That's the way I read what Cheney said:
"It’s absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we’ll get hit again and we’ll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States,” Cheney told about 350 supporters at a town-hall meeting here (Des Moines). Cheney says ‘wrong choice’ would risk attack
I'm amazed at the way he has flipped back into the real world. Good on you, Dickey boy! (But man, is George going to be mad when he hears this.)
Article comments
1 - bhw
"Dick" better hope we don't get hit before the election, because that would make two under this administration, and therefore would prove his point that we need to pick the right administration on Nov. 2 to prevent another attack.
2 - Shark
More Orwellian talk from the Vice President of The Kingdom of Fear.
We've come a long way from "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."
These people have no shame, and will do anything, I mean anything to stay in power.
One can only imagine what else they have up their sleeves for the next few months.
3 - jack e. jett
oh dick:
please protect me! you and dick are so strong and tough and i know you will never let those mean ole evil doer's hurt little jack e. jett. cause you are so big and strong and....and..full of shit.
jack
4 - Marc
Sorry Hal you have been sucked in by the MSM addiction to its belief in Kerry as its next president. Here is the Cheney quote with the cut away context:
We made decisions at the end of World War II, at the beginning of the Cold War, when we set up the Department of Defense, and the CIA, and we created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and undertook a bunch of major policy steps that then were in place for the next 40 years, that were key to our ultimate success in the Cold War, that were supported by Democrat and Republican alike -- Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower and Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon and Gerry Ford and a whole bunch of Presidents, from both parties, supported those policies over a long period of time. We're now at that point where we're making that kind of decision for the next 30 or 40 years, and it's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2nd, we make the right choice. Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we're not really at war. I think that would be a terrible mistake for us.
We have to understand it is a war. It's different than anything we've ever fought before. But they mean to do everything they can to destroy our way of life. They don't agree with our view of the world. They've got an extremist view in terms of their religion. They have no concept or tolerance for religious freedom. They don't believe women ought to have any rights. They've got a fundamentally different view of the world, and they will slaughter -- as they demonstrated on 9/11 -- anybody who stands in their way. So we've got to get it right. We've got to succeed here. We've got to prevail. And that's what is at stake in this election.
Cheney was pretty clearly not saying that a Kerry administration would be the cause of another attack. He was saying that, under a Kerry administration, we would react incorrectly to another attack. And return to the Clinton style of police action to fight terrorism.
5 - Hal Pawluk
No amount of persiflage - your "context" - is going to hide what Cheney clearly meant to communicate and what he clearly said: vote for Bush/Cheney or the U. S. will be hit again by terrorists.
He did go on to address what he thought the response of a Kerry adminstration might be, but that doesn't change a thing.
I won't ask what an "MSM" is supposed to be.
6 - Marc
I'm throughly convenced that most Liberals either are blind in their hatred for Bush or they all attended schools that offered zero courses in reading comprehension.
MSM = main stream media.
You can witness it in action over at Dan Rather's place about now. Stonewall, obfuscate, but never tell the truth.
7 - bhw
Stonewall, obfuscate, but never tell the truth.
And that would be different from Republicans and the Right exactly how?
8 - Hal Pawluk
Do you think your ad hominem attacks actually add anything to a discussion, Marc? Or the power of your argument? Or your credibility?
They do more harm to you than to anyone you use them against, because they strike most grown-ups as being childishly asinine and undermine anything sensible you might have to say.
But I suppose there may be personality types that would think that was a good thing - I guess it takes all kinds.
Personally, I would prefer to see you address issues without name-calling, without disparagement and with some facts, but that seems highly unlikely based on past performance.
9 - Marc
Thanks Hal. I resemble that. But in truth coming from you I'm not impressed.
As to this statement: "They do more harm to you than to anyone you use them against, because they strike most grown-ups as being childishly asinine and undermine anything sensible you might have to say."
That is exactly why Kerry is going in the tank. His absolute refusal to speak to any issue and constant attacks on our current allies. (i.e. "Fraudulant coalition", "bribed and coereced", "phoniest thing" he has seen.)
Even at this late date,(long after many MSM outlets have declared the memos to be fake) with Dan Rather on the verge of lossing a job he should have lost long ago. Edwards, Harkin and Kerry are out on the stump crying the Bush AWOL meme and baseing it on the Rather "immaculate conception documents."
That is the absolute definition of "childishly asinine."
10 - Hal Pawluk
Kerry is right about the fraudulent coalition, and even that is unraveling.
For instance Costa Rica, a "member" of the coalition which had sent neither troops nor money, pulled out last week.
None of which has anything to do with Cheney's scare tactics, of course.