wasn't eager for a war (to placate Israel, for oil and profit), then why did they unleash the anthrax on us? They claimed it was from Iraq, but actually came from our own military base, just in time for the vote on the so-called "Patriot act," and as fodder for their arguments for the military adventure?

If Cheney is so concerned about the task in Afghanistan, why did he and "W" refuse to send adequate troops (requested by commanders) when they had Bin-Laden cornered (8 years ago)? Why did he and "W" engineer their mis-adventure in Iraq, when the 9/11 attackers were Saudi, there were no Al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq, we'd never been threatened by Iraq, while the perpetrators of 9/11 were in Afghanistan?

The administration lied blatantly, deliberately decived the public, and endangered this nation for their personal profit and political gain. They refused to believe credible evidence of attacks being imminent (from Mossad and MI-6), but used "Curveball" as their source of information, upon which they based their foreign policy. If they were not lying, they were really dumb!

[Seán O'Nilbud]

Hans Blix said there were no WMD. Everyone on the planet knew there were no WMD.

[NEWSWOMAN]

I,ve been saying that for weeks: that Hans Blix and Scott Ritter of the UN team, who were in Iraq for four years and didn't find anything, but the conservatives still believe the Bush administration ,that there were WMDs in Iraq. The Bushies wanted to go to war and the truth be damned.

[emrogers]

Exactly! Proving my point yet again, that Cheney is from Mars.

[Dank105]

Please take "Joe" out of "Morning Joe" and rename it "Morning Coffee" with Mika and Friends. Joe S. is just like all of his Repub Friends. He spits out all non-sense. What he said about Lawrence's comments on this show should be enough to send him packing over to Fox Noise. He has to be a "plant" for Fox Noise. I am embarrassed, for him, every time he opens his mouth. I cannot believe the man ever received a degree from law school or any school for that matter. Only a state like Florida could produce a politician like him. Demand a recount anyway.

[Treeske]

AMEN! I still think Joe is one of the C-street gang.

[NEWSWOMAN]

Joe usually silences people by talking about when he was in Congress (and therefore he knows stuff you can't know). But that doesn't work with O'Donnell who worked for Congressman and knows the ins and outs of politics. He always gets the better of Joe when he is on.

[PitBull6]

Clearly you don't watch him. Or it's with such a partisan eye that you miss any nuance.

[keepitreal50]

YEAH BUT HOW MANY VOTED TO GO TO WAR???

[isthatso]

The ones that didn't get good info and fell for the bull, that how many!

[CC355]

did not get good info they all got the same info you libs are all the same so sad.

[gotsmarter]

President Obama, then Senator Obama, did not fall for the phony Intelligence wildly thrown out there by Cheney. President Obama's wisdom prevailed then, and we can trust him to do the best for our country now.

[ConnieInCleveland]

Lawrence O'Donnell did great! I no longer watch MSNBC during the time of Joe Scarborough, because I hate his commentary.

Thank you Lawrence O'Donnell for the courage to say those words 'out loud', "Dick Cheney was lying". Dick Cheney should be held accountable and using the 'slam dunk' theory by their 'slam dunk' CIA guy is not proof of anything. The Attorney General and the Head of the CIA, both proved to be less than trustworthy. Just ask Collin Powell if he was told the truth, or if he was misled before testifying to the United Nations.

Many people from the Bush administration left and wrote books explaining their positions. Some people said, "They are just trying to sell books". My thought was they were "selling facts, via a book". Unfortunately, mainstream media just 'moved us along'. America turned into 'nothing to see here, move along' every time bad things came to light during the Bush years. At a certain point, if you tried to bring up the things which had been reported, it appeared as though you were 'picking on' them. When in fact, the facts were 'picking on' them. Accountability became 'picking on' them? Everything was judged in 'the Court of Public Opinion' and we just moved along. Sad, sad, sad! American justice failed us! Now we are supposed to just 'move along' and let historians judge their actions?

[gevan]

We are still waiting for one of Cheney's kids to sign up with one of our armed forces. . .

[logic123]

Great One!!!!

[lafayette2009]

Just following dads example - avoid, avoid, avoid, avoid, oh! sh*t, get the missus pregnant!

[PitBull6]

What would that prove to you?

[kenudy]

Americans, just ask yourself ,after four years of Dick Cheney what happened to America, it's economy and people's faith in government. Cheney, master manipulator of fear,( remember Americans running out for duct tape) to advance his agenda, should leave the governing on this country to those who are now left to clean up his mess. After 9/11, when the total world stood with us and against the terrorist (Saudi's and Bin Ladin) Cheney used the situation for his own Neo Con vision to invade Iraq. Now,his outright attempts to weaken and undermine the Obama administration is true to Dick Cheney's real character.­..nonexist­ant.

[sankyo]

>>>O'Donnell countered that no Democrats had access to the high-level intelligence available to Cheney

[sankyo]

>>> O'Donnell countered that no Democrats had access to the high-level inteligence available to Cheney.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has acces to the same information that shows up every morning to the White House in the form of the PDB. There were plenty of Democrats on that committee.

[ColleenHarper]

Sorry, but only 2 of the Dems were authorized to see the information. NOT the whole committee.