Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday denounced Vice President Dick Cheney as a "disaster" for the country . . . who has had an excessive influence in setting foreign policy . . . He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world.
In many ways, Dick Cheney is a tragic figure. Cheney waited thirty years for his opportunity to enact his vision of unlimited presidential power and his ideas turned out to be just as disastrous now as they were during the Nixon years.
However, there really is little doubt that "Cheneyism" has been a disaster for the United States and its interests in the world--a disaster that will take a long time to recover from.
Folks on the right might argue that it's improper for Carter as an ex-president to criticize a sitting vice-president so harshly, especially during a time of war.
But ex-presidents Carter, Bill Clinton, and even George Bush I should have a duty to speak out more concerning the abuses and disasters of the current Bush administration, not less.
As I've observed many times in the past, the Bush administration is no longer a credible government and the United States really needs people to step into the void and speak with the (informal) authority of the public concerning issues of public importance.
I initially thought that Nancy Pelosi might be able to serve as a spokesperson for the public at large. But she wasn't willing to risk the next election to serve the public now.
Ultimately, it looks like all the major figures outside the Bush administration are going to sacrifice the public welfare for short-term political manuevering. As a result, Jimmy Carter's willingness to speak the American public's revulsion toward Dick Cheney and the Bush administration is a welcome development.
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I was amused at first when I saw the title of this post because minutes earlier, I had just seen the following headline: “Carter certain US tortures CNN - Wed Oct 10”. My first thought was, “NO SHIT SHERLOCK.” I glanced at the story and it was a fairly tame recitation of President Carter’s thoughts on the Vice President and the conduct of our foreign policy since Cheney ascended to the Vice Presidency. So I was not all that impressed…at first.
Then I read your post and it occurred to me that not many people of influence are saying these things. And so I began to change my thinking about Carter’s observations. What I had not considered when I saw that headline is the fact that many, perhaps most Americans are not aware of Cheney’s crimes nor do they know about this Administration’s passive-aggressive approach to the use of torture in countries where such things are not illegal. Many people are unaware that US political prisoners are brutalized in those places until they give up what may or may not be reliable information.
With that, I realized that President Carter was well aware that he was speaking truth to power and to the American public, the people to whom government is supposed to be accountable. So, in truth, this was a very necessary move on the part of President Carter. So these statements; “ex-presidents Carter, Bill Clinton, and even George Bush I should have a duty to speak out more concerning the abuses and disasters of the current Bush administration, not less”, “Jimmy Carter's willingness to speak the American public's revulsion toward Dick Cheney and the Bush administration is a welcome development”, are true.
And that revulsion is legitimate. As is the concern about the use of torture. The New York Times reported last Thursday that “extreme interrogation techniques” were authorized beginning in 2002 and continuing to this day. When this “torture memo” came to light, our once respected integrity as a nation committed to expanding human rights was lost and with it our moral high ground in the fight against terrorism. This memo and others like it have violated the values that have come to define what it means to be American and in the process has also undermined our intelligence gathering, and encouraged our enemies to respond in kind. So, people who follow current events here at home as well as people around the world who pay attention to news have been driven to revulsion by what we have learned about this Administration’s refusal to reject cruel and degrading treatment.
And so, it is now up to Congress to restore integrity and the principles of law and justice that
Have, for some time until very recently defined our nation and made it a beacon of hope to people around the world. This is why it is vitally important that every person of conscience, whether they be ex-presidents, ex-vice presidents, leaders of both parties in the House and the Senate, anyone and everyone who recognizes the aforementioned “abuses and disasters” should speak up loudly and often.
Dick Cheney is a menace. I was looking over some of Keith Olbermann’s commentaries on you tube (or was it crooksandliars.com…don’t recall which), anyway, I ran across a segment from this past January about Cheney. The question at hand was, “Should Cheney Go?" Olbermann pointed out that longtime Bush family operative, James Baker tried to persuade Bush to reject Cheney as a possible running mate in 2000. “Later“, Olbermann reported, "Jim Baker not only led the Iraq Study Group, he was also leading a private attempt to wrench the President away from Cheney's influence and ideology, and ultimately failed in that, judging from what the President is trying to do in Iraq now.”
The revulsion many people who pay attention to public policy both foreign and domestic feel toward Dick Cheney should not only be pointed out but explored and explained. Then the revulsion would spread like wild fire as people begin to realize the extent of Cheney’s emptiness where most people have some kind of moral center. The blood on Cheney’s hands would take on the crimson hue of the untold death and suffering caused by his lust for power and dominion and his obsession with recreating the United States and the Middle East according to his own twisted view of the world.
America is better than this. Americans deserve better than this. Kudos President Carter!!
speaking truth to power has to be one of the most often used, absolutely meaningless phrases in the history of political discourse.
I guess that Jimmah is not content of holding the title as the worst President in history, and is not intent on being the worst former President in history as well.
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