Quagmire

Can't Keep Quiet has a great little clip of Dick Cheney saying during the 1991 Gulf War that removal of Saddam from power and the occupation of Iraq could be nothing other than a quagmire. Go figure...

What He Said and What He Meant

CHENEY: Gwen, I want to thank you, and I want to thank the folks here at Case Western Reserve for hosting this tonight. It's a very important event, and they've done a superb job of putting it together.

- All of you can go f*%k yourselves... well, except Gwen... she looks good in blue.

CHENEY: We've made significant progress in Iraq.

- Paul Bremer and Colin Powell can go f*%k themselves.

CHENEY: The senator has got his facts wrong.

- He can go f*%k himself.

CHENEY: Well, Gwen, it's hard to know where to start; there are so many inaccuracies there.
You talk about internationalizing the effort. They don't have a plan. Basically, it's an echo.

- I have no idea where Leahy is, but he can still go f*%k himself... twice. Oh, there he is... first row. Yeah Pat, thats right, I'm looking at you... Whatcha gonna do 'bout it, huh?

CHENEY: Well, Gwen, I think the record speaks for itself. We have not seen the kind of consistency that a commander in chief has to have in order to be a leader in wartime and in order to be able to see the strategy through to victory.

- God, if I had a little more hair and a little more charisma, I would be president and wouldn't have to put up with this idiot who keeps putting his foot in his mouth. Bush can go f*%k himself, too.


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Interesting side note - Dick Cheney claimed that he has presided over th Senate most Tuesdays since he has been in office. There have been 128 Tuesdays since he took office. Cheney has only presided over the Senate 2 times (1.5% of the time) since then. While Cheney is the President of the Senate, Edwards has actually presided over the Senate as many times as Cheney has. For a complete list of who presided on Tuesdays go to :
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/6/11163/2940

Dick Cheney's Voting Record

Cheney constantly questions other peoples voting records and deems them "lackluster." Cheney is perfect to talk about lackluster voting records in congress since he has one of the best examples available. Not only has his voting history been slightly right of Attila the Hun, His 11 years in congress and 31 proposed bills only produced two actual laws. For those of you bad at math (like me), that means he averaged 0.18 bills passed per year. I guess that it was from the sheer frustration of no one liking his proposals that he decided to take out his anger by voting against so many worthy ideas like Meals on Wheels, ending apartheid, and educating children. Who needs ememies when you have friends like these:

Civil Rights
-Cheney's voting record on civil rights earned him an average 9 percent rating from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights from 1979-1989.
-voted against the 1980 Fair Housing Amendments Act
-one of 32 House members to vote against the 1984 Civil Rights Restoration Act, which would have prohibited federal funding of discrimination against women, people with disabilities, older Americans, and racial minorities
-voted against the Equal Rights Amendment (1983)
-repeatedly voted against sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa
-voted against resolution calling for Nelson Mandela to be freed from prison (1986)
-one of only 29 House members to vote against the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1988; he supported an amendment adding anti-gay language to the bill
-one of only 13 House members to vote against the AIDS Federal Policy Act of 1988, the first major bill to fund HIV/AIDS counseling and testing (even Tom DeLay and Dick Armey supported this measure)
-voted against funding the Older Americans Act, which includes nutrition and other support services like Meals on Wheels (1984, 1987)

Education
-From 1981 to 1986, the National Education Association gave Cheney a zero rating.
-voted against creating the Department of Education (1985)
-voted against subsidizing lunches for poor children (1985)
-voted repeatedly against reauthorizing and funding Head Start
-voted against bill to reauthorize college student aid (1985, 1987)

Reproductive Rights
-The National Right to Life Committee responded to Cheney's selection with a proclamation that he is "100 % pro-life." His voting record is entirely anti-choice:
over ten years, voted anti-choice on 26 key abortion and reproductive rights issues (1979 - 1988)
-voted to ban Medicaid coverage for abortion services even in cases where the woman's life is in danger or cases of rape and incest (1979); voted to ban District of Columbia from spending funds for abortion services under any circumstances (1985, 1987, 1988)
-opposed any federal support for family planning services (1985)
-supports a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution, which would overturn Roe v. Wade and ban all abortion under any circumstances

Environmental Issues
-The League of Conservation Voters gives Cheney a lifetime rating of 13 percent.
-one of only eight members of the House to vote against reauthorization of the Clean Water Act (1987)
-voted to postpone sanctions against clear air violators (1987)
-cosponsored a bill to permit oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (1987)
-voted against legislation to require oil, chemical and other industries to report pollutants and emissions to local communities (1985)
-voted against the right of citizens harmed by waste to sue polluters (1985)
-one of 21 members of the House to vote against refunding the Safe Water Drinking Act (1986)
-one of 16 members of the House to vote against reauthorizing the Endangered Species Act (1987)

Gun Control
-Cheney is even more opposed to any form of sensible gun control than the NRA.
-one of only 4 members of the House to vote against legislation to ban plastic guns that could pass through airport security, a bill that even the National Rifle Association supported (1988)
-one of only 21 members of the House to vote against legislation to restrict cop-killer bullets designed to penetrate bullet proof vests (1985)
-voted against a waiting period for handgun purchases (1988)

Military
- As Secetary of Defense Cheney Proposed Cutting F-16 Aircraft, B-2 Program, AH-64 Apaches, M-1 Abrams Tanks, B-52 Bombers, Cut Thousands of Active-Duty, Reserve, and Civilian Forces, Proposed Over 70 Base Closures.

By the Numbers - Cheney's Lackluster Bill Sponsorship
96th Congress: 4 Sponsored; 0 became Law
97th Congress: 4 Sponsored: 0 became Law
98th Congress: 8 Sponsored: 0 became Law
99th Congress: 7 Sponsored: 1 became Law (H.R.1246: A bill to establish a federally declared floodway for the Colorado River below Davis Dam.)
100th Congress: 7 Sponsored: 1 became Law (H.R.712: A bill for the relief of Lawrence K. Lunt.)
101st Congress: 1 Sponsored: 0 became Law

Quotes About Cheney
Says Newt Gingrich: "Cheney's voting record was slightly more conservative than mine..." Washington Times, July 25, 2000.

"In 10 years in the House, [Dick Cheney]... chocked up a conservative voting record that rivaled Senator Jesse Helms's." Business Week, 3/2/98.

Cheney didn't vote as a responsible citizen: "Records show Cheney skipped 14 of 16 elections since registering to vote in Texas" -- [Dallas Morning News, 9/8/00]

Sources:
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom
http://home.pacbell.net/reichar/cheneysvotes.htm
http://www.spymac.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=105611

Tricky Dick's True Leadership

RENO, Nev. Sept. 16, 2004

Dick Cheney - "The American people also know that true leadership requires the ability to make a decision," Cheney said. "True leadership is sticking with the decision in the face of political press and true leadership is standing for your principles regardless of your audience or your most recent political adviser."Cheney is completely right. He is a perfect example of his definition of "true leadership". Cheney got Halliburton no bid contracts in Iraq. When it was discovered that he had helped get these contracts awarded, he stuck to his guns. When the press reported that Halliburton was fleecing the American people, he stood behind his former company. When Congress called for major overhauls and audits of the contracts, Cheney helped block the investigation and then delay the fines levied against Halliburton. Cheney made a decision to benefit his former company (which still pays him $500,000 per year), and he stuck to that decision when any respectable American (i.e. flip-floppers) would have pulled their support.

Hats off to you Mr. Cheney for your "true leadership." True leadership would be donating that half a million a year to buy body armor to our troops fighting and dieing for us in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tricky Dick's Russian Roulette

Either Dick Cheney is completely clueless regarding the conflict that Russian is embroiled in with Chechnya or he is just so shameless as to blatantly mislead the American people. I am guessing the latter since the conflict in Chechnya has been going on for the past 10 years (actually the past 250 years) and has nothing to do with Iraq. It is not really all that surprising that Cheney would try to connect the terrorist attacks on Russian school children to the Iraq war since he tried to do the same thing with al Queda and Iraq even though the 9/11 commission has completely dismissed that charge....

OTTUMWA, Iowa, Sept. 13, Cheney: "Russia of course did not support us in Iraq, they did not get involved in sending troops there. They got hit anyway. I think we're back now reassessing what the motives may be of the people who are launching these attacks." Speaking of European countries, Cheney said, "I think some have hoped that if they kept their heads down and stayed out of the line of fire they wouldn't get hit. I think what happened in Russia demonstrates pretty conclusive that everybody is a target." - as reported by Lisa Rein reporter for the Washington Post

Dick Cheney has no shame! He uses the deaths on 9/11 for political gain and now he is using the deaths of inoccent children for political gain.