AP Cheney accused of politicizing terrorism

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060811/ap_on_el_ge/us_terror_plot_politics

Cheney accused of politicizing terrorism

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 37 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Senate Democratic leaders on Friday accused Vice President
Dick Cheney of playing politics with terrorism and contended that voters won't buy Republican arguments that the GOP is stronger on national security.


"They've run this play one too many times. The American people simply do not recognize any validity in what they're saying," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a conference call with reporters.

Democrats sought to put Republicans on the defensive on what historically has been a GOP strength — national security. The heated rhetoric came a day after the disclosure of a thwarted plot to blow up flights from Britain to the United States. Within hours of that news, each party accused the other of doing too little to deter the threat of attack.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., faulted Cheney and Senate Republicans for politicizing the issue.

"They shouldn't. We should all be uniting and be together at this point," said Schumer, the head of the Senate Democrats' campaign committee. "But if they're going to throw the political bombs on this issue, we are going to answer them loud and clear, and we believe we have the political high ground.".........

[rodeodance]

1. Average (330 votes) 3.8 stars

Average (330 votes)
3.8 stars

[fooj]

2. Truth is our most powerful weapon.

:patriot:

[SKKY]

14. Turth, and a well-timed heart attack...

[librechik]

37. feh--he's a cyborg. Cheney can't die.

he should have died years ago--Satan is keeping him alive, or his manic desire for ultimate power.

[BattyDem]

19. Exactly! It's what they are MOST afraid of!

:patriot:

[Tiggeroshii]

3. This is an almost accurate title.

The only problem is it needs to take out the word "accused" and they would be right on the money.

[rodeodance]

4. Reid has a petition to stop this nonsense:

this was posted earlier on DU



Pass this to all you know.

http://www.democratsenators.org/dia/organizations/dscc/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=27&t=plain.dwt

Fri Aug-11-06 02:35 PM
Original message
GOP Playing Politics With Our Security--- Sen. Reid email
Dear dweller,

Yesterday's arrests of terror suspects in Britain offered a stark reminder of the threat that America continues to face from Islamic fundamentalists.

It is at times like these when every leader in Washington, regardless of party affiliation, should be united behind the singular goal of keeping this country safe. But Republicans don't see it that way.

Once again, GOP leaders are using terrorism and our national security as a political wedge issue. It is disgusting - but not surprising.

This week, after Ned Lamont won the Connecticut Democratic primary, Dick Cheney said his victory would embolden "al-Qaeda types." Is this the type of country we're going to live in? Where the Vice President of the United States can blatantly suggest that Connecticut voters are aiding the terrorists?

Even more disgraceful is that when Cheney made those comments, he had been briefed on the Britain terror plot. There are simply no boundaries for these people. In their minds, our national security and their continued hold on power are one and the same. And they will stop at nothing to keep it that way.

Click here to tell Dick Cheney and Republican leaders to stop playing politics with our national security.

http://www.democratsenators.org/dia/organizations/dscc/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=27&t=plain.dwt


During the 2002 and 2004 elections, Republicans tried to sow fear in the American public by claiming that they were the only ones who could keep America safe. This, from the same crowd that has driven Iraq to the brink of disaster, left Osama Bin Laden on the loose to attack again, and continues to ignore our security needs at home. Ask any foreign policy pro, and they'll tell you we're less safe now than we were five years ago - and that the Bush crowd is largely responsible.

I've had it. This cruel joke has gone on for too long. Tell Republicans in Washington that you won't put up with their fear-mongering any longer.

It is time for Americans to take back our country back. I hope I can count on your support.

Sincerely,http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1888498&mesg_id=1888498

[dweller]

38. thanks rodeodance!

:kick:

keep the message up!
dp

[msongs]

5. 3 repub failures: prevent 9/11, afghanistan, iraq war and occupation

so they are not so great in the terror scene, except for causing it.

absence of attacks is not proof repub policies and leadership are the cause.


Msongs
www.msongs.com/2007politicalcalendars.htm

[longship]

6. Go Harry, Go!!!

Great response. It's timely and appropriate.
Schumer, too.

I'm calling them... right now to thank them.

[maxsolomon]

7. that's the spirit!

hit back hard, hit back fast. call them out. don't concede an inch.

[mhatrw]

8. Cheney: "I have nothing to sneer but fear itself." (nt)

[onehandle]

9. Are DUers getting this? This is an early salvo leading to Impeachment.

Make Congress Democratic if you want Bush and Cheney to get what they deserve.

[Raydawg1234]

23. how does this lead to impeachment??

[onehandle]

31. "Politicizing Terrorism" will be a PR nightmare for the GOP next year.

When we control Congress, investigations will clearly show that Bush and Cheney hid behind 9/11 while committing high crimes.

The rest of the GOP (the ones who aren't indicted with them) will leave them swinging in the wind to avoid embarrassment and save their own asses.

Democrats will bring this issue front and center in the news and keep them in their place. It will be our "Monica", except of course that it's a real and important issue.

[connecticut yankee]

10. And what have they done

in the past five years?

[keta11]

11. What about the proper headline

-"Cheney keeps politicizing terrorism"

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. Get back in your cave, Dick. Nobody's listening.

[boobooday]

13. Well, yeah.

"we believe we have the political high ground."

It's very true in the case of Schumer, but in reality Cheney sets the bar pretty low, as he has lingered, like the troll under the bridge, for decades, waiting for his opportunity, if you will. And when the troll comes out into the light of day, he is uglier than all the childhood nightmares ever inspired by the Brothers Grimm.

[Disturbed]

15. Darth often uses the phrase, "If you will."

Wouldn't it be great if an Interviewer piped in, "No, I will not."

[boobooday]

17. He says it almost every time he tells a lie

So he really does say it a lot.

the last throes . . . if you will.

[durtee librul]

16. A=B, B=C, then A=C, right?

So we bombed Afghanistan for 9/11 and terrists....bombed and invaded Iraq to rid the world of evil doers...so now do we bomb Britain for having citizens of Pakistani descent who alledgely launched a plot? (which I find appalling as they are citizens, makes not a whit of difference where their parents came from in my world)....

So let's see now, binary weapons.....been around for a bit if my memory serves me correctly so I guess my question if I was one of the more intrepid reporters in our wonderful M$M would be:

"Hey dummies, when you spent all the money on setting up airline security, why didn't you 'think' of these?"

Never mind, I already know the answers:
a - we missed it intentionally so we could soak you the taxpayer for more money later,

b - we didn't think them terrists were that smart

c - we can't re-elected unless we scare everyone into believing we have homeland security in control.

You f'g idiots....game's up. Pulled this out of the hat at the wrong time and all you did was show your utter stupidity. Rove must have been asleep at the wheel with this one.

Probably a warm-up for the Novemeber elections.

[rodeodance]

24. for sure for sure

[NoodleyAppendage]

18. Love ya' Harry, but you gotta cut down on using words like "validity"

Someone needs to remind Harry that about 40% of the US populace has a 3rd grade vocabulary. Words like "validity" are lost upon these folks, which is exactly why the Chimperior speaks at or below their level.

J

[MasonJar]

28. The Stump is on their level. As Mark Twain so eloquently put it,

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." (I sincerely hope I quoted that correctly.) Stump is as ignorant as a stump (my apologies to all stumps out there), and the worst thing is that he likes himself that way.

[billyoc]

20. Should read, "Cheney accused of terrorizing politics"

How else would you really describe his claims that a vote for his political rivals will result in your death?

I mean, really... :eyes:

[ShockediSay]

21. at least our side is speaking up immediately to counter their bullshit

AND our side is saying basically the same thing

it appeals to the sound bite mentality that seems to govern our voters

[cyclezealot]

22. They know they really have to inflame American fears

Because should LaMont's win reflect American attitudes, they are sunk. THis is their only play they have left to ignore the disasters 5 years of rule has delivered.

[mhatrw]

25. The only thing he has to sneer is fear itself. n/t

[struggle4progress]

26. Administration lies and incompetence have killed more Americans ..

.. than al Qaeda ever did.

While the public sweated about terrorism, the Bush-Cheney gang dragged us into the deadly swamp of Iraq and sat on its hands as New Orleans drowned. Why should the one threat cause us to ignore the other?

[fishwax]

27. they have nothing to offer but fear

and it's kind of funny since, when they're worried about terrorism, americans these days still prefer to have dems deal with it rather than republicans.

[reichstag911]

29. Democracy = terrorism;...

...that's the principle they've been operating on all along. It goes back at least to McCarthy, and it's a reflection that since they do not, and cannot, attract a majority of the American people to vote for them based on their policies, they must make them afraid of some nebulous, amorphous "other," whether it's Commies, Mexicans, "extreme left-wing liberals," Arabs, or whomever. That way, they combine the xenophobic morons of the country -- an ever-growing population, as we've seen -- with their natural constituency of big business and its creators and beneficiaries, the wealthy, to scrape out whatever electoral victories it enjoys. Without class war demagoguery, the Repukes could never win an election; there just aren't enough wealthy people to vote for them.

[timontheleft]

33. That's the basis of their entire platform . . .

"You'd better be scared!!!" . . . of terrorists . . . liberals . . . gays . . . black people that want to vote . . . Mexicans . . . Islam . . . etc, etc, etc

I'm so sick of it. Who was it that said "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired"?

:puke:

[MasonJar]

30. Dare I hope that the Dems have finally realized that they MUST

jump on these absurdities immediately?

[Chiyo-chichi]

32. "You can't have one foot in terror and the other in politics,"

--Condaleeza Rice, Jan 26, 2006

...seems to be the Republican strategy, though.

[mkb]

34. Learn as Much as You Can

     We should probably consider that politicians generally
serve the moneyed interests.  If you study history or politics
and take an interest in society I think that should be a
fundamental conclusion that you reach.
     Our society places too much emphasis on trivia and
superficial qualities so that many people never understand the
various elements to what happens and why it happens in the
world.  If you spend time seeking the truth you can be a
participant in the process of making life better for everyone,
including yourself.
     I think I've read and payed attention to issues to the
point where I understand reasonably well the situation.
     Neither party has politicians that will be forthright
about the causes of terrorism and American hegemony. 
Terrorism, while regrettable when it happens, must be seen as
largely a consequence of injustice of the powerful over the
less powerful.  We can really only solve these problems by
having a country and world that understands the reality of
injustice, and prevents it from happening.  It's not a case of
supporting terrorism or terrorists, rather that our society
works in ways that create the conditions where it exists. 
Education will help people understand the reality, and seeking
the truth is not easy since control of information is a
reality that must be overcome.

[54anickel]

36. Very true and well said. Much closer to the truth than the old "they hate

us for our freedoms" meme - but I don't believe it will get much play in that same "moneyed interest" owned corporate media. America has ALWAYS been the good guy that does no evil and neither party will ever suggest that America's past actions may have played any role in the rise of terrorism against it. It's the old "my country right or wrong" mentality. They tend to drop the rest of the quote...."If right, to be kept right, and, if wrong, to be set right."

Interesting piece on that concept is here.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6103.htm

snip>

Perhaps that's intended. Perhaps it's programmed into our unique sense of nationalism. After all, America - through the wisdom of its founders - is mandated to be a nation of civilians led by civilians. But our system, as with every system of governance, is vulnerable also to the will of the corrupt. In such a milieu, even a civilian leader - particularly one not elected to office, nor especially bright or demonstrably honest - can be a willing or wholly unwitting traitor to our constitutional republic and the foundations of human dignity upon which it was crafted. Given the unimaginable power at his disposal, such a leader can become an equally unwitting tyrant. All that is required for a system of government - any system of government - to fail, is that both leader and led share a mutual ignorance or bias.

From ignorance derives fear. From bias derives irrationality and dishonesty. No nation or form of government is immune. Our current president and the criminal manipulators and incompetents with whom he finds himself surrounded, are empirical proof of the American system's vulnerability to corruption.

When I hear this president make such infantile proclamations as "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists," and his mangled, "I'm not about nuancing," or his more than color-blind "I see things in black and white," it leaves no room for the intelligent or the informed or the fair-minded portion of a civilian population to exercise their uniquely human attribute of deductive reasoning. It also removes any hope or possibility whatsoever, that one of the best and brightest has ascended the throne. Demonstration - dramatic or symbolic protest - is the enlightened patriot's only viable recourse.

However, for many Americans, simplistic platitudes are the granite rocks upon which their patriotism stands. Intractable. No thinking required. And when it comes to simplistic platitudes, My country, right or wrong is the most simplistic of the lot. What could be a clearer declaration? What could be easier to understand? What could better appeal to, or better reinforce adamant bias?

My country, right or wrong!

more...

[Massachusetts]

35. FDR said it best..repeat after me

"Only thing we have to fear is fear itself"
-F.D.R. Democrat

Bushit administration and rethugs are nothing but FEAR MONGERS, their mantra is turning people off.

"Only thing we have to fear is fear itself"
-F.D.R. Democrat

WE Have to expose the msm shills, rethuglicans, and bushit administration for what it is and what it has done to our country.

"Only thing we have to fear is fear itself"
-F.D.R. Democrat

[Posteritatis]

39. He's also terrorizing politics (n/t)

[JI7]

40. it's all a joke to that disgusting beast

he gets excited by terror threats and Americans being harmed. then in a perverted manner, he uses it for his own selfish political partisan purposes.never fucking mind that it makes no sense. doesn't matter to that cold hearted asshole.