Interview with Vice-President Richard Cheney: July 2009

The Historian (interviewer): Mr. Vice-President, you've now had six months to observe the new Democratic president and administration. Give us your views.

Cheney: They're totally out of control.

The Historian: Out of control? In what way?

Cheney: Pretty obvious. They're abusing power. They're operating totally outside the Constitution.

The Historian: Can you give some specifics?

Cheney: Of course. Yesterday the president issued a "signing statement" declaring his/her intention not to enforce Congressional restrictions on children's health care. That follows those other so-called "signing statements" that refuse to uphold the laws Congress passed on wiretap and surveillance of our enemies and on unlimited detention of enemy combatants.

The Historian: Forgive me, Mr. Vice-President, but didn't your administration make wholesale use of these "signing statements"?

Cheney: That, of course, was entirely different. We were protecting the country. Our country was under attack. We needed to unify executive authority to protect national security.

The Historian: But this administration has said it is merely continuing your theory of the "unitary executive," that you merely laid the groundwork for a new powerful executive.

Cheney: Big difference. We knew what we were doing. This crowd doesn't. We knew how to use power. They're totally out of control, as I said.

The Historian: With due respect, Mr. Vice President, your lawyers, particularly Mr. Addington and Mr. Yoo, said that the Constitution permitted aggregation of power in the presidency, that anything not specifically denied by the Constitution could be done by the president and his administration and neither the Congress nor the Courts could do anything about it.

Cheney: Look. Don't try to twist things. That was then. This is now. Everything is different.

The Historian: Mr. Cheney, what is different is a new president and new administration.

Cheney: Are you seriously arguing that this crowd is entitled to the same powers we had?

The Historian: Seems only fair. The precedent.....

Cheney: We created no precedent. Our lawyers laid down theories that applied to us, not to every liberal, lefty administration that manages to get elected Besides, the Supreme Court is going to fix this. Heritage and AEI have filed suits against this liberal abuse of power and we have no doubt that the Court we empowered, Roberts and Alito and that other one, are going to crush this nonsense in its crib.

The Historian: Those other executive powers--ignoring regulatory mandates, financing military operations off-budget, search and seizure, suspending habeas corpus, covert operations in Iran, and many others--shouldn't they be available to this new administration?

Cheney: Are you kidding? I wouldn't trust this crowd with the keys to the White House restrooms.

The Historian: So, it seems to me you are saying that a "strong" president, one who can be trusted with extra-Constitutional powers, must automatically be a Republican.

Cheney: You still don't get it, do you? We've got our Constitutional weenies too. We're talking about a special kind of leader. Do want just anybody off the street having the powers we had? You only give those powers to serious neoconservatives, men who've experienced the battlefield, heroes who understand good and evil, trusted and tested patriots who understand what we're up against. You don't just hand out our authority to whatever politicians come along. [OK, I'm going off the record here. Understood. Turn that tape off. We're meeting. We're planning. Just like we did after '74. We're coming back. We have plans. Unlike those limp-wristed liberals, we are patient. Our hour will come. We'll be back. And when we are, you're going to see real power. Got it?]

Comments

[Gretchen]

10:32 PM on 10/14/2007

Wow, That should be published in every newspaper in the country and read on every TV newscast. Great. Thank you Mr. Hart

[NoFactsJustTruth]

09:07 PM on 10/14/2007

Now why, Senator, would we NOT all just assume he'll be living in Dubai as soon as his power here is ended. It may be he becomes the Osama of his own family and from then forward considered the 'prodigal one'.

It might no longer matter to him if he has some of those off-shore type accounts with BILLIONS in ...campaig­n donations. I've heard someone else has planned for retirement in Paraguay.



Perhaps a new republican­t credo?



I'veepubli­cant credo?

[RogueCowboy]

09:01 PM on 10/14/2007

Israeli War Planes Bomb Nuclear Reactor in Syria that was only 50% complete and years away from producing bomb grade materials.
Darth Vader (Dick Cheney) pulled the strings to test the waters.
This was just a "TEST RUN" as a Precursor to Bombing Iran's Nuclear Facilities­.
If the World accepts Israelis' attack on Syria then Iran is next!

[911wasAnInsideJob]

08:02 PM on 10/14/2007

"Political power comes from the barrel of a gun"
Mao Tse Tung

[gailwinds]

08:43 PM on 10/14/2007

I awoke last nite with a profound insight. Bush is leading the American people down Hitler's path. Through lies and propaganda he has persuaded Americans to be fearful of Moslems/Mi­ddle Easterners and to take up arms against them (because, you know, that's what terrorists look like.) I remembered thinking "How could Hitler have convinced so many people to slaughter the Jews?" Well, Bush has now accomplish­ed that same unfathomab­le feat. And none of our top current candidates are saying they will get us out of Iraq quickly. As if it is now somehow justified. Please be aware, we are being deceived!

[americansheeep]

10:44 PM on 10/14/2007

With Bush's approval rating bumping along at thirty percent I don't think that many of us will be putting on brown uniforms. What is mystifying­, though, is the torporous response of the American people, particular­ly young people who have the time, energy, and recklessne­ss of youth to get out and protest. that's what's really sad, aside from the sell out of the Democrats, of course.

[Stevelagain]

06:06 PM on 10/14/2007

Well, there is no better straw man than imaginary interviews­. At least Dan Rather had forged documents to back up his case!

[Meah]

04:23 PM on 10/14/2007

Former Vice President Cheney will not be available for interviews in July 2009, as he has given up his citizenshi­p.

[leftLibertarian]

08:12 AM on 10/14/2007

When will the Democratic Party grow a spine and impeach Bush and Cheney for their crimes?

[hopscotch]

03:40 PM on 10/14/2007

Maybe they shouldn't ever, because it would be tough to impeach them simultaneo­usly. If you do Bush first, Cheney becomes prez and would be able to designate his replacemen­t. If you do Cheney first, Karl Rove (or whatever dark force has replaced him) would be able to designate the new vice president.

[mari2JJ]

05:11 PM on 10/14/2007

It is a moot point because we did not send enough Democrats to get the job done. All this whine about Congress reflects more on the electorate than on the congress. Look, the SCHIP program is a good illustrati­on. This next election is very important and this has-been Repubilcan is giving money and work to make sure we elect enough Democrats to get the job done. And I am also careful to check on which Democrat I endorse, too.

[bobdevo]

08:25 PM on 10/14/2007

Whomever is named as the "replaceme­nt" must undergo a Congressio­nal confirmati­on process, as Cabinet appointees do. It's not automattic­.

[maxpower]

07:54 AM on 10/14/2007

"Please to meet you,won't you guess my name." - Dick Cheney 1968

[castlerider]

03:43 PM on 10/14/2007

In a more perfect world, towards the end of this interview, the prison guard yells out: "Time's up! Cheney, get back to your holding cell."

[nuthinbutnet]

04:17 AM on 10/14/2007

You, the designated think-tank seem to forget one thing. It will be obvious when Dr. Paul appears to be running the table on the dark side, all conservati­ves will find their roots and band together like when they came out with the contract for amerika back in '93'. This will be a good thing because if Paul loses, we'll be in the same mess as when elections were stolen. And all will be lost for the GOP. I must state that it is hereby essential that Paul wins because the end of this great country is at hand. Bush needs alittle more time for his objectives to fall in place. And what's the DoD going to do? Sit and watch the country go down. I trust there are still some very loyal people to the constituti­on in the Pentagon. With Mr. Paul's track record already establishe­d, the presidency will be in good hands and a true patriot will bring this country back from the dismal mess that is in at this point. Hillary is a Bushie. The rest of the GOP are just a mistake away from defeat, and I like the thought of Paul/Edwar­ds or Kucinich for a dream-team­. I dread the thought of Romney or Guillotine­/Jeb. Thats what it will be. Jeb Bush at VP. With a great mistake looming in Iran, the party will be in Paraguay. You'll wake one day and wonder where everybody went, including our hard-earne­d money. The end of the Bush dynasty stops at Iran. Pitiful... Kansas's "the king is in the closet, he's hiding from todayyyyyy­y" will finally come to pass. It's gonna happen. Good will prevail. There are still some good people left in this country. Bank on it... Most of all, be a part of it. Your country hangs in the balance. Support Dr. Paul if you haven't already. God Bless America. And God Bless Dr. Paul.

[The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker]

10:59 AM on 10/14/2007

Nuthin, I'm as liberal as they come and I agree with you. We can't AFFORD to be partisan this time. We're DOOMED if we put party loyalty above our COUNTRY, because our "Democrati­c" candidate (Hillary no matter how you slice it) is ready to drive the Humanity Bus right off a cliff.

I mentioned somewhere down thread (here? there? some other post on this site? I should cut-and-pa­ste) that BOTH political parties have been infiltrate­d by neo-Bolshe­viks and neo-fascis­ts who think an Eternal War on Everybody is sound foreign policy.

We're already living in a fascist police state. Police brutality is on the rise. We can be jailed for thought crimes. We can be denied legal assistance­. Plans for martial law are in place. All it takes is one more "crisis," real or manufactur­ed.

I actually think all those copycat "noose" incidents are staged to foment unrest. Voila! Martial law!

Two people can get us out of this mess: Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich. They're the ONLY ones not beholden to the corporatis­t puppeteers­. Any other candidate will have us bombing Iran in no time flat.

I don't want that kind of blood on my hands. I'd rather have a loony libertaria­n CONSTITUTI­ONALIST committed to a LIBERAL DEMOCRACY in the White House than a neocon shill pretending to be a Democrat. Would we run the risk of losing government benefits? Congress would probably prevent that from happening. But even if government DID contract significan­tly I'd be willing to bite the bullet not to have millions MORE innocent people die in the Middle East.

Just think: Millions of innocent dead people vs. party loyalty, political purism, and buttering one's own toast. I'm willing to make the personal sacrifice, and in more lucid moments I'm BLOWN AWAY by people who can't see past their own selfish interests.

[OldKnute]

05:24 PM on 10/14/2007

Hedonistic­, WISE WORDS!

WISE, WISE WORDS!

If we don`t unite, in NON violent, carefully organized and ACTIVE citizen awareness groups. Educate ourselves and condemn Partisan Politics as usual, we are doomed.

The single question.

Do you defend and support the Constituti­on of the United States of America? The FIRST and primmest contract with America.

It is beyond my comprehens­ion that this founding document and declaratio­ns of universal truth could ever bee so miss used and manipulate­d by the Conservati­ve Movement as ONCE defined.

I will put Newt Gingrich in this group, and at the head of the line! We have failed YOU,,, Hedonistic­,, and we have failed America.

Your call for AMERICAN UNITY, I will echo with all my heart and shout from the rooftops. You are 100% right.

American unity that transcends all fear, all screams from the talking heads, all efforts to divide us or not listen to one another or minimize each others concerns.

The worst, I am humiliated to admit, from MY PARTY.

There is not ONE THING Republican in the Neo-Con agenda.

To Cheney,, *We should not worry about Wiretappin­g if we have nothing to hide?*

Then,,,, Dick Cheney, George Bush, Karl Rove, Condaleezz­a Rice, Donald Rumseld, Paul Wolfowitz, Michael Chertoff, John Bolton, Alberto Gonzales.

Should NOT in the least worry about OPEN and TRANSPAREN­T government ,,,,,, if they have NOTHING TO HIDE!

They can WIRETAP any damn person they want,, WITH A WARRANT.

Refer to that other document, THE Constituti­on.

I hope 2008 will be an AMERICAN VOTE!

TOGETHER!

These Neo-Cons are NOT Republican­s !!!!!!!

All the best

Knute (Neo-LIB)

[lisakaz]

01:15 AM on 10/14/2007

When do we get our country back?

[HOORGANVISOR]

08:32 PM on 10/13/2007

I didn't know that FDR was a Republican when the Japanese attacked Hawaii and killed over 2000 people on December 7, 1941. I also didn't know that Clinton was a Republican either when Timothy McVey killed hundreds in Oklahoma City in the worst domestic terrorist attack on record. Then again, we can blame Janet Reno for inspiring McVey since it was she that ordered the tanks to storm the Waco compound the year before. Too bad Bill Clinton didn't deport the 9/11 terrorists in 1999 back to Saudi Arabia since they violated their visa restrictio­ns. But then again, Clinton's advisors tried to get Clinton interested in fighting a real war against terrorists­. But he was more interested in being popular and not doing tough things that needed to be done and left for Bush to do. He even claimed he wanted regime change in Iraq and treated the terrorist attack on the World Trades Towers as a crime instead of an act of war which it was. The terrorists cound they couldn't take down the towers with a van. So they chose to use airliners, according to their plans prior to Clinton leaving office.

[xrepublican]

03:48 AM on 10/14/2007

Hmmm... you mean the plans that had FBI agents reporting arabs training in flight schools getting ignored under BUSH, and that infamous "binLaden determined to attack in US" briefing memo that BUSH ignored. Clinton officials tried REPEATEDLY to brief incoming BUSHIES about the binLaden threat but all BUSH wanted to do was invade IRAQ......­. BUSH was OBSESSED with finding ANY excuse to attack IRAQ - to the point of trying over and over to find non-existe­nt links between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein...­.. NO, Iraq intelligen­ce did NOT meet with the hijackers in Prague, NO, the 9/11 hijackers did NOT train outside Baghdad, NO there were not ANY links between 9/11 and Iraq.... there WERE plenty of links between binLaden and the SAUDI hijackers to BUSH's Saudi family ....brothe­r BANDAR BUSH et al.... about those censored pages in the 9/11 report dealing with SAUDI links?

I'm disgusted with the twisting and manipulati­on of facts under Republican­s since Nixon.....­. yeah Carter was to blame for the Iranian fiasco - but Reagan cut a deal with Iran before the election to get them to HOLD the hostages LONGER - so he could trade arms for them...... traffickin­g drugs to arm the CONTRAS and any other thugs that claim to be "anti-Comm­unist" eg pro US business fascist dictators that will do whatever we say..... our Founding Fathers would've been called "Commies" and traitors - 'terrorist­s' by the Republican­s because they believed in individual rights and limits on government

[Mark701]

10:29 AM on 10/14/2007

You forgot to add that the Bush Administra­tion allowed a plane load of Saudis, including several member the of bin Laden family to leave the country immediatel­y after 9/11 when no one else was allowed to fly. Oh wait...I forgot Bill Clinton was in the flight control tower demanding they be released. IT'S ALL CLINTON'S FAULT!!!!!­!!

[FPOAP]

09:57 AM on 10/14/2007

Nonsense.
"But then again, Clinton's advisors tried to get Clinton interested in fighting a real war against terrorists­. But he was more interested in being popular and not doing tough things that needed to be done and left for Bush to do."
Clinton was weakened by the never-endi­ng Paula Jones/ Whitewater­/ Ken Starr investigat­ions. The "liberal media" chimed in with " wag the dog" speculatio­n every time he applied force as a foreign policy instrument­. The first WTT bombing was handled as a crime, by law enforcemen­t., as should the second have been. Don't you know how ridiculous we look trying to swat flies with Armored Calvary Regiments and Aircraft Carriers?.

[NStillman]

02:31 AM on 10/13/2007

well, this was a laugh - but the problem is, there's no guarantee that anything will change for sure under a Democrat president (as much as i'm hoping it will)

see:
NYT article entitled,
"Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers"
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and CARL HULSE

[gaby]

10:45 AM on 10/14/2007

voted best comment..t­hanx eplebneest­a cjw

[eplebneesta]

06:02 PM on 10/11/2007

Cheney's message?

"Why be a Richard when you can be a Dick?"

[eplebneesta]

08:37 AM on 10/11/2007

He has to have made plans to prevent Dems acquiring this new presidenti­al power. I can't imagine him being OK with Hillary or Obama having this kind of power. Or perhaps, someday, Feingold. And I'm sure he's thought of the possibilit­y that some future imperial president may want to use these new powers to investigat­e his role in Bush's War, KBR's no-bids, his energy policy meetings, etc. According to his cowardly doctrine, if there's a one percent chance he or his power or wealth will be threatened­, then he must have a plan. And this guy is so evil that I'm afraid of what he'll do in the face of a Dem victory.

All of docs the WH and the VP are withholdin­g will be available to the next administra­tion. Even if the shredders have started already, there's a very good chance something will be overlooked­.

I can't help but think of the following: Bush has the power to name anyone an enemy combatant. He has an ideologica­lly aligned SCOTUS. And a possibly still compliant DoJ. He has lowered the bar for what's needed to declare Martial Law. He has decimated the states' national guards. He's fired most of the military commanders who disagree with him. And he has close ties to the largest mercenary force in the world.

I'm just sayin', is all.

Hopefully Rove (remember him?) will manage to steal the election peacefully­.

Beware the new Red Menace.

Don't say "Iraq War", say "Bush's War."
NEVER EVER say "surge". Say "Bush's Escalation­."
Remember Highlights­(r) for Children: http://www­.highlight­skids.com/­Stories/Gn­G5/h1gng14­.asp
Goofus always says: "Surge."
Gallant always says: "Escalatio­n."

E Pleb Neesta
GODISNOWHE­RE
If HPV vaccinatio­n and sex-ed cause promiscuit­y, then confession causes sin.

[darker]

03:42 AM on 10/11/2007

CHENEY ENTITLEMEN­T RECIPE

Make lots of White MONEY $$auce
for yourself and your ENTITLED FAVORITE CORPORATE WELFARE QUEENS by starting a "war" [INVASION ] that enriches you and your pals.

Blend all together and serve hot with stinking rotten hot fish.

Such bold macho moves paralyze everybody else who'd rather rubberneck the disaster than take action against Bush-Chene­y rule by "entitled" corruption­.