Defending Cheney, Perino Says Americans ‘Had Input’ On Iraq War In 2004
Defending Cheney, Perino Says Americans ‘Had Input’ On Iraq War In 2004
In an interview with Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday, ABC News’ Martha Raddatz noted that “two-thirds of Americans say” the Iraq war “is not worth fighting.” “So?” Cheney caustically replied. Referring to Cheney’s comment during today’s White House press briefing, a reporter asked Press Secretary Dana Perino: “So is the vice president saying it really doesn’t matter what the American public thinks about the war?”
“No, I don’t think that’s what he’s saying,” Perino responded. But later, she echoed Cheney, saying that the 2004 presidential election was the last time American public opinion on the war really mattered:
HELEN THOMAS: The American people are being asked to die and pay for this. And you’re saying they have no say in this war?
PERINO: No, I didn’t say that Helen. But Helen, this president was elected…
THOMAS: But it amounts to it. You’re saying we have no input at all.
PERINO: You had input. The American people have input every four years, and that’s the way our system is set up.
Watch it:
Like Cheney, Perino is clearly suggesting that current opposition to the Iraq war is inconsequential. But in claiming that American attitudes only matter every four years, Perino leaves out one inconvenient fact: the 2006 mid-term elections.
The 2006 elections — which the Democrats won control of both the House and Senate — were largely a referendum on the Iraq war with most Americans wanting a change in Bush’s Iraq policy. Indeed, exit polling in national House races and Senate contests in which a Democrat defeated an incumbent Republican shows that a large majority of voters cited the Iraq war as “extremely” or “very important” in their decision.
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But the public doesn’t matter in a fascist dictatorship, is what Dana meant to say. Except she ’s too stupid to know that. Stupid is very important in the Bush regime; it’s what they do best, and who they cultivate. The saddest aspect is how many Americans are stupid and lazy.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:43 pmIn effect they had their only “moment of accountability” in 2004.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:44 pmIn other words:
You have your input every four years. So we dont give a f** what you or anyone else think in the time inbetween.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:46 pmThis might be reasonable if they had been completely scrupulous about telling the American public the TRUTH. When the administration wantonly lies at every conceivable opportunity, as this one has, such an argument is completely absurd.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:47 pmI have said it before. Al Franken was right. Congress convienes January 1, Impeach both Bush and Cheney between January 1 and January 20. Jail them both. Jail all current and past members of their administration.
That will give them accountability. Also charge all the republicans that try to block impeachment wih treason. That will give them accountability too.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:48 pmWith every utterance the Bush White House gets away with, Bill Clinton must be kicking himself. “Why didn’t we just tell everyone to STFU 1997 through 2001 since I won the election in 1996 and the American People’s input was they wanted me as President”
March 20th, 2008 at 5:48 pmWell she’s right about that. All that happens IS the people’s fault. The mean, bigoted, stupid people’s fault.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:53 pmAnother point that Ms. Perino is missing is that we didn’t really start to hear the truth until after the 2004 election (which was stolen anyway). And I agree that the 2006 election is the one to look at because that was conducted after Americans finally awoke from their long sleep of complacency.
Anyone want to bet that Helen Thomas would have followed up with something about the 2006 election if Ms. Perino hadn’t cut her off?
March 20th, 2008 at 5:54 pmYeah Clinton is wondering why he didn’t just give everyone the finger back in 97 - 01.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:55 pmWe the People having the right to say and every 4 years? Really, since when? Certainly not with these so called elections…stolen elections.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:55 pmWell, I never voted for a bush and I never will unless they can prove there is not a relationship to the “Decider in Chief”. With a rigged voting in 2000 and 2004, I’m not convinced that the current president really is the lawfully elected president. And then there are the Senators that voted for this invasion into Iraq, like Senator Hillary Clinton who is trying to convince us that she has sound judgment when making decisions and yet she was fooled into voting for this war.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:55 pmThe 2006 election means nothing to an administration committed to compounding the power of the executive and to marginalizing the authority of the legislature. Distasteful as the comments of The Dick and the bottle blond may be, I hope they continue to express contempt for public opinion if only to remind swing voters that “who would I prefer to have a beer with” is not a valid criterion for selecting a president.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:58 pmWhat if a miracle happened in Iraq. Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds decided to live peacefully together, share the country, share the oil, share the power. Imagine all the foreign Al Qaeda types leaving the country in disgust, or blowing themselves up out in an open field. Imagine Iraq signing a peace treaty with Isreal, like Egypt did. That would be a two trillion dollar, 4000 lives lost Mission Accomplished.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:58 pmNOW… how would that make us any safer, from the threat of Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and their suicidal minions???? They would still be hiding out in the caves of Pakistan, instead of Afghanistan….free to plot the next 911.
Cheney’s attitude came through loud and clear. He must have thought he was talking to Fox News. The people’s representatives are the ones who were supposed to get these people accountable. The ‘06 elections were a referendum, but so far only hearings, letters and republican obstruction.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:00 pmThere is no defense to Cheney’s “So” remark. He continues to display the clear disdain he has for the “general” public.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:01 pmPurino’s looking more like a national tragedy with each passing day. How can you polish a turd? Answer: Not easily and her polish is wearing thin these days. I suspect she’ll be kicked out the door sometime soon because she has no personal integrity or credibility.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:02 pmCheney saying “So?” will be the collective response from an overwhelming majority of americans who will cheer and shout when he is either put behind bars or his ticker finally gives out. It will be “So?? Cheney Who?”.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:03 pmObviously Purina Chow Chow was not prepared for these questions. If she were actually included in the upper echelon meetings, she would know that the answer to both of these questions was “SO!!!”
March 20th, 2008 at 6:03 pmI’m making bets that his blackened and necrotic heart will be his undoing within the next 6 months.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:03 pmDear Senator Obama, In the run-up to the 2004 US presidential election, it was said outside the United States that Americans should have the right to vote taken away from them. All those who’d been living under US-backed dictatorships should vote instead.
http://www.presstv.ir/ detail.aspx?id=47660§ionid=3510303
March 20th, 2008 at 6:04 pmDana (and FrankM) are throwbacks to the Roman Republic, apparently. She believes that the election chooses a dictator (although they were limited to six month terms) who has ultimate power for the duration of their term. It seems unlikely that we would hear this argument from Perino, FrankM, Cheney et al if the dictator was a liberal Democrat, though. Different rules.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:04 pmWow…Dana’s wearing her ovaries outside her birthday suit today! What a way to say, “We make the decisions as Caesar would or you can go stick this barbed-wire baseball bat up your arse as a new means for a prostate exam.” Boy, I never thought we’d wish Nixon would rise from the grave just to slap around and show some of these “tough guys” the door until this administration’s term was finished.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:07 pmThe other night on the Daily Show, when talking about how hard her job could be, Perino snuck in that Helen Thomas was difficult to answer because she asks so many questions that are “not based on facts”.
It made me throw up in my mouth, a little. She’s THE ONLY one asking questions based on facts and the rest should be so ashamed of themselves, but instead, they’re “bored”.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:10 pmhttp://www.presstv.ir/ detail.aspx?id=47660§ionid=3510303
Read this its brilliant
March 20th, 2008 at 6:11 pmShorter purina:
Hay! Luk! I kan gib U da finker wid mai mout!
March 20th, 2008 at 6:14 pmDick: I’m dying! I’m having a heart attack!
Us: So?
March 20th, 2008 at 6:26 pmfreedom lover Says:
March 20th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
But the public doesn’t matter in a fascist dictatorship, is what Dana meant to say. Except she ’s too stupid to know that. Stupid is very important in the Bush regime; it’s what they do best, and who they cultivate. The saddest aspect is how many Americans are stupid and lazy.
Sad, yet, so true. Keith Olbermann called Bush stupid last night on Countdown. I can’t wait for tonight in hopes he skewers Cheney with a special comment. Or at least worst person in the wooorrrrrrllllldddddd!
March 20th, 2008 at 6:31 pmLike Cheney, Perino is clearly suggesting that current opposition to the Iraq war is inconsequential.
I hate to say it, but from Cheney’s (and the White House) perspective, this is actually the case, if only because the American people have allowed themselves to be made inconsequential.
Not only did Americans help get this man in the White House (twice, no less!), 31% continue to support him and his cronies even as they rape the country and the constitution.
What’s more, if we give polls any credibility, McCain could get up to 43% of the votes in a hypothetical election today. 43%!? To McCain aka Bush II the sequel?
Their opinion is largely irrelevant as far as they continue to support -and vote for- the Republican candidate, no matter what, maybe because these people wait for their favorite authoritarian father figure to tell what to do, say, and think.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:33 pmAnd that, in a nutshell, is what We The People need to impress on every elected official in the country. We don’t elect “leaders” or “rulers”. We elect Representatives and a President.
A President’s job is to preside over our government and, implicitly, represent us. The President is a manager, not an owner. The President is beholden to OUR will, not the other way around.
If We The People elect tyrants we are, rightfully, doomed.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:42 pmEvil, I see Cheney’s SO comment being more than a WOITW, it is definitely Special Comment territory as that is their whole mindset towards the American people.
I’ll be surprised if a SC isn’t there.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:43 pmGregor Samsa Says:
March 20th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Their opinion is largely irrelevant as far as they continue to support -and vote for- the Republican candidate, no matter what, maybe because these people wait for their favorite authoritarian father figure to tell what to do, say, and think.
Gregor is wise. I think his words are spot on. Bush has beaten down the heart and soul of this country after 7 long years. People are tired, ashamed, and afraid to speak their minds - lest they be branded as traitors. That is how Bush has divided our country - us and them.
History will most surely look back on these times and wince with shame. The American people should have woken up sooner, and not trusted the MSM to do the work of the fourth estate.
My question is: Are we going to let it happen again?
March 20th, 2008 at 6:44 pmSadly a lot of people that support republicans are of the “let’s go kick some ass” mentality without a single passing thought to the ramifications. Or if the whole show is complete and total bullshit. They don’t want to be educated. They don’t want to be open to new ideas. They consider war some sort of football game they get to cheer for and get drunk if we win. The media is just as much to blame because they don’t really report on the war. No cameras or commentary as it’s happening. No witnessing people getting shot or blown up. Oh you can see little tidbits here and there and on YouTube, but for the most part Americans are only getting the sanitized version. It wouldn’t surprise anyone here as to how many rush to the phone to call in their vote for American Idol and how many have rushed to their phone to call their congressman if only just once. It would probably be a pathetic 99.8% to 0.2%. And I’m being generous with those figures.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:45 pmMr. Evil Says:
March 20th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
It wouldn’t surprise anyone here as to how many rush to the phone to call in their vote for American Idol and how many have rushed to their phone to call their congressman if only just once. It would probably be a pathetic 99.8% to 0.2%. And I’m being generous with those figures.
Yep…You are correct. I am constantly asking my ‘buddies’ to call or write their congresscritters, but alas they are too busy. Too busy to save their republic! Too busy to stop our demise! Too busy to give a sh@t! Too busy to be an American! I guess they’re not such good ‘buddies’ huh?
March 20th, 2008 at 6:50 pmStratRat Says:
March 20th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Aw, don’t hold it against them. Apethy is as American as apple pie, baseball, Chevrolet and extra-marital sex.
BTW are you called StratRat because you play one?
March 20th, 2008 at 6:56 pmI sure hope she remembers that after this November…
March 20th, 2008 at 6:57 pmYeah, belac, you won’t hear from her again after next January until she’s arrested for being an escort. I think her and Michele Bachmann would do quite well.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:00 pmTRANSLATION: Bush didn’t need the people to get elected… they don’t have to listen to the people now that they are in office.
Their statements represent the fact that they installed themselves in Power through election manipulation. Their first act was a coup… why worry about laws after that crime?
What do they need a vote of the people for?
They didn’t need them then and they don’t now.
It is that simple..
March 20th, 2008 at 7:04 pmDana they are elected to represent the people for the entire four year term not only on election day and during campaigns.
When they stop worrying about what the people want we devolve into something else.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:28 pmHow do people like Perino sleep at night?
March 20th, 2008 at 7:32 pmXisithrus Says:
March 20th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Dana they are elected to represent the people for the entire four year term not only on election day and during campaigns.
When they stop worrying about what the people want we devolve into something else.
Something other than what’s commonly known as democracy.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:32 pmXisithrus Says:
March 20th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
When they stop worrying about what the people want we devolve into something else.
______________
I’d just like to point out that “we” don’t necessarily devolve, but “they” sure do.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:35 pmWhen I link the words she says w/ the expression on her face in the picture at the top of the thread, she comes across as the most condescending beee-yatch imaginable.
And you guys know how much I dislike nasty language…
A G.D. condescending beeeeeee-yatch.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:37 pmXisithrus Says:
March 20th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
When they stop worrying about what the people want we devolve into something else.
We already have.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:39 pmNormally, I reserve Friday for being optimistic. However, I think that there are some encouraging signs. Everything seems to indicate that people are excited and/or pissed off. We have an opportunity to make some real changes, but, WE have to do it.
And TROS is right. Dana is a slimy shill. I abhor violence, especially against women, but I would be delighted for an opportunity to punch her in the throat. I would be gleeful while watching her gasp for air and would remind her that she had the choice to refuse the Devil’s bargain.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:06 pmIf anyone ever needed just one reason to never vote for a Republican ever again, this story is that reason.
This is an arrogant administration that does not give one whit for the citizens of this country, their opinions, their pain, or their needs.
Never again. Never again. Never a republican for any office in this country. Liers. Thieves. Hypocrites. Arrogant SOB’s who only care about their own skin, and their own money.
Never again.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:26 pmAhhhhh yes, America’s homegrown Eva Braun is at it again, how refreshing! Hey Dana, I have the perfect role for you to play after the curtain closes on your current role as White House whore. It involves a brass pole and dollar bills
March 20th, 2008 at 8:31 pmNo, Dana, we had no input in 2004, because the election was fixed. And the Dems did nothing about it.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:32 pmDreamCrusher Says:
March 20th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Ah… I see this flaming idiot is back again.
Several thoughts come to mind.
1. Off topic. Apparently can’t or won’t read the thread to see what it’s actually about.
2. A vast majority of people once believed the Earth was flat. I suspect DC still does.
3. It must be very, very lonely in that closet and very, very painful for poor DC to feel it necessary to hide so much of his, or her, life from its Republican **cough…* “friends”.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:02 pmSo the government of, for and by the people get one shot. What’s the matter with her? We run the government. If we are displeased this should count. Not just in 2004 but all of the time.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:05 pmThe difference being: Cheney knows a lot more about what’s going on in Iraq than the American public does. -DreamCrusher
If that was so then there was no reason for Cheney to cherrypick the intelligence before going into Iraq and we would have found WMD. He turned out not to know more than the American public DreamCrusher, how can you explain that?
March 20th, 2008 at 9:13 pmWhatever guys, you’re a bunch of hypocrits -DreamCrusher
Yet you elected a guy with a gay daughter in a relationship that are raising a child. In 2000, the Bush-Cheney Presidential campaign freely discussed Elizabeth Cheney’s marriage and children, but treated Mary Cheney’s private life as off-limits
Peoples private lives are off limits, right DreamCrusher?
March 20th, 2008 at 9:20 pmI think Cheney is right…..why should he care………people against the war are very low energy, inconsequential serfs.
March 20th, 2008 at 10:33 pmWhy should he care……what are you going to do to him ????
huh ???? Well ??? He can do whate4ver he wants…….and we just stay uninvolved….and yell occasionally at the TV….
Duh……..
Every time I think about how much these critters are going to hate being out of power, I smile.
Keeps me going sometimes. Now can we please draw a line on the passport breach to the man sized safe in Dick’s office.
March 20th, 2008 at 10:47 pmAh, the 2006 election - the referendum on the war! Let’s assume that’s so. What have the spineless Democrats done to end this war? Absolutely nothing. It’s time to start pointing the finger at Pelosi and Reid.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:32 pmDreamCrusher Says:
March 20th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
2/3 of Americans are against gay marriage, 75% support using the death penalty. As if Think Progress wouldn’t say, “So?” when it comes to US public opinion on those things.
bullshit. absolute lies and bullshit. that’s all you morons have, lies and bullshit.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:42 pmh, the 2006 election - the referendum on the war! Let’s assume that’s so. What have the spineless Democrats done to end this war? Absolutely nothing. It’s time to start pointing the finger at Pelosi and Reid.
And what have the murderous Republicans done, besides more killing and raping of the treasury? The fingers are pointed at the republicans for good reason: they are traitors who are hell-bent on destroying Aemrica so they can have a little more money. Your blame the democrats bullshit is the sign of mental illness.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:44 pmApproximately 70% of us are opposed to w and his policies. st. john mccain is ready to carry these policies forward and add some more harshness to them (see his “religious” advisors) and almost 50% of us are ready to vote for him. There is a real disconnect there. That means that at least 20% of those that don’t want w are ready to continue his policies.
March 21st, 2008 at 12:01 am.
I’m a Barbie girl in the Bushie world…
Charge on plastic, debts fantastic.
You can question me and I’ll just drink my tea…
Imagination, LIES are my creation.
Ummm…
Dana darling. Elections AREN’T about starting or ending wars… K?
And please, pre-tell, what is a democracy when the voice of the people goes ignored?
.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:19 am.
Well, the 2006 mid-terms have produced just what, about ending this continued illegal occupation of a nation that posed NO IMMINENT THREAT to the U.S.A.?
.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:22 amPERINO: You had input. The American people have input every four years, and that’s the way our system is set up”.So she is saying once every four years, not every single day of those four years. I find that very fascinating that once again the biggest cheerleader of all of the re-pukes for this WAR is going to say very caustically “SO” to the American public. I think it`s time to go ahead and impeach these 2 chimps so we real Patriots of this country can undo their “EVIL”, remember these 2 chimps PUSSIED OUT during the Vietnam War and Cheney did it 5 times in a 12 year War. Can you imagine what he did those 5 times to stay home!!!!!
March 21st, 2008 at 1:25 amIt’s absurd to call this government a “democracy” anymore.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:23 amWhile they could and should be saying it a lot better, Cheney and Perino are essentially correct. Wars cannot be fought on public opinion. I do NOT want a series of polls to decide how we conduct a war.
The American people have to own up to the fact that they screwed up by electing people and not realizing that they might get us into so much trouble, and not trimming the congress tree often enough.
Attack the Bush administration for their lies and their criminal behavior, or for the arrogance in their replies to questions like this, but not for doing something we’d be praising them for if it turned out they’d been right.
March 21st, 2008 at 4:56 pmDana is so hot looking !!
March 21st, 2008 at 5:19 pm