The Sunday morning talk shows have provided a platform for many opinions over the years. However, nothing has been as exciting recently as the battle of the vice president’s that has been waging over the airwaves during the past few weeks.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has not missed an opportunity since he left the White House to make his voice heard; namely criticizing the new administration. Cheney has mainly focused on addressing foreign policy, military, and terror issues. He seems to speak up now more than he ever did when he was in office.
One month ago, when President Obama announced his military strategy in Afghanistan, it took no time for Cheney to set up a 90 minute interview at his own suburban Washington home where he said, “I begin to get nervous when I see the commander in chief making decisions apparently for what I would describe as small ‘p’ political reasons, where he’s trying to balance off different competing groups in society,” Cheney said.
“Every time he delays, defers, debates, or changes his position, it begins to raise questions: Is the commander in chief really behind what they’ve been asked to do?”
This criticism fits just about the mold of every attack the vice president has made on the administration, emphasizing his attacks on his perceived weakness and indecisiveness in the president.
The current administration had long taken a stance on not engaging with these types of attacks from anyone. Since the White House Communications Director, Anita Dunn, stepped down earlier this year the administration has been more aggressive with their message. So much so that this time when former vice president Cheney went on the offensive after Biden stated that he had confidence in the nations defenses against another 9/11 type attack, the administration countered with vice president, Joe Biden.
“I always underestimate the way Dick Cheney approaches things,” Biden said on CBS, “Face the Nation.” “The reason it’s unlikely is because we have been relentless, absolutely relentless in isolating al Qaeda, central al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, al Qaeda coming out of the Afghan-Pakistan region.”
Cheney called that notion “dead wrong.”
“I think, in fact, the situation with respect to al Qaeda to say that, you know, that was a big attack we had on 9/11, but it’s not likely again, I just think that’s dead wrong,” the former vice president said on “This Week. “I think the biggest strategic threat the United States faces today is the possibility of another 9/11 with a nuclear weapon or a biological agent of some kind, and I think al Qaeda is out there even as we meet trying to figure out how to do that.”
Cheney also defended water boarding, the enhanced interrogation technique that has been considered torture and attacked by Democrats and Republicans alike. “I was a big supporter of water boarding. I was a big supporter of the enhanced interrogation techniques,” he said. Cheney added that he opposed the current administration’s move to do away with it.
“That’s Dick Cheney. Thank God the last administration didn’t listen to him at the end,” Biden countered. “I think his fight seems to be with the last administration. We did exactly what President Bush did. We got the similar result. We are protecting America. And I don’t know, it seems like Dick Cheney can’t take yes for an answer.”
With no end in sight it seems that the feud will provide pulpits for both sides and good ratings for the media.
