Dems Counter-Punch Cheney: He Masterminded Failure (VIDEO)

Democrats pushed back forcefully against Dick Cheney on Sunday for comments the former vice president made accusing President Barack Obama of "dithering" on Afghanistan.

Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called the attack "outrageous" and ironic.

"To listen to Dick Cheney, who was the mastermind of the most failed decade of foreign policy that this country's had at least in my political lifetime, perhaps my whole lifetime, perhaps my parents' lifetime too, to listen to him when they talk about dithering... when their mistake was to attack Iraq and lose sight of Afghanistan... eight years of failure of [Hamid] Karzai, implicitly is eight years of failure and dithering by that administration."

Brown was echoed by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) who called Cheney's remarks "out of bounds" and proclaimed that the former V.P. simply lacked the credibility to be taken seriously on the issue.

"It's just important that the president make the right decision," said Levin during an appearance on Fox News Sunday.

The two senators seemed to relish the chance to throw some punches Cheney's way; the target allows Democrats to invoke the political contrast that won them the past two elections. Even Republicans seemed in a bind over Cheney's words. Appearing alongside Brown, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) questioned why Obama would "not follow the advice of all of his generals" and suggested that the president was "exposing [soldiers] without the proper help that they've just got to have."

But, he added, "I would never want to call my president dithering."

UPDATE: No less an Afghan-hawk than Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also expressed discomfort with Cheney's rhetoric. The Arizona Republican tells CBS' Face the Nation that he "wouldn't use that language" adding: "I think we ought to look forward, that is to support the President... I think the President will make the right decision."

"He has the right to speak out," McCain said. "Having said that, I think we should, as much as possible, say our message is... we want to support the President and unite the country behind it."

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Comments

[socaldanielle]

06:01 PM on 10/28/2009

Can't we find a nice ice floe for Dick Cheney and push him out to sea? After all, he's a big fan of tradition and I'm willing to support him.

[FullChat]

02:55 PM on 10/26/2009

If all that's needed is 20,000 more troops, why didn't you do that within the last 8 years, Cheney?

Is the current strategy so bad that our soldiers are getting killed without reason, or can we wait a month to see how the elections work out and THINK before we bomb.

Have you ever heard of a general who didn't want more troops? That's the first thing they teach you at General School.

[TLV]

10:55 AM on 10/26/2009

Interesting, isn't it, that Al-Qaida simply disappeared into thin air when Bush and Cheney left office? If it was always the Taliban that we were supposedly fighting in Afghanistan, why did they call this a global war against Al-Qaida? And if it was the Taliban that was restricting the heroin production in that region, doesn't make them an ally instead of the enemy? Aren't we still engaged in fighting the war on drugs as well, or was that just a Bush One lie to gain something we were never totally informed about?

It has always looked to me as if the War on Terror and the War on Drugs were both ways to siphon off U.S. tax-payer's dollars to fund oil company projects in violence-riddled regions of the world by using our troops to soften those regions.

[KarmaTheDog]

03:38 PM on 10/26/2009

It was the Taliban that restricted heroin production, so much so that Bush gave them 40 million dollars... then they attacked us. The Taliban is now finding heroin to be quite profitable. You gotta love organizations that will steadfastly stand on principle.

[Cambridge9]

09:56 AM on 10/26/2009

I would like to be inside the he@ds of the shrub, D1ck and Rummie when they have to see themselves in the m1rror each morning when they sh@ve.

On the other hand, lets move on. N0thing to see here!

[whiskeytangofoxtrot451]

10:18 AM on 10/26/2009

Sociopaths never have any problem looking at themselves in the mirror.

[DevonTexas]

08:58 AM on 10/26/2009

Cheney has the right to speak and he also has the right to remain silent.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

09:15 AM on 10/26/2009

If only the things he said could be held against him in a court of law...

[whiskeytangofoxtrot451]

09:18 AM on 10/26/2009

I don't see anyone taking away Cheney's right to speak. In fact, it seems like he's had more press appearances per month since leaving office than before. No one has made any effort to silence him. He is just as free to speak his mind now as he ever was. Other people, however, also have the right to criticize his statements. And given his complete lack of credibility on this issue, choosing the right to remain silent would actually be an exercise in good judgment at this point.

[fairwitness]

08:43 AM on 10/26/2009

I thought the headline on the main page said "Sherrod Brown Punches Cheney"...and you can imagine my glee.

[medic628]

08:34 AM on 10/26/2009

Cheney is a self righteous hypocrite.

[liberalNmoderation]

09:10 AM on 10/26/2009

Wow...you got that all wrong!
He's obviously a cranky, mean spirited, money grubbin, war hawkin, self righteous, hypocrite!
Also, he's bald.

[Bush-Rolled]

08:47 PM on 10/26/2009

He was the love child of Tailgunner Joe McCarthy and Mr. Potter.

[Keita]

08:07 AM on 10/26/2009

http://iphone.newsweek.com/detail.jsp?key=80718

[Michael Johns]

07:47 AM on 10/26/2009

The Week In Review:

A mashup of the best clips including FOX News, Cheney, & The Yes Men.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssFZypzeWJs

Enjoy.

[PaleMail]

07:37 AM on 10/26/2009

Cheney is a madman, always has been.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

09:15 AM on 10/26/2009

That's an insult to lunatics worldwide.

[StillAmused]

06:21 AM on 10/26/2009

The filthyb@st@rd is so cranked up, trying desperately to resurrect the mindless jingoism he fathered and promoted during the Eight Years Of Darkness, he's completely forgotten... there's VIDEOTAPE.

Keep it coming, Dickie. Sooner or later, it'll play in a courtroom near you.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

09:16 AM on 10/26/2009

Nah, his lawyers will fight to change the venue to planet Mars.

[1differentdrummer]

06:03 AM on 10/26/2009

Coming out of FLOP, Failed Loser of a Presidency, Cheeney's got a lot of guts to bray out his hatred.

[ferob]

04:47 AM on 10/26/2009

Wish he'd stayed in his bunker. The worlld was safer.

[Karl Bornemann]

04:26 AM on 10/26/2009

Mr. Cheney is right. You must strike while the iron is hot. In order to maximize the contractor's profits, one cannot dither. A war machine cannot roll on in the face of a well thought-out decision-making process. The business of death and permanent war functions only on a short-sighted and blinkered leadership. To step back, breathe and take all matters into account can only lead to rational foreign policy. Mr. Cheney understands full well the dangers of President Obama's thoughtful approach. It renders him obsolete. It underlines how petty and misguided every one of his knee-jerk, fear-based policy decisions were. But, as with all war criminals, he will never, ever admit wrong-doing. Even worse, he will continue to undermine any attempt at success in a region where he so blatantly dithered.

[atexasdem]

03:45 AM on 10/26/2009

Doesn't Cheney have a home in the wilds of Wyoming somewhere? He really does need to go home.

[oldpol2]

04:13 AM on 10/26/2009

Couldn't we send him on a one way trip to Spain? They are looking for a war criminal or two.