90 Comments

1. David Thomson:

“…but the Bush administration showed a foolish indifference “to process and presentation.”

Baloney. Where is my shovel? The Bush administration was consistently slimed by the hostile MSM and its allies. They treat Barack Obama in a completely different manner. That’s it in a nutshell. It really is that simple.

May 22, 2009 - 2:44 pm 2. vb:

I agree with David. Furthermore, Obama’s staunchest supporters were also slimers. They carried the message of utopia abroad instead of trying to make the reality of the problems we faced and still face clear to those abroad.

Obama’s previous positions were shallow, and I have no reason to be confident that his current positions are based on more than the way the wind is blowing. Obama was convinced he could do a better job than Bush of getting other countries to take detainees. I’m pretty sure he and Steinmeier had a nice chat about that last year in Berlin. Steinmeier grinned like a Cheshire cat at the time. Guess what? Spiegel reports this week that Steinmeier is against taking Uihurs because his good friend Schroeder tells him that would upset the Chinese. Obama’s rhetoric doesn’t take him as far as he thinks. He doesn’t know there are others out there with experience in tossing people under the bus.

May 22, 2009 - 3:55 pm 3. NeoConCabal:

Ron..You’ve got to be kidding. You ARE kidding, right? As a former lefty who know them down to their pudgy toes, you can’t be buying this lame toss from Goldsmith(no lefty himself, I’d add.).

The swill that Obama threw yesterday was startling in his ability to take NO responsibility, claim high ground, slime his predecessor, cheap talk men who kept this country safe for 7+years and wag his scrawny finger at people with moral clarity, sense of mission and huge stakes. It’s an SOP lefty-lib tactic which you’ve written about at great length. C’mon!

May 22, 2009 - 5:42 pm 4. Foxwood:

Obama wraps himself in the Constitution, but his sheep don’t see that he tramples on it like Bill Ayers stomps on the flag.

May 22, 2009 - 9:49 pm 5. Pajamas Media » Obama vs. Cheney: And the Winner Is …:

[...] the entire story here [...]

May 23, 2009 - 11:23 am 6. sheesh:

Cheney won with radical right wing extremists willing to wrap their principles in the Constitution and chew it into a nice patriotic bolus that they swallow, digest, and pinch out of their ass like every other opinion and commitment they have. Obama won with everybody else. At least that’s what all my independent friends tell me.

May 23, 2009 - 11:40 am 7. macko:

It shows just how gullible the dems think the American people are. They will trash talk the republicans and their policies while they keep those same policies but in a different wrapper. From the beginning this has never been about torture but fooling the american people into keeping the dems in office. Carl Rove pointed out that the order from nobama that interrogators must use the army field manual also states that the requirement can be waived by the attorney general.

May 23, 2009 - 11:47 am 8. David Thomson:

Jack Goldsmith is a Harvard guy—and I neither like nor trust these people. Any rational person realizes that Barack Obama is a shallow and poorly read man. He is not even close to being ready to be president of the United States. The Harvard elites, however, stick together and make sure the members of their community thrive both socially and financially. They perceive Obama as helping them to fatten their bank accounts and increase their power over other Americans. Does Harvard hate America?
Well, let’s put it this way—the graduates of this overrated university often hold the U.S. Constitution in utter contempt and advocate a somewhat fascist economic system.

May 23, 2009 - 11:48 am 9. John:

One need only look at the escalating death toll in bombings in Iraq, and the break down of any sort of government control in Pakistan and Afghanistan (Westphalian lies that they are.) to see that our enemies see weakness and vacillation where they once saw strength.

The One is from a political tradition of appeasement, lack of sovereign will, and a distinct weakness that will always… and I do mean ALWAYS… bring with it challenges by those who respect nothing but brute force and the willingess to use it.

To our enemies violence is always the first resort. It is applied ruthlessly to probe for strength. It only abates when counter violence makes further violent action more painful than any gains are worth.

The One comes from a Legalistic tradition that eschews any form of sovereign authority and substitutes bureaucratic rules in its place.

The problem is that Leal systems depend on stable assertive sovereignty. Sovereignty does not, however require even so much as a dot of legal function.

Because we have reversed the relaitionship between Sovereignty and Law, we have stood tens of thousands of years of civilization on its head. The resulting configuration will perform about the same function as a person being hung upside down… over time he dies of massive brain hemorrhages.

Cheney wins this argument because he is operating in the real world. The One operates only in his own personal fantasy, with us along for the deadly nightmare.

r/John

May 23, 2009 - 11:51 am 10. Professor Guvinof:

If the man in the white house thinks his job performance hinges on superior marketing skills, he will eventually sound like a used car salesman, and act like a dictator. In fact both of these behaviors are already in evidence after 4 months in office, the first one in announcing US treasury backed-up warranty of products manufactured in Detroit, the second by overriding well established principles such as the privilege of secured lenders, a frontal attack on bankruptcy laws.

Between teleprompter-assisted credibility (with the occasional marbled reverberation) and rigorous reference to facts, the citizens can tell whose is which. Mr. Cheney has earned a solid reputation after years of public service in various official capacities. In contrast, our new president has not earned credit for tangible accomplishment beyond winning the election, a handicap which bombast alone will not compensate for.

The phrase “on the job training” was used last year for its rethorical merit. Now we can see its true educational value! Thomas Jefferson himself explained how a governement fearing the people is a predicate to liberty. The president delivered a poorly prepared speech, on an emergency schedule improvised to preempt (!) a duly scheduled, well prepared, and well delivered speech by a distinguished private citizen the AEI.

The party on the defensive is necessarily the one who fears the other. In this sense, Mr. Cheney is blazing a trail for the tea party movement, animated by the outrage of citizens who have just begun to realize their latent power over a runaway tyranny in the making.

It’s “We the People”, not “We the lemmings”!

May 23, 2009 - 12:28 pm 11. James:

Those who wrote in other forums noted that the O’s speech was all about Obama, and that Mr. Cheney’s speech was all about what actually happened and why.

It looks to me like that is exactly the way both speeches went down. As far as who I would
rather have as the leader of the free world: is someone who cares about the truth, about defending the U.S.A., about the constitution (and not adding “entitlement” to it), and about the people of this nation, not for the purpose of using them to fulfill personal ambition, but because they are the nation.

May 23, 2009 - 12:35 pm 12. shaui-jan:

so the gist of this article is that because obama,during the campain…excoriated the very same policies he now imploys……then lied through his teeth….ala”packaging” this is somehow a shrewd maneuver?
umm…i call it weak and cowardly.
i am glad now the hard left is so rabid..they’re going to eat him alive…..while cheney pins him down.

May 23, 2009 - 12:39 pm 13. Reformed Trombonist:

> “…but the Bush administration showed a foolish indifference “to process and presentation.”

Translation: the same things that are awful when Bush does them are desirable when The One does them.

It’s not what is done; it’s who does them that counts.

May 23, 2009 - 12:41 pm 14. David Thomson:

I am not saying that the “elite” members of Harvard University are overtly conspiring against the United States. It is merely a tacit and subconscious agreement to further the interests of each other. These people know how to lie to themselves. They know when to keep their mouths shut and look the other way, for instance, when Al Gore, Jr. makes a fool of himself over global warming. After all, many of them are heavily invested in green technology stocks. In the back of their mind, these individuals are well aware that Barack Obama is an intellectually superficial man. But they don’t want to miss out on the gravy train. Obama’s ability to guilt trip whites is an incredible advantage to assist the elites in taking over control of America.

May 23, 2009 - 12:46 pm 15. dadling:

Obama is the reason Cheney’s popularity is rising….

And exactly what “Values” will stop a bullet??

A good question for a Harvard man, I think…

No, Obama will also be judged by history and I believe his tacit approval of Iran gaining nuclear weapons will put him in a special catagory..the President who helped ignite a nuclear war in the mideast…and possibly upon the USA…
Not a good catagory to be listed in…for a Harvard man…..

May 23, 2009 - 1:04 pm 16. ReConUSMC:

Former VP Cheney based on his 39 years of top level experience (even in the defense dept.) made the most ‘Compelling ‘ , Clear and totally understandable Argument ‘ .
I have heard since Bush took office a first time on our War on “‘Terror “” not Man Made Disasters now under Obama’s PC Correct how to not fight any War against those that will do anything possible to destroy America and Murder Americans we have seen since 9/11 and actually before under Clinton .
The Mute (let’s just get alone )totally weak and meaningless Moderate Republican party has become nothing more than a total embarrassment to its strongest voting block they have totally abandoned Conservatives they are actually running against now ?
That Would be like Democrats running against their far left radical Socialist base , Blacks , Hollywood , George Soros , Move on .org and the trade unions .
Cheney actually made Obama “No answers ” other than scorn ‘ of our Moral values and we need to please Europe look like a proven Rookie air head blundering no nothing Anti War Socialist out of touch elite Academic because that is what he is !
Cheney all by him self thank goodness brought to center stage finally !!!!!!!!!.
Only to have the extreme left Colin Powell base that voted for Obama alone with The Mc Cains , Spectors , Michael Steel the Party Leader , Tom Ridge and Four dozen Top Republicans who want to run as Moderates in 2010 ?
Didn’t McCain just do that ? Yep !
WHAT is that old line . You dip a big hole with no results , you dig , deeper , faster , harder with a bigger Shovel and keep hoping for different results . Are you listening Republicans ? Only to themselves sadly .
Simply put What are the leaders in the Republican party thinking ?

May 23, 2009 - 1:41 pm 17. twolaneflash:

Step away from the punchbowl, dude. Vice President Emeritus Cheney dropped the boy President’s pants and spanked his hairless butt like his daddy would have, if he’d had one.

President Obama taking power from the Dept. of Defense and giving it to his liberal lawyer buddies at the Dept. of Justice is not just “process and packaging”. DoD used their traditional and legal military tribunals to “process” over 500 enemy combatants through Gitmo with 14% returning to jihad. Apparently, under pressure from the Democrats and Bush-hating left, the DoD’s judiciary system has been too lenient with its mercy. The American and allied military who were in combat with the Islamists could have opted for the Geneva Convention’s bullet-to-the-head for these captured enemy combatants who didn’t sport the military uniform of any nation. They sentenced themselves to death when they took up arms against America.

Obama wants to use the remaining 250 Gitmo detainees (the worst) for a campaign stunt or worse. Declare these jihadis to be “criminal suspects”, bring them to America, turn them into media celebrities, open the justice-for-sale court system to them, force the prosecutor to follow the rules of evidence for criminal court demanded of police and district attorney (“When were the defendants not Mirandized, and when did you not know it, soldier?”). The left is willing to pour money into helping these evil men fight and hurt America through our badly strained and questionable justice system, the same system that repeatedly lets illegal alien criminals loose to prey on American lives again, again, and again. Liberal lawyers are rushing to the cameras to be on the jihad legal team and to uphold their lefty bonafides.

Cheney wasn’t the only one handing Obama a defeat this week. The House and Senate refused to fund Obama’s Gitmo no-plan. A federal court ruled the military can detain the jihadis forever.

Mark Steyn suggests Obama declare the protoplasm held at Gitmo to be fetuses, and therefore without rights to life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness – just to processing and packaging.

May 23, 2009 - 1:52 pm 18. Bilgeman:

Mr. Radosh:
“Obama’s genius is that of being able to convince the public that he has made a vast departure, when in fact he has made slight modifications and is continuing the Bush policy. As Goldsmith says, it’s all in the packaging.”

I’m afraid I’m not getting this Goldsmith fellow’s point.

Obama sold his voters on this issue essentially the very same RED used car that they supposedly wanted to get rid of, and has managed to do so by slapping a new coat of shoddy BLUE paint.

This makes him a genius?

Maybe to those double-dummies so exhilarated by their fly new sled, but it seems to the rest of us that all he really did was rook a pack of slack-jawed dullards.

And like shooting dairy cows with your deer rifle, that might be slightly amusing, but it ain’t challenging enough to go bragging on.

May 23, 2009 - 1:54 pm 19. Sebastian Shaw:

President Obama, in his vain attempt to overshadow Dick Cheney, just made himself look like a rank amateur. President Obama did not talk about Gitmo as the main subject, but, instead, talked vaingloriously about himself & his fantasy about his absent parents just made Obama look ridiculous.

Vice President Dick Cheney handed President Obama his butt on a silver platter covered in platinum.

This is one achievement the press cannot even spin. Dick Cheney showed Obama who is boss.

May 23, 2009 - 2:01 pm 20. jihn:

Well, I didn’t like George Bush, but he was a lot better than Barack Obama. President Bush did good on national security and protecting us from terror attacks BUT did a terrible job with enforcing immigration and the economy INCLUDING not communicating with the American people about the democrats in congress hijacking his military support bills with zillions in earmarks, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reids disgusting anti-American congress and fake republicans that were acting like jackasses and not blaming Clinton for the housing collapse like he should have done! BUT- Cheney is right on this one and WE WILL BE ATTACKED soon as there is no way Korea, Iran and Russia won’t seize an opportunity like this where we have an incompetent naive sissy President and a retarded congress. See more at NormalUSA. org and IdiotsForObama dot com.

May 23, 2009 - 2:17 pm 21. NeoConCabal:

(13)Sabastian S…Indeed, he is a Rank Amateur with a sometimes uppity teleprompter! This cheap, cheesy attempt to preempt Mr.Cheney’s long planned speech at AEI is what folks in the ‘hood call Punk. It smelled sour and rang way off key. Those deep thinkers The Bamma has surrounded himself with think they just need to do the PR-Advertising Nimble Speaking Game and they’ll out-clever the Republicans. An intelligence, experience and vastly deep & morally clear soul like Dick Cheney’s can crush their shallow dancing cleverness. That’s exactly what happened.

May 23, 2009 - 2:21 pm 22. Pat J:

If I were Dick Cheney, or Donald Rumsfeld, I would put off traveling outside the country for a very long time.

May 23, 2009 - 2:29 pm 23. Chavo:

In contrast, Barack Obama began with credibility, speaking as a critic of Bush’s terrorism policies and as a champion of civil liberties. Yet, as scores of commentators have noted, he has continued rather than scuttled Bush’s terrorism policies.

Ron, most people would call this hypocrisy.

May 23, 2009 - 2:46 pm 24. AThinkingPerson:

The fact is there is NO OBAMA POLICY! He’s taken Bush’s and renamed it. Unlike the economy where the TeleBama policy is to print money and then throw it with abandon at anyone with their hand out, the war cannot be bought off. He has no leadership skills, no management skills and no military skills so when he just continued onward with Bush’s plan, why was anyone surprised?

May 23, 2009 - 2:54 pm 25. ding:

Cheney, you magnificent bastard!

Wait till his book hits the streets. The left will then descend into a collective seizure, dancing around the then (truth), and now (Obama’s warned over crap sandwich).

May 23, 2009 - 3:07 pm 26. BD57:

I’m trying to understand what it is we’re applauding here ….

Obama continues various Bush Administration policies rather than abandoning them as he promised during his campaign …

Obama lies about what he’s doing and continues trashing the Bush Administration …

And this is somehow praiseworthy?

May 23, 2009 - 3:14 pm 27. Spinoneone:

In RE: Obama’s economic and other policies, the following may be a wake-up call to many. He is running, after all, the National Socialist Democratic Party of the US. He has already written two books about himself.

“If one looks at the Nazi political program, and it’s implementation during the 1930’s (before the war), it was distinctly leftist, and radically so. Quoting Bruce Walker in American Thinker:

Vera Micheles Dean in her 1939 book, Europe in Retreat, written before the Second World War began, said that the Nazis had introduced into Germany a form of graduated Bolshevism, focusing first upon Jewish bankers, industrialists and businessmen, but then upon other businesses, noting that the Nazi goal, from which it had not deviated, was to establish an egalitarian society in which everyone is equal and subordinate to the state.

The main Nazi propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, made it clear from the outset that nothing was more despicable to the Nazis than the Bourgeoisie, the Capitalists and Christianity. Any confusion to the contrary may be due to the fact that the German Conservatives, in a vain attempt to ‘influence’ Hitler, decided to eventually work with him once he rose to power. This granted him the legitimacy he so desperately wanted, the power he needed to fulfill his plans, while the utterly frustrated Germans lived to see him wreck total havoc in Germany and Europe at large.

For obvious propagandistic reasons, Stalin and his allies fiercely insisted on using the ‘right-wing’ label on the Nazis. It would certainly not look good to expose the fact that Communism of the Soviet Union seen from an economic point of view (anti-Semitism is a different matter), was merely a more radical variant of the system implemented by Nazi Germany.”

May 23, 2009 - 3:18 pm 28. Mark Blunt:

We do not need a commander in chief that “packages” his policies to make them palpable, like some greasy salesman peddling Spam.

Obama’s “style” is disingenous at best, and not at all worthy of a US president.

At least with W we knew where he was coming from, and where we were going.

I’m not impressed by O’s dexterity, I’m disgusted.

May 23, 2009 - 3:26 pm 29. shaui-jan:

22.athinkingperson.”why was anyone surprised?”

millions.

May 23, 2009 - 3:29 pm 30. michael Reynolds:

Cheney is a war criminal. He’s also a demonstrated liar. He used torture not to protect this country but to find a justification for an invasion of Iraq.

Thousands of Americans have died in a war Dick Cheney tried to justify by torturing lies from captives.

He is a contemptible human being.

Jutting out your chin, puffing out your chest and behaving brutally is not the best way to keep the country safe. It’s a very big game, with lots of players and lots of elements. Phony macho posturing is stupid and counterproductive.

Unfortunately most commenters above prefer the tough-guy act to the hard work of effective policy. Hardly a surprise from a generation of so-called conservatives raised on the bombast and braggadoccio of talk radio.

May 23, 2009 - 3:43 pm 31. Lucy:

Ron Radosh knows there’s a middle, he’s always there sorta leaning towards the left.

May 23, 2009 - 4:36 pm 32. Phil Byler:

Cheney won. Professor Goldsmith is wrong. This article by Ron Radosh is wrong.

May 23, 2009 - 4:38 pm 33. Войска ПВО:

9. Professor Guvinof writes:

“Between teleprompter-assisted credibility (with the occasional marbled reverberation) and rigorous reference to facts, the citizens..”

Thank you for noticing that, perfesser. I was thinking that President Training Pants’ stagecraft — giving [yet another] telepromptered delivery — this time in front of the constitution, the document he and his minions are working overtime to shred, was wa-a-a-a-a-y over the top.

My call is that Obama does not last the four years. There just aren’t enough of such venues for him to “speechify” in. But, then again, I guess he could resurrect his Denver, Colorado acceptance speech set a few times for a real Lenny Riefenstahl effect.

May 23, 2009 - 4:46 pm 34. Jack:

Ooh so many disappointed Bushies. I would hate to have been a Bush supporter and have to be so angry and bitter and defensive now. It must suck. And by the way, Cheney didn’t win. He lost. He couldn’t provide any facts to back up his assertions, and ultimately just sounded like the megalomaniac we all know he is. For Dick Cheney and his rabid right-wing supporters, ideology is more important than fact, reason, evidence or integrity. Just as long as they get to torture some people.

May 23, 2009 - 5:00 pm 35. Jeff Singer:

David Thompson (and Ron),

You really should check out this excellent piece in the latest “Commentary”:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/special-preview–the-gitmo-myth-and-the-torture-canard-15154

Mr. Herman carefully lays out the facts, like Cheney, but also agrees with Ron and Jack Goldsmith that the Bush Administration failed to “sell” its War on Terror policies to the American people.

May 23, 2009 - 5:10 pm 36. sule:

“President Training Pants”….

Love it! Best descriptive title of THE ONE I’ve read up to now, although “Zero” is a goodie, too.

May 23, 2009 - 5:41 pm 37. misanthropicus:

[...] but the Bush administration showed a foolish indifference “to process and presentation. [...]

They ain’t. At all, at all – yet the liberals’ and “objective media’s” “post-Florida election” fury reached such a devastating intensity and scope that any attempt at correct presentation of the post 9/11 actions and justifications thereof was constantly and viciously drowned.

Liberals, liberals and again liberals – and here’s a royal water test to check their integrity:
1) as we can see, the situation in America hasn’t bettered yet, in spite Obama administration’s efforts to right it. But also, most of media’s frightening coverage of last fall/spring is gone, too.
2) Now let’s have McCain in the WH these days – how would media’s coverage be?
I think that it would be very resembling to “when Katrina meets Abou-Graib” –
QED.

May 23, 2009 - 5:52 pm 38. Ellen K:

Had the Bush administration had not had a gadfly swarm in the press, it is possible that he would not have pursued a policy of cooperating with Congress nor would we even be discussing releasing the violent scum that are residing in Gitmo onto American soil where ACLU lawyers will make them into celebrity darlings. And that is why this presidency is such a farce. It’s funny how Obama was all bluster and blare regarding Gitmo up until he had the security briefings after the election. While it’s easy to Monday Morning Quarterback the war and various situations surrounding the war, there is no question that there has not be a catastrophic terror attack on our soil since 9/11. Funny how Spain, England and Germany are either actively seeking terrorist cells in their midst or dealing with a hostile resident alien population that demands that sovereign law take a second place to the outlaw sharia tribal belief system.

The saddest part of this is that we could have taken out Iraq and Afghanistan with harsher tactics and heavier weapons. The Shock and Awe was not nearly as hard as it could have been because President Bush, the same one burnt in effigy and reviled by the media, sought to limit collateral damage. Did any of the 20 jihadis seek to avoid killing women and children? No, of course not, because they view women and children as object. They hide behind them in Palestine, in the Swat Valley, in Somolia because they know that even if it is an honest attempt to eliminate dangerous rogue warriors, if innocents get killed, the media will make it America’s fault. So whose fault was 9/11? Khobar Towers? Where were these ‘brave pundits’ then?

And the news media wonders why their stock is drying up like a puddle in the Texas sun.

May 23, 2009 - 5:54 pm 39. Class Clown:

Ron, I think you only partially addressing the real point.

What is revealed in all of this is that the hard-left didn’t oppose Bush so much as they opposed any effort to fight terrorism in the first place.

Bush could have done a much better job of communicating his reasons to the public. However, the context of all of his actions were that he was up against a Leftist establishment out to thwart any effort to fight terrorism at all, and many important Democratic congressmen and women connived at this. The Left were not out to see that the process was more fair and legal, they were out to use any and all means disrupt the process. It is in that context that they opposed Guantananamo, military tribunals, rendition, etc.; not because they thought the methods were wrong, but because they wanted to bring the process into the U.S. courts (onto their own turf, as it were) where they could disrupt and undermine the entire effort.

I will give Obama credit that he finally recognized the need to keep the Bush methods in place. However, I do not at all trust him to wisely use them. To rework the old Reagan quote for a new generation, I would ask “Are you safer than you were four years ago?”.

I think the answer is no.

May 23, 2009 - 6:24 pm 40. Wallace:

In contrast, Barack Obama began with credibility, speaking as a critic of Bush’s terrorism policies and as a champion of civil liberties.

Let me get this straight:
Obama is effective and credible because he is a critic of Bush’s terrorism policies though he has continued these same policies. So, you can argue that the policies themselves are not the problem, just the superficial appearance. Therefore, Bush is not effective and credible because the appearance of these policies during his administration is bad. Why was it bad? Wasn’t it because Obama and his ilks did and and still do their best to slander Bush by painting these very same policies as evil to score political points? Without this effort, you can argue that Bush could have been effective since there is nothing wrong with those policies. Hence, you can conclude that Obama weakened the US’ efforts in the war on terror. Isn’t that a contradiction to the premise that Obama is credible and effective on the war on terror?

On civil liberties:
Obama is a champion of civil liberties? You’ve gotta be kidding me. Civil liberties doesn’t not include sending thugs to CEOs’ houses with a pitchfork and claiming that you are the only one standing between them. It does not include forcing companies not wanting them to take government money and acting like their boss while not allowing those companies to pay back the loan. It does not include saddling the next generation with huge debts that enslave them to the government’s tax enforcers. It does not include wide groups such as veterans and conservatives as potential terrorists. It does not include race baiting or using his own race to deflect criticism. And on and on. The man is the antithesis of Martin Luther King’s dream.

May 23, 2009 - 6:27 pm 41. Meryl:

Cheney: knowledge and experience with butt-kicking included at no extra cast

Nice gravitas. Very nice.

May 23, 2009 - 6:56 pm 42. 888:

Obama has no credibility. Only the elitist, arrogant, hypocrite Obama can go to the National Archives and have the gall to talk about Bush officials shredding the constitution and all that the constitution stands for, while he has been fiercely and brazenly mocking the constitution left and right with his hiding behind his sealed birth certificate, medical records and student records. That transparency and accountability BS he kept talking about during the campaigns and still today he talks about, is just that — BS.

Obama is so worried that the people (those who voted for him and gave him millions) will find out about how he is skirting constitutional requirements (or rather, the law — wasn’t he an adjunct professor of constitutional law??), that he’s doing everything he can to blame the world’s problems on Bush. In his warped and very angry mind (look at how he talks on camera when he shifts blame on Bush — SO ANGRY!!!), he thinks America is gonna go along with that blame Bush BS for the next 4 years. Keep the focus on Bush and the last 8 years so that no one will question the eligibility issue.

It’s obvious this guy has no executive or leadership experience, because a good executive or leader would start making things happen, and then make the accomplishments speak for themselves, without having to bash the predecessor. Only the incompetent consistently bash on their predecessors to make themselves look good. And, only stupid, brainwashed followers believe what the basher is saying, instead of looking at the facts and what the basher is accomplishing, or not.

In the meantime, Bush — the good Christian that he is, sits back quietly and doesn’t fire back because he’s not angry or is trying to fool anyone. In fact, again the good Christian and honorable person that Bush is, he’s probably praying for Obama’s success. Now that’s the difference between the person who speaks badly of a person who was trying to do good for all people (not just those who voted for him and gave him millions), and the good person who doesn’t say a word about the evil that speaks harshly about him. What comes around, will definitely go around.

May 23, 2009 - 6:58 pm 43. MikeD:

“At least that’s what all my independent friends tell me.”

Right Sheesh; a nutjob, a retard, and an a@&hole. If you weren’t so transparent, so unconvincing, and so stupid we might be concerned. Five + months of your assinine statements here have convinced almost everyone to ignore whatever you say. I’m afraid Soros isn’t getting his money’s worth. Nobody much pays attention to your comments except to ridicule you. You could go away, of course, but then I guess we couldn’t look forward to your amusing thoughts and profound insights. Idiot.

May 23, 2009 - 7:30 pm 44. Paul of Alexandria:

David Thomson (1):

The Bush administration was consistently slimed by the hostile MSM and its allies. They treat Barack Obama in a completely different manner. That’s it in a nutshell. It really is that simple

David, you et al are missing the point. Ron never said that President Bush didn’t do a good job or that his actions weren’t effective. The contest that he was talking about was in American public opinion. Any observer of President Bush has to admit that no matter how laudable his actions were, he failed miserably in promoting them in the public venue. I experienced no end of frustration waiting for Bush to make some public statement telling us what the heck was going on. Anything! I’m not talking about state secrets, just a brief “here’s what we’re doing and here’s why it’s important.”

May 23, 2009 - 7:32 pm 45. Stuart:

Even if Obama kept every effective tool of the Bush administration’s national security apparatus, let’s not forget that Obama released detailed accounts of practices our intelligence agencies used. Only someone with a naive conception of what motivates our enemies and disregard for the efforts of Americans post 9/11 would do such a thing.

As for the claim that Obama is packaging his- and Bush’s- anti-terror policies better, what are the ramifications for political discourse of Obama’s shell game? Obama has validated the basic claims, even if he hasn’t followed up with action, of the Left. He’s done this by continuing to bang on about the terrible things we did for the past 8 years, and by reiterating the simplistic notion that individual rights and national security are not sometimes in tension. In House and Senate elections and the next presidential election, national security minded candidates will be on the defensive, forced to proved they don’t support torture. And Obama, by baselessly charging Guantanamo spawned more terrorists, gives more weight to the trope that the U.S. is largely responsible for the animosity of Islamists.

May 23, 2009 - 8:27 pm 46. Delia:

DohBama’s waffling, Bush-did-it campaign girls gone wild speech was mind numbing, Cheney’s words were a lightning rod of REALITY sans cupcakes and fairytales.

Who won?

The TRUTH.

May 23, 2009 - 8:56 pm 47. silversurfer:

How can anyone considered to be as brillint as Goldsmith, Kmiec, or Radosh even begin to believe in Obama. His acceptance of Bush policies was in no way a politically calculated move. It was the action of a desperate group of naive fools who realized that they were in over their heads and that they had no other option than to follow the established policies they so vehemently denounced in the election.

When my students ask me if I like Pres. Obama, I reply that I respect him because he is the President and that his election proves that anyone can become President. What they don’t realize is that I really mean that he proves that any idiot in this nation can rise to positions of power, even that office. The immaturity and petulance that emanates from the White House on a daily basis is truly frightening.

May 23, 2009 - 9:12 pm 48. silversurfer:

I should add that VP Cheney proved to me that their are some people in positions of power with a bit more knowledge, intellectual weight, and wisdom than the average man.

May 23, 2009 - 9:14 pm 49. Chris Bolts Sr.:

So, Goldsmith’s argument is that Barack Obama is a better salesman than George Bush, but George Bush is a better innovator than Brack Obama. Well, glad we cleared that up.

May 23, 2009 - 9:22 pm 50. donttreadonme:

Sheesh,
Gitmo closed? NOPE
Rendition stopped? NOPE
Tribunals stopped? NOPE
Out of Iraq? NOPE
More or less military in M.E.? MORE
You have been lied to and can now go ahead and get thet “Useful Idiot” tee shirt printed up.
As for who won, hell, that doesn’t need commentary – just pay attention to how red Olbermann’s face gets and how much spittle lingers on his sweaty upper lip. By the “Olbermann Meter” Cheney must have bitch-slapped the Boy King but good.
Oh, and nice job sabotaging your future. Its hard enough to get a job with that sociology degree as it is, but your idiot POTUS is bring you home to momma’s house for the next eight years at least. THINK before you vote, fool.

May 23, 2009 - 9:51 pm 51. Ellen K:

I keep remembering the old adage “There’s no atheists in foxholes.” To my way of thinking, there’s no liberals or pacifists there either. If, God forbid, the slack handling of American security policies allow terror cells to hit a large city such as LA or San Diego, the political landscape will change. Then we will see how strongly some people hold their avowed beliefs and who has the wits to do something productive rather than just garnering laurels from the likes of Keith Olberman.

May 23, 2009 - 9:56 pm 52. David M. in Europe:

When you have an enemy who wants to kill you, there is no middle ground and Cheney is right. It is ridiculous to give any credit to Barack Hussein Obama and I have wondered, time and time again, if he is on the side of the USA. Dick Cheney is RIGHT and Barack Hussein Obama is WRONG.

We have a lot of sick politicians in Europe and you have one of the sickest in the world at the White House.

May 23, 2009 - 11:39 pm 53. REDBALL6:

You all argue and fiddle! while they load, plan, re-plan reload. Your arrogance will be your undoing. What number do you want on the water torture wheel of fortune. What body count coincides with your decision to implement proven methods necessary to gain actionable information? Where do, or does your moral outrage ever collide with your common sense? You all, pontificate, they plan, refine, re-plan refine further, they load, acquire, find sympathisers, the easily lead, the ones walking the lonely street of humanities by ways. They have infinite patience they live here now in village, towns and cities. They are waiting organizing, planning, refining. You!, most of you on the other hand are moralizing idiots. The American political class fiddles, the jihadist prepares his matchers. You deserve what is coming because you (the collective you) are to stupid or distracted and far too many of you have not learned your history.
Check your six, it may not be there tomorrow, or that of your families.
Redball 6

May 24, 2009 - 12:33 am 54. PatriotUSA:

#6 Sheesh wrote:

“Cheney won with radical right wing extremists willing to wrap their principles in the Constitution and chew it into a nice patriotic bolus that they swallow, digest, and pinch out of their ass like every other opinion and commitment they have. Obama won with everybody else. At least that’s what all my independent friends tell me.”

Sorry, but my LIBERAL, LEFT WING and INDEPENDENT friends tell me otherwise. They ALL felt the mullah obamaham’s ass got kicked all over the room by Dick Cheney. Almost every one of these friends, including those that voted for Obama have stated to me that there are losing confidence in him and his abilities to protect and run this country. Cheney won over many of my liberal buddies, and I have quite a few. These people feel Obama has NO policy of continuity and substance. You can whitewash this how ever you want to, Sheesh but Cheney reached way beyond the right wing extremeists, as you like to label them. Keep sucking down your Koolaid like a good little comrade and it will all be all right. Big brother will take care of you, Sheesh. I for one do not want or need the Gov’t taking care of me and watching, trying to control everything I do, influence every decision I may have to make now or in the future. Ron Radosh is wrong, and so are Obambi’s policies. Time and opinions are already proving this out.

May 24, 2009 - 1:02 am 55. BPT (Australia):

I’ve gained more respect for Cheney. The speech was excellent.

May 24, 2009 - 2:38 am 56. Steveoh:

Mr Radosh,
Our national security is about a lot more than Gitmo. Obama’s attempts to package some of the previous administrations policies in a more palatable light is really just a microcasm of his decision making up to this point. We are indeed in far more danger now. Obama’s first call to a mid east leader was Abu Mazen. Terrorist. He has appeased the Mullah’s of Iran whom Carter allowed to return from exile. He is trying this same paint the rosy picture, yet his policy decisions are leading to a Nuclear Iran. Abandonment of Israel militarily and ideologically. Permitting power grabs by Hezbollah and Syria in Lebanon. So much for the cedar revolution. I won’t even get into China and Russia. Bad article. Cherry picked subject matter, twisted and used to show the One is really a Harvard Centrist. Problem is, he’s not. Re-think your take Ron. Obama is leading us down a road to disaster.

May 24, 2009 - 4:00 am 57. Cassandra Troy:

A premium on hypocrisy … very disappointing.

May 24, 2009 - 4:53 am 58. LBC:

Now that Pelosi stepped in it and can’t get it off her shoe, I wonder what our brave soldiers, CIA, FBI and etc. are thinking? How dare her insult them. ESPECIALLY, this weekend of all weekends. Memorial Day!
God Bless, Cheney. This article is full of bunk. Period.
Stand up Conservatives in Congress (is anyone there?)…Cheney needs some support and try to remember 2010 is right around the bend. The Californians have started the ball rolling and it won’t stop…it is going to roll faster and faster and it is not EVEN going downhill..
God Bless America and our Military.
TEA PARTY July 4 2009

May 24, 2009 - 6:13 am 59. briinn:

I cannot agree more, my most fervent disagreement with the administration during the last eight years was the presentation and the packaging. While I agreed with the methods needed to protect America, I disagreed with the continued silence whenever the media and academia twisted and savaged the administration’s policies without so much as a rebuttal or an explanation to the American people.

It’s one thing to portray yourself as the strong and silent type – allowing your efforts to speak for themselves, it’s quite another when you’re dealing with a dishonorable media and an out-of-touch academic elite. Presentation makes a huge difference, as we are currently witnessing. It does matter. Most Americans have embraced the common-sense approach to security. Observe the reaction to Cheney finally taking a stand.

May 24, 2009 - 6:40 am 60. Sebastian Shaw:

“The truth will out.”

President Obama misunderstands the role of the Office of the President: It is not to be popular & give speeches, but to be the leader of the United States by defending the Constitution & Americans. President Obama has done the exact opposite with his Socialist agenda & his Hate America Tour.

Eventually, Obama’s carefully created facade with crumble & the truth will come through as the light casts against his dark, evil shadow.

The question is not will Obama have a meltdown, but WHEN will Obama have a meltdown?

This is a hint of things to come.

May 24, 2009 - 7:04 am 61. David S:

It appears that the GOP plan to regain power in DC involves a terrorist attack. How charming.

Peace.

DS

May 24, 2009 - 7:11 am 62. Delia:

40. David S

“It appears that the GOP plan to regain power in DC involves a terrorist attack. How charming.”
~

David, the last home-grown ‘terrorist’ attempt on our soil was by 4 black muslim males going ‘jihadi’.

Nice try.

May 24, 2009 - 7:21 am 63. Edward A:

How dare any piece in Pajamas Media praise Obama? Next we will hear Rush is out of the Republican party.

May 24, 2009 - 7:27 am 64. twolaneflash:

Cheney/Palin 2012!

May 24, 2009 - 7:50 am 65. shaui-jan:

40.david s “It appears that the GOP plan to regain power in DC involves a terrorist attack. How charming.

peace”

that comment encapsualates so much ignorance…..so succinctly…i am at a loss for words…good job.

May 24, 2009 - 7:52 am 66. David Thomson:

“The question is not will Obama have a meltdown, but WHEN will Obama have a meltdown?”

I still believe that there is 50/50 chance that Barack Obama will not finish out his term. The stress will get to him and he will resign for medical reasons. Obama is way over his head. He is not even close to being ready for prime time.

May 24, 2009 - 7:53 am 67. twolaneflash:

Since David S. argues that the GOP desires a terrorist attack on American soil just for political gain, let’s examine the fallacies of David S:

Moving the Goalpost – Check
Impugning Motives – Check
Misuse of Information – Check
Poisoning the Well – Check
Sanctimony – Check
Simple-Minded Certitude – Check
Special Pleading – Check
Argument by Artifice – Check
Argument by Slogan – Check
Burden of Proof – Check
Factoid Progagation – Check
False Analogy – Check
False Attribution – Check
False Correlation – Check

Thinking and arguing with honesty and clarity is not the way of liberals. The compulsion of the left to generate emotional conflict filled with fear, uncertainty, and doubt, then to call that an honorable argument. The Alinsky rules for radicals are only effective against the ignorant and gullible.

Cheney/Palin 2012! I’d go hunting terrorists with those two any day. With Obama/Biden, never, unless I get an irresistible death wish.

May 24, 2009 - 8:24 am 68. ehunter:

The basic premise of the Obama speech is unbelievable. Every week of every year for the past 35 years came news of the newest Islamic
hijacking, bombing, murder. There was no Gitmo
interrogation tactics for radical Islam to use
as an excuse to attack or recruit members. It was weak American response that was to blame.
For the past 8 years radical Islam has been in retreat in the West…and its intelligence gathering that has stopped it. Not some mutual understanding and respect between Islam and the West.

May 24, 2009 - 8:29 am 69. Oscar Wao:

“The question is not will Obama have a meltdown, but WHEN will Obama have a meltdown?”

I still believe that there is 50/50 chance that Barack Obama will not finish out his term. The stress will get to him and he will resign for medical reasons. Obama is way over his head. He is not even close to being ready for prime time.

You guys would sound more intelligent if you were having an argument about whether it was Thor or Superman who was stronger.

May 24, 2009 - 9:04 am 70. Insufficiently Sensitive:

Only the elitist, arrogant, hypocrite Obama can go to the National Archives and have the gall to talk about Bush officials shredding the constitution and all that the constitution stands for

I think he chose the National Archives to site his latest self-promoting theatrical, because it was the scene of a recent Democratic triumph in crooked political dealings. Namely, the destruction by Sandy Berger of records which the public owns, and should have had access to, in order to assess the character of decision-making by the Clinton administration.

The Berger episode was another failure of the Bush administration to adminster swift and severe justice to political hacks who tampered with the national records. There’s no excuse, beyond tolerance of treasonous malfeasance, in letting Berger off so lightly.

May 24, 2009 - 9:05 am 71. Byron Dickens:

Osama – I mean Obama, the friend of terrorists (Ayers) is gonna fight terrorists? Give me a break!

May 24, 2009 - 9:22 am 72. WhyamInotsurprised?:

#27 Mr. Blunt – on your comment “greasy salesman peddling Spam” I think you unintentionally besmirched both sellers of Spam and the product itself. No need to clearly drag down these respectable icons of America with the likes of “The One with a Gift.” ha ha ha.

Spam I can handle. Seeing BHO’s face or hearing his droning voice makes me sick. Even though I understand your displeasure, please try to limit the collateral damage.

May 24, 2009 - 9:55 am 73. bobbcat:

64. Thomson: I still believe that there is 50/50 chance that Barack Obama will not finish out his term. The stress will get to him and he will resign for medical reasons. Obama is way over his head. He is not even close to being ready for prime time.

To say that would be a dream-come-true is an understatement. I wonder though if you have debated with yourself, as I have, whether BO’s performance so far is reflective of a great deal of ignorance or of one who is truly diabolical. If it’s the latter, I doubt seriously this ‘dream’ will ever come true.

May 24, 2009 - 10:14 am 74. aaron:

I’ve worked in counterterrorism and I’m a politically independent voter.

O’s moralizing speach leaves me with no confidence. Cheney addressed issues important to the security of this nation.

May 24, 2009 - 11:40 am 75. acj:

It won’t be long before Cheney seeks his underground hide out. His ideology is out of date, and is a proven failure. He is only trying to make himself into a respectable ex-leader, defending his mistakes.

May 24, 2009 - 11:54 am 76. acj:

Obama has made real changes by starting the process of closing Gitmo and putting suspected terrorist in high security prisons. He has also made public his view on water boarding as an unethical form of torture. Obama has gone to Europe to apologize for America’s last 8 years.
The Bush administration fought the war on terror with a pre-9/11 fixed ideology that Iraq needed to be dealt with as a failed regime, and Afghanistan took a downturn into neglect. The lack of action in Afghanistan and the offensive approach to war with Iraq lost all empathy for the 9/11 attacks. It set us back.
The Bush Administration failed miserably.

May 24, 2009 - 12:22 pm 77. sheesh:

48. donttreadonme . . . First, I don’t need a job. And I’m happy about that. Second, as long as you keep judging conservatives’ success by Keith Olberman’s diatribes, you’ll never get past go. Keep you eye on Countdown, I hear Mancow is subbing next week.

May 24, 2009 - 12:58 pm 78. acj:

Fear? Fear mongering is the Republican way to win elections, talk people into a war, and be able to have blank checks handed to them. Fear? The Republicans keep a high level of fear to NOT elect Democrats because they are soft on terror.
I was so happy to see the day when code orange wasn’t on my screen anymore.

May 24, 2009 - 2:05 pm 79. 888:

We’re not judging conservatives’ success by Olberman; we’re judging it by Obama’s words (flip-flops, blame game and distortion of facts) and actions (or, rather, inactions) to keep American safe and strong. Obama hasn’t done anything so far to, among other things, bring record unemployment down, bring purchasing/financial/economic confidence up, figure out what to do with terrorist detainees, figure out how he’s going to pay for the universal healthcare he keeps pushing to get 2012 votes, voice a credible foreign policy and way forward with the likes of North Korea-China-Russia-Iran.

All he’s about are photo-ops, Bush-bashing and showing the world what an angry, inexperienced, naive, arrogant, elitist hypocrite he is.

By the way, how did his illegal immigrant aunt get an extension to stay in America?? She should have been deported months (years) ago back to Kenya? What’s going on here?

May 24, 2009 - 4:10 pm 80. Sebastian Shaw:

David Thompson (#64), Obama’s narcissism will make him complete his 4 year term; yes, it will be one disaster on top of another similar to Jimmy Carter as he twitches uncontrollably the teleprompters will not even save him.

President Obama believes he is right & everyone else is too stupid to make the right decision. However, it is Obama who is wrong.

I hope you’re right that Obama will quit when the pressure & stress gets to Obama since he has already shown to be completely out of his depth; Obama is used to be superficial. Superficial does not sell as President of the United States.

But I’m not so sure I want President Joe Biden either.

May 24, 2009 - 4:11 pm 81. Sebastian Shaw:

I mean David Thomson.

May 24, 2009 - 4:39 pm 82. soupcon:

I always thought you to be a much more intelligent man, Mr Radosh.Have you been fooling so many of us these past 10 years?

May 24, 2009 - 6:59 pm 83. vivo:

Obama has it right.

Cheney had it all wrong.

Keeping things simple.

May 25, 2009 - 12:33 am 84. Sebastian Shaw:

Vivo, how can Obama have it right? He wants it both ways. He also wants to give terrorists Constitutional rights when they are not Americans & wants to put the same terrorists on Welfare!

North Korea’s nuclear test today just shows once more Obama is out of his depth.

May 25, 2009 - 8:39 am 85. David S:

@60. Delia:

Nice try.

The idea that the GOP needs a terror attack wasn’t mine. I was just passing on this gem:
In his first interview as the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, Dennis Milligan told a reporter that America needs to be attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that President Bush has done to protect the country.

Cheney appears to be pursuing the same ‘logic’.

@63. shaui-jan:

that comment encapsualates so much ignorance…..so succinctly…i am at a loss for words…good job.

I really can’t take credit – it was an ‘inside’ job.

@65. twolaneflash:

Thinking and arguing with honesty and clarity is not the way of liberals. The compulsion of the left to generate emotional conflict filled with fear, uncertainty, and doubt, then to call that an honorable argument. The Alinsky rules for radicals are only effective against the ignorant and gullible.

I’m quite sure that Cheney’s remarks were intended to generate emotional conflict filled with fear, uncertainty, and doubt. It would be willfully dishonest to call Cheney’s an honorable argument based on your criteria.

You make this too easy. Cheney is preying on the worst fears and prejudices of the people and all you can do is complain that Obama wants to restore the rule of law. Ignorant and gullible? Keep up the demonstration. You’re doing it right.

Peace.

DS

PS – Have fun hunting with Cheney!

May 25, 2009 - 9:13 am 86. Bill Johnson:

DS:
I’d go hunting with Cheney any day. He won’t turn on me like Obama does. And I’m armed.

And Obama is full of bovine excerement. Cheney, facts. I’m waiting for your point-by-point refutation of his speeech – since you know so damn much.

Enlighten us – really – show us some facts. Your opinion? well, ust like anuses, everybody’s got one, and yours smells.

May 25, 2009 - 3:51 pm 87. sheesh:

And the winner is . . . radical Islam.

May 26, 2009 - 7:17 am 88. shaui-jan:

74.acj.”Obama has made real changes by starting the process of closing Gitmo and putting suspected terrorist in high security prisons.”

real nice…starting the process…that’s a good one.

“and putting suspected terrorist in high security prisons.”

the vast majority of the country’s national gang leaders are in one prison,housed in the same building..the same unit.pelican bay SHU.guess what…. these “shot callers”still control the gangs……despite the strictest security imaginable……they still order murders.so you think bringing terrorists here is a good idea?

“He has also made public his view on water boarding as an unethical form of torture.”

which is why he retained the right to use it….when he feels like it.

“Obama has gone to Europe to apologize for America’s last 8 years.”

which america was this?

“The lack of action in Afghanistan and the offensive approach to war with Iraq lost all empathy for the 9/11 attacks. It set us back.”

i could care less about people’s ‘empathy’ when all they offer is empty platitudes.
if you think commiting additional conventional land forces to afganistan was a good idea…well then your among the smallest minority of the informed.
a bunch of dead tango’s is not’a set back’……it is progress.

May 26, 2009 - 5:27 pm 89. Mockingbird:

The bible warns of being self absorbed and arrogant, and I think Obama is arrogant and self absorbed. During his eight years, George Bush always had humility, and it is a very good trait and one that I always side with, because Jesus had it, if you read his words in the bible you would see he had it and George Bush must have read the bible, because I feel he went by it.
If you were to stand a bragging man in one corner and a humble man in the other corner, I will run to the humble mans side every time. Because the humble man is the good side and the arrogant one is evil.
I feel we need Dick Cheney speaking up right now, and that he is doing a great service to our Military and to our country. I wish he were President.
Dick Cheney has “True Grit” and we are seeing a modern day cowboy ride in on his horse and save his country by putting the bad guys in their place just like John Wayne.
Thank You for your article.

May 27, 2009 - 7:12 am 90. The Historian:

GITMO SPEECH REVEALS MUCH ABOUT OBAMA
Most all of it is not good.

http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-his-gitmo-speech-reveals-about.html

May 27, 2009 - 4:09 pm

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