Wallace defends torture, snidely says it’s ‘purely coincidental’ U.S. hasn’t been attacked since 9/11.
Wallace defends torture, snidely says it’s ‘purely coincidental’ U.S. hasn’t been attacked since 9/11.
In an interview with Fox News’s Chris Wallace that aired on Fox News Sunday this morning, Vice President Cheney adamantly defended the Bush administration’s torture policies. “The thing I keep coming back to, time and time again Chris, is the fact that we’ve gone for eight years without another attack,” Cheney argued. During the panel discussion later in the program, NPR’s Juan Williams ridiculed the entire debate. “In a democracy, you don’t torture people. It’s against the law! We’re having this discussion here, like, ‘Oh well you know if it works, it’s ok.’ No! It’s not ok! You don’t torture people!” Williams said. Seeming to take Cheney’s side on the issue, Wallace then looked straight into the camera and responded sarcastically:
WALLACE: Alirght, we have to take a break here but I just want to point out to the audience that it is purely coincidental that this country has not been attacked since 9/11.
Watch it:
Wallace said last week that on the issue of waterboarding, “I’m with Jack Bauer on this.”
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Can no one, not even the moderaters of this site, recall that this country was attacked after 9/11? Did not the multiple deaths and extreme disruption of our mail system, much less Congress that resulted from anthrax mailed from New Jersey not constitue a terrorist attack?
August 30th, 2009 at 11:22 amChris Wallace is an idiot just as most Cluster-fox people are…what’s new…
August 30th, 2009 at 11:24 amShaking my head>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> well i hope the terroist also watch jack and 24 so they can get the hint not to attack as well. but guessing thats just a coincidental as well.
makes since (NOT)
August 30th, 2009 at 11:25 amtballou says:
Well to the repugs that would fall under good old home grow country terrorism, not out of country attacks.
yes i think thats right it was put out as a terrorist attack from Iraq
August 30th, 2009 at 11:29 amThe real reason we haven’t been attacked since 9-11?
They don’t want to attack us again. Why?
They achieved everything they wanted–up to this day. Everything. Thanks to George W. Bush and his Crime Syndicate, it’s Mission Accomplished for al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
Treasury being bankrupted by two ongoing wars.
US troops off holy Saudi Arabian soil.
Secular Saddam wiped off the earth; Shia majority and Iran controlling Iraq.
Civil war (of sorts, but no less dangerous and helpful to their cause) in the US.
The terrorists have won. The US is destroying itself, thanks to its own strengths and its own humongous size, is collapsing in on itself. But our airlines are safe from shoe-bombers and exploding shampoo!
August 30th, 2009 at 11:29 amThey’ve also gone 8 years without Cheney being in charge of NORAD again.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:31 amMike Wallace must be so “proud” of his boy…
August 30th, 2009 at 11:31 amWallace defends torture, snidely says it’s ‘purely coincidental’ U.S. hasn’t been attacked since 9/11.
– - After the WTC attack in 1993 to 2001, when we weren’t torturing, there were no terrorist attacks on US soil.
Unless you count that inconvenient Oklahoma City bombing but that was a good, ‘ol white boy, homegrown ‘Merican terrorist. We only torture darkies and towelheads.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:33 amWALLACE: Alirght, we have to take a break here but I just want to point out to the audience that it is purely coincidental that this country has not been attacked since 9/11.
All right, I just want to point out that Torture is Against US law and international law. Dumbf_ck.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:34 amOne word anthrax.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:35 amThe fact that juan didn’t just get up and go over and knock him off his chair breaks my heart.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:38 amWe were attacked from within. The heart and soul of America was damaged by the cowards who would rather abandon our principles to be “safe” than be an example for the world on how a civilized nation comports itself.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:39 amSlight correction to my post above: They don’t NEED to attack us any more. The damage has been done, and we’re still in free-fall because of it.
Also: Of COURSE Chris Wallace is on Jack Bauer’s side. Jack is on the same network…and that is no coincidence.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:40 amWilliams is right. Just the fact that Cheney admits torture was used under Bushco is illegal. No discussion of it’s efficacy is necessary. That Wallace will prostitute himself on national teevee to impress and support Cheney is reprehensible. If he were a true journalist, he’d be challenging Cheney and forcing him to respond to what national and international law says about the prohibition of torture, not ending a segment with a soundbite supporting Cheney and torture.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:43 amHorrible bit of journalism there, Chris.
First of all, when going into a break, you do not say something controversial and highly inflammatory like that. That’s like telling your kids that you’re going to divorce your spouse right before you drop them off for the first day of school. It gives the impression that it is not as important as it ought to be and that commercials are more important than any sort of counter-argument that might stem from such an announcement.
Second of all, by addressing the “audience” directly (and I’m not sure if Chris is addressing the viewing audience or not), you are blatantly attempting to sway the audience with your own opinion when you’re supposed to be MODERATING. I don’t think I would expect in the slightest for the same to come out of George Stephenopolis, David Gregory, or even Tim Russert during the roundtable discussion!
Of course, this is FOX we’re talking about.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:44 amGeorge says – Hehehe, Chris is mine, I own him, he says exactly what Dick tells him to say, Dick loves having puppets, all dancing on their strings, dance Chris dance, his dad wouldn’t do that stuff, but Chris will do what ever we want for a buck, gotta love capitalism, sell your soul for a couple of bucks, Dick says our master Satan requires it. Funny that none of the MSM made much about our anthrax, Dick said it would scare the beegeebus out of those reporters and congress criters that didn’t like our Patriot Act, and he was right, but he gets his ideas from Satan, what you say Dick?
Dick says – I need fresh blood from cute kittens and puppies.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:44 amHow do I know the terrorists don’t need or want to attack us again?
If you or I wanted to attack the U.S. in a 9-11 style offense, how could they stop us? They couldn’t. They can’t. They DO manage to stop loudmouthed brown people who like fantasizing about attacking military bases but go no further…but if someone is smart enough, determined enough and careful enough, they could do it all over again.
How do I know this? Think of Nazi Germany and THEIR problem with ‘terrorists’…they never did stop it, did they? Even in a police state, much less our open society, preventing terrorism is simply impossible, people. There will never be a guarantee or an ironclad defense against terrorism, until mass mind-control is mastered.
And don’t think they’re not working on it…or at least considering it. FOX News is just the trial run.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:44 amDaddy-O says:
Also: Of COURSE Chris Wallace is on Jack Bauer’s side. Jack is on the same network…and that is no coincidence.
Well i think you might be on to some thing there, look at most of the rest of fox shows, they do a lot to dumb people down.
In the Intransigents game there are no such things as coincidence`s
smiles
August 30th, 2009 at 11:46 amPurple State says:
“Horrible bit of journalism there, Chris.”
But a GREAT bit of propaganda. And that’s why they pay him the big bucks. Truth.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:47 amAnd Liz Cheney was on the ABC show panel talking over everybody else and acting like she has all the answers and everybody else is stupid. That liberal media again.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:47 amGeorgeandDick, I meant to vote you up and pressed the wrong button. Could somebody correct my stupidity by voting him back up.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:48 amon abc, after george will declared that the president DOES have control of the the AG, and … oh jeez…
then daughter of darth says that all this has already been investigated … by bushies of course…
o my gawd… what a complete b!tch she is…
i don’t know what i mean by this… she is completely ignoring facts …
and LYING.
while filibustering… very rude…
August 30th, 2009 at 11:49 amGot it, Shayne. No worries there.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:50 amI think Rupert Murdoch must collaborate with al Qaeda to make sure this country is destroyed from the inside so they don’t have to do it from the outside.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:50 amThat’s true.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:50 amFor eight years we’ve only been terrorized by Bush/Cheney and corporate terrorists.
The only thing that the righters can cling to is that we “weren’t attacked” and that’s it! Tell us how much better off we are than before 9-11 and the Bush years of fascist style government.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:51 amIs it not a crime to defend torturers? I am not a lawyer, but isn’t there some kind of crime when you try to make excuses for acts which are clearly against the law?
Maybe it is not against the law to defend criminals, but when the person making the excuse is demonstrably wrong, they are lying to protect the guilty. If it were under oath it would be perjury, but as part of the media it is shameful.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:51 amThough I have little respect for Williams (and Liasson) who continue to accept Fox’s money, note should be made of his trying to interject some sense of morality, and watching the effort fall on the deaf ears of that “fair and balanced” panel.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:51 amShayne says:
And Liz Cheney was on the ABC show panel talking over everybody else and acting like she has all the answers and everybody else is stupid. That liberal media again.
I was wondering how long it be for electric liz to show up. As if they marshall there forces so went they attack its all there ready to go.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:52 amWallace said last week that on the issue of waterboarding, “I’m with Jack Bauer on this.”
– - Chris, you disingenuous moron. On the matter of theatrical torture, not even Kiefer Sutherland is on Jack Bauer’s side.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:53 amChris Wallace is a smirking sycophant; I can’t stand the sight of him.
Juan Williams is just another Colmes – a Fox prop established as an impotent foil (set up to be right, but bullied into submission).
Neither of them have a shred of decency or honor between them.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:54 amI wish that it were possible for the older Mike Wallace of CBS News to lead a
journalistic investigation of his son Chris Wallace and the FoxNews clowns.
What in the name of God has happened to the so-called “educated” telejournalists these days?
Are they all taking the stupid/crazy pill each morning before breakfast?
August 30th, 2009 at 11:54 amShayne says:
And Liz Cheney was on the ABC show panel talking over everybody else and acting like she has all the answers and everybody else is stupid. That liberal media again.
How can you even watch that crap?
August 30th, 2009 at 11:55 amIf we accept Wallace’s reasoning then Clinton kept the country safe. And Obama will have kept the country safe assuming there is no attack during Obama’s administration. And they kept the country safe from North Korea and Iran, and so on ad absurdam.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:00 pmPilotshark says:
[...]
Well i think you might be on to some thing there, look at most of the rest of fox shows, they do a lot to dumb people down.
would explain why “Arrested Development” couldn’t make it there…
such an amazing show…
August 30th, 2009 at 12:03 pmSomebody has to yell back at the television. Besides I can’t send a nasty email to ABC about including her if I didn’t listen to her lies.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:04 pmI wonder how many people will line the streets for Dick Cheney’s funeral?
August 30th, 2009 at 12:05 pmTurn the TV off…
August 30th, 2009 at 12:06 pmshayne… see my incomprehensible rant about her above…
gad, what a screetch!
August 30th, 2009 at 12:07 pmAliens from outer space HAVE NOT invaded the United States since 2001. What could account for that except the Bush administration’s anti-space creature programs? I mean, the cause and effect is OBVIOUS.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:09 pmvictory garden on now, db… ’s good…
August 30th, 2009 at 12:09 pmNo attacks between 1993 & 2001. 911 occurred on Bush’s watch. When the PDB saying Bin Laden determined to attack was presented to him (while on vacation) Bush said “OK, you’ve covered your ass now”. And further, no attacks for Obama’s first 6 months…Hmmmm.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:13 pmLibertyLover says:
I wonder how many people will line the streets for Dick Cheney’s funeral?
– - Vampires don’t have funerals.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:13 pmI just want to point out to the audience that it is purely coincidental …………..
I could hardly believe my ears!
Then the show ends with a reader thanking Wallace for holding Tammy Duckworth’s FEET to the fire!!!!!!!
Do these people have no shame!! Her FEET!!
August 30th, 2009 at 12:13 pmWhy does Fox hate our Vets?
LibertyLover says:
“I wonder how many people will line the streets for Dick Cheney’s funeral?”
Amazing thought. Simply amazing. They’ll be the ones with misspelled signs calling Democrats ‘Morans’. All twelve of them…
August 30th, 2009 at 12:14 pmLibertyLover@37 said,
The death of Dick Cheney will pose an interesting dilemma for America. If he dies before he is punished for his war crimes, America will never again be able to call itself a nation of laws.
Ironic though it may be, the death of an unpunished Cheney is the death of America.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:14 pmIf Juan Williams is so principled, why does he continue to work at Fox Propaganda?
August 30th, 2009 at 12:14 pmYes, except…
It’s important to keep your eye on the enemy.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:15 pmWALLACE: Alirght, we have to take a break here but I just want to point out to the audience that it is purely coincidental that this country has not been attacked since 9/11.
Here Wallace commits the elementary post hoc, ergo proptor hoc logical reasoning fallacy. Someone should point his out to him.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:15 pmWillie Krash says:
[...]
Then the show ends with a reader thanking Wallace for holding Tammy Duckworth’s FEET to the fire!!!!!!!
Do these people have no shame!! Her FEET!!
Why does Fox hate our Vets?
oh no…
i just posted your comment at C&L…
August 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pmIf torture is so great, how come it isn’t used in our jails and prisons against murderers and serial rapists who have attacked and killed far more Americans than occured on 9/11?
Better yet, why hasn’t this been done before the same individuals have been tried and convicted? Come on, we know they’re guilty – just look at ‘em.
I swear, this whole thing make the trial in “Through the Looking Glass” look like the highest jurisprudence.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:30 pmAfter the disaster of 9-11, I don’t give much credit for “keeping us safe” by trashing the constitution, the economy, invading a country that did nothing to us, failing to fight the war with those who really did attack us, and exposing the country to international ridicule for the hypocrisy of not practicing what we preached.
After 4 more years without an attack, will the neo-cons give credit to Obama for “keeping us safe”? Some how I tend to doubt it. I can just hear the rationalizations of the neo-cons, desparately trying not to give credit.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:37 pmAny first year Philo student knows the post hoc, propter hoc fallacy.
My house got burglarized eight years ago.
I put a crucifix on the wall.
No burglaries since.
Ergo, crucifixes stop burglars.
BTW, I wish someone would ask Dick “Dick” Cheney which administration was in office when the U.S. was attacked. The attack that administration admitted they couldn’t foresee.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:41 pmWallace, we have to take a break here but I just want to point out to the audience that it is purely coincidental that this country has not been attacked since 9/11.
Actually the is a well used Fox ploy. Like a magician the purpose is to misdirect. A propaganda technique?
The answer to the statement is YES
August 30th, 2009 at 12:50 pmread it
I just want to point out to the audience that it is purely coincidental
It is purely coincidental!!!
Water-board Chris Wallace?
I’d hold the bucket and pour…
Skeevy little shitwhistle…
August 30th, 2009 at 12:50 pmIf torture is so great, how come it isn’t used in our jails and prisons against murderers and serial rapists who have attacked and killed far more Americans than occured on 9/11?
Well, it usta be. But then the word got out and it made the cops look bad, to some people.
So now the pigs just tase ‘em…
August 30th, 2009 at 12:52 pmIf Juan Williams is so principled, why does he continue to work at Fox Propaganda?
August 30th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
If his connection to Murdoch, Wallace, and O’Reilly isn’t shameful, why doesn’t NPR announce it when they introduce the skeevy, pretentious shitwhistle?
August 30th, 2009 at 12:54 pmAnd if we had been attacked after 9/11, it would have been Bill Clinton’s fault.
August 30th, 2009 at 12:55 pmBush cut taxes for the wealthy and thus we have not been attacked since 9/11.
I suppose you’re going to try to tell me that is a coincidence?
August 30th, 2009 at 12:59 pmWell, tokin, I believe NPR has told Juan that he can not identify himself as an NPR contributor when he’s on Faux News.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:00 pmChris Wallace, you self-rightious little neo-con parrot, so you also support Jack Bauer when he killed a US agent at the demand of terrorists in one of the episodes. Was that also ok for security?
August 30th, 2009 at 1:01 pmToo make matters even worse, Little Chrissy Wallace was just on as the “guest” of FoxSnooze’s noon news-bimbo to give his reaction to his Darth Cheney interview.
Very clever! What a devious way to extend Darth’s lies by having Little Chrissy repeat them in another news segment. The GNoP Propaganda channel will continue to get more mileage out of this appalling Cheney interview over the coming weeks, I am sure.
It’s funny, though. They refer to it as “an exclusive interview seen only on Fox” as if that’s something to be proud of. The truth of the matter is that true journalists will have little to do with Cheney because he isn’t news, he isn’t relevant and he isn’t truthful. He’s just a self-serving a**hole.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:15 pmIt’s pretty clear what’s going on here. Cheney immediately came out strong and made the rounds defending himself. Focus groups showed conservatives that Americans just don’t like him and he wasn’t helping his cause. Then, they sent his daughter out to make the rounds. Nobody likes here either.
So, the answer for them is to go to their neoconservative friends at the Washington Post and FOX news and let them give it a try.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:19 pmSorry for the typo. I meant to type “nobody likes her either.”
August 30th, 2009 at 1:20 pmWell, tokin, I believe NPR has told Juan that he can not identify himself as an NPR contributor when he’s on Faux News.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
The way i heard it was that NPR “requested” that Fox not identify Wan Williams ‘day-job” on air, and Fox agreed. They didn’t have to reverse it, cuz the last thing NPR wants to remind us of is that their “senior political analyst” is a water-carrying, spook-by-the-door at Fox…
August 30th, 2009 at 1:24 pmJust 11 years ago, conservatives and their friends at FOX were so committed to the idea of “the rule of law,” that they thought it was proper to impeach a President over the question of whether or not he lied about a sexual affair.
Some people said, “you know, he’s got terrorism and the war in Bosnia to deal with, so we shouldn’t be making a deal out of this. It’s a distraction from what’s important.”
Those people were shouted down. You see, to conservatives back then it was simple: “the law is the law!”
August 30th, 2009 at 1:25 pmNPR’s Juan Williams ridiculed the entire debate. “In a democracy, you don’t torture people. It’s against the law! We’re having this discussion here, like, ‘Oh well you know if it works, it’s ok.’ No! It’s not ok! You don’t torture people!” Williams said.
Funny thing, that’s something you’d NEVER have heard Wan say on NPR…
That’s cuz NPR doesn’t use the word “torture” for what our thugs and gunsels do…
August 30th, 2009 at 1:26 pm.
Give Chris a break. He’s just doing what HIS keepers want him to do…
… Keep the LIE ALIVE!
.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:27 pm“The way i heard it was that NPR “requested” that Fox not identify Wan Williams ‘day-job” on air, and Fox agreed.”
Well, NPR is a little skittish in the face of some pretty strong criticism they’ve gotten in recent years. After all, it’s not really publicly funded anymore, is it. It’s funded by corporate grants and sponsorships. That might be why there are so many phony liberals like Juan Williams and Mara Liasson working there days and sneaking over to FOX at night to spread their bs.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:28 pmChris Wallace says, “Alright, we have to take a break here but I just want to point out to the audience that it is purely coincidental that this country has not been attacked since 9/11″.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
“Military necessity does not admit of cruelty nor of torture to procure confessions.”
August 30th, 2009 at 1:32 pm– Abraham Lincoln
And here’s Andrew Sullivan’s take on Little Chrissy’s interview:
“Now look: there are softball interviews; and then there are interviews like this. It cannot be described as journalism in any fashion. Even as propaganda, which is its point, it doesn’t work – because it’s far too cloying and supportive of Cheney to be convincing to anyone outside the true-believers. When it comes to Cheney, one of the most incompetent vice-presidents in the country’s history, with a record of two grotesquely botched wars, war crimes and a crippling debt, Chris Wallace sounds like a teenage girl interviewing the Jonas Brothers.”
August 30th, 2009 at 1:35 pmAll the mainstream media fails to remind the viewers/readers/listeners that we were attacked before we started using torture. We also have never solved the anthrax poisoning that occurred later that year. Both of those “terrorist” attacks occurred on the watch of Bush/Cheney, BEFORE we used illegal interrogation means, and neither crime has been resolved.
It’s a false argument to boast we haven’t been attacked since 9/11 because of torture — we hadn’t been attacked before we used torture either.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:36 pmCorruption of the DoJ prevented prosecution.
Chris Wallace is a dolt, and his sarcasm is misplaced. If he needs to ridicule something, it’s Jack Bauer and ‘24′, but that’s one of Faux’s moneymakers, so you won’t see him taking that on. Referencing that sort of fantasy serial revenge fiction as a policy guide is well past stupid.
The reason al Qaeda hasn’t been able to mount an operation here since 9/11 is much more mundane; their planning capability was seriously degraded in the aftermath of our invasion of Afghanistan and there’s enough pressure on them that they can’t mount much more than local operations.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm.
If torture is worth defending…
… Then why did George W. Bush end it’s use?
If torture produced valuable information…
… Then why did George W. Bush end it’s use?
If torture prevented future attacks…
… Then why did George W. Bush end it’s use?
Is it because there is no more information left to be gained? What about our future? Is it no longer safe? Are Conservatives THAT upset that they’re mad at Bush for being soft on terrorism?
OH…
… I see. It isn’t about the safety/security aspect at all. Because if it were, Conservatives would be citing how Bush made us less safe, less secure by NOT continuing HIS policy set in place to TORTURE! It’s about partisan ideals.
NEVER, is it about “THE LAW”!
.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pmHow many times were we attacked before 9/11?
August 30th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Well, depending on what you call an “attack,” at least two: Murrah Bldg/OKC, and the ‘93 attack on the Trade center…
August 30th, 2009 at 1:45 pmWhat about London & Madrid? World terrorism.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:45 pmhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jul/07/terrorism.uk1
Any goodwill felt by the world toward the U.S. after 9/11 was completely squandered by the Iraq debacle and illegal torture activities committed by the U.S.
To Daddy-O @ #5: Exactly!
Oh, and Pearl Harbor, too…
after which we invaded Tierra del Fuego, iirc…
August 30th, 2009 at 1:48 pmLaw functions best when it insulates the “Ruers” from the insolence of the unruly…
August 30th, 2009 at 1:48 pmTo put it another way, I like a good serial shoot-’em-up with cliffhangers like the old Republic serial westerns as much as anyone else, and every hourly episode of ‘24′ is just that; a shoot-’em-up with a cliffhanger.
That said, thinking it bears any semblance to reality is a serious error in judgement. Ergo, Wallace is not worthy of serious attention as a reporter or journalist. He’s a twerp. And not a very intelligent or funny one.
To balance the fiction of ‘24′ against the moral reality of our government committing torture, which is unlawful under any circumstance, and blowing off the Geneva Convention, which was also unlawful, beggars belief, and shows the sordid nature of Fox News and Chris Wallace. Wallace is entitled to his opinion, but he ought to keep that sort of silliness under wraps; it displays an amorality and stupidity at his core which he probably shouldn’t advertise. There’s nought to be done with Fox until the FCC or some regulatory agency smacks them down.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:51 pmThere have been no further attacks, aside from the anthrax, because Chimpy provided a few hundred thousand targets conveniently located where they are much easier to reach. They don’t have to fight us here because we are over there.
Even then, it’s amazing that the old guard continues to brag because they only allowed the worst attack in U.S. history once. It’s akin to a surgeon bragging about removing a tumor intact while the patient died.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:09 pmCorrelation is not proof of causation, Mr. Wallace.
New York City was holding its primary elections the morning of Sept 11, 2001. Does that mean that our democratic system of government caused the terrorist attacks?
Just because we were not attacked again after Sept 11 (setting aside, for the moment, that we were), and we were using these EITs after that point, does not prove that the EITs prevented any terrorist attacks. Why is this so difficult for you to understand?
August 30th, 2009 at 2:17 pm“They’ve kept us safe”, except for the thousands of US soldiers who died in their pointless war. Funny how they leave the US military war-dead out of group they call ‘us’.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:20 pmWhy attack? We have practically self-destructed since their last attack. We’ve severly dented our constitution and wasted our treasury and thousands of lives.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:26 pmDoes Mike Wallace still claim Chris as his son? Mike was a bit controversial from time to time, but in his early years of broadcasting, he was of the old school where you reported just the facts and didn’t toss in your own slanted opinions.
Tammy Duckworth lost both of her legs in a war promoted by Bush and Cheney, just another sacrifice so people like them and Chris Wallace can spout their views as the only legitimate ones. They are disgusting, but they are on Fox so we can’t expect anything else.
I don’t know why so many networks keep allowing Liz Cheney to be on their shows. How does she know so much? Does she have a security clearance that allows her Daddy to tell her all the secrets? When either of the Cheneys, along with Buchanan, Scarborough, or Gregory come on – I turn it off.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:27 pmCorrelation is not proof of causation, Mr. Wallace.
—
August 30th, 2009 at 2:51 pmPeople who drink heavily are more likely to be smokers. Does drinking cause smoking?
But who was in charge of our government on 9/11?
August 30th, 2009 at 2:51 pmLiz Cheney and her husband David Addington made millions with their Halliburton stock from that horrible Iraq mess.
That woman and her skanky husband should be vilified daily on the blogs, along with her criminal father and her crap mother.
Screw the repiggies, and screw the teabagger trash.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:51 pmPerhaps Cheney doesn’t include soldiers in the word “us”? Perhaps the people he’s so proud of keeping safe are Washington elites and Wall Street power brokers?
August 30th, 2009 at 2:52 pmIt is PURELY coincidental that this talentless know-nothing got a job on tee-vee, and his father was Mike Wallace. Nepotism had nothing to do with it.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:52 pmthey tend to drink a lot of coffee as well…
August 30th, 2009 at 2:52 pm“I don’t know why so many networks keep allowing Liz Cheney to be on their shows.”
My only explanation, GG2B, is that these networks have given up on what we would recognize as responsible reportings and have instead chosen to treat news as a profit-driven entertainment entity. In my opinion, ‘network news’ is so crippled that it has lost all its value. If there is laudable journalism there, it is so infrequent as to no longer justify my time and attention.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:57 pmSorry Evangenital,
According to Wiki, “Cheney is married to Philip Perry, the former General Counsel of the United States Department of Homeland Security.”
Granted, Philip Perry may not be any more savory than David Addington.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:04 pmUnder Clinton and after the 1993 WTC bombing, our country wasn’t attacked again either until George Bush & Dick Cheney came to town and allowed 9/11/01 to happen so they could use this “Pearl Harbor-like attack” to get what they wanted over in the Middle East.
The next 9/11 attack on our nation won’t be a surprise after 8 years of the Bush Regime and because their supporters still work for the CIA, Homeland Security, and other abominations.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:06 pmOne is also left to wonder how much Mr. Wallace is shaped by FAUX and how much comes from within. Case in point…
There’s an old local radio personality who was let go by a “liberal” station and took a job with the local Reichradio outlet. I had enjoyed him before, largely, because he didn’t usually talk politics unless someone from either party did something particularly noble or amusing. It was pretty much impossible to guess who he voted for.
Well, I recently had a chance to catch his new show for the first time and the transformation is appalling. Every single bit and jab is directed against “libruls”, just like the rest of the lineup. A guy who had impressed with his balance and moderation is now busy spreading the propaganda.
So? I am left to wonder whether our favorite Reichwhiners are really right-wing or if they’re just whores. Would Chris Wallace be the same person if he were with CBS or even PBS or, is he fundamentally flawed and limited to FAUX with the rest of the far-right fringe.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:07 pmExactly!!!!!
August 30th, 2009 at 3:07 pmDid the Bush Regime keep us safe from anthrax attacks after 9/11? How come they weren’t torturing people to get to the bottom of who was behind these attacks? Oh wait! The anthrax came from one of our military bases most likely after Dick Cheney told his buddies there to send it out to liberals only to convince the nation once and for all that liberals are the reason why we were attacked!
Cheney, his family, and his friends should all be in prison and when Liz Cheney says, “But I didn’t do anything!”, I will remind her she was born from the loins of Lynne & Dick Cheney which is enough to be an accomplice to war crimes and other criminal behavior.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:10 pmFrom Mike Wallace to Chris Wallace, we can gather that integrity is not always an inherited characteristic. Creationism in action, no?
O/T: turned on CNN at 10 AM, PDT, today and there was Fareed Zakaria GPS, spewing his right-wing crap in an interview with another right-wing GOPper, one of the lawyers who helped convince the Five Supreme Idiots to destroy our democracy in December 2000 and give us a Republican/Fascist coup and install the idiot Bush in the White House. Why are these right-wing GOP clowns still dominating the public airwaves?
August 30th, 2009 at 3:12 pmBadmoodman says:
LibertyLover says:
I wonder how many people will line the streets for Dick Cheney’s funeral?
- – Vampires don’t have funerals.
———-I don’t want to think of this man as immortal….
To continue my thought a little, I think of all the people that supposedly “kept us safe” and the people that inspire us to be better than ourselves, to not give in to the dark side of ourselves, to work past the fear and our human failings and to go for the light.
Torturing others is giving in to the worst of ourselves. Americans as a people are better than that. That is what is wrong with Cheney’s way of looking at the world.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:13 pmWhy are these right-wing GOP clowns still dominating the public airwaves?
It’s called corporate media.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:14 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
While we are bashing the “news” media I think it’s important to consider that the network nightly news is better than cable and PBS still does some really good work.
It’s too bad that PBS’s best news/commentary is buried on Friday nights. But, if no one else, they still do news right, for the most part. And you gotta like the fact that they banned Melanie Morgan for life!
August 30th, 2009 at 3:18 pmI bet a nickel that the “new” troll, despite the handle, can’t manage the simplest geometry or algebra, much less calculus. It seems to lack the ability to discern whether the data being examined is applicable to the problem being solved.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:22 pm.
Dear calculus22,
It truly is a sad day when you get to pick which laws to enforce…
… Does this mean we can TORTURE you too? If it produces the desired results, why should YOU care, YES?
p.s.
This isn’t about Left/Right or Liberal/Conservative…
… IT’S ABOUT THAT LAW!!!
Isn’t THAT the (R)epublican meme from the Lewinsky/Clinton scandal? THE LAW???
Funny, suddenly the LAW doesn’t matter to Loyalist (R)epublicans.
.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:25 pmSo there should be no complaining about waterboarding if there are illegal immigrants here?
I’m sorry, but I can’t see how you’re comparing apples to apples here. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:28 pm.
LOOK!
If the Bush/Cheney Administration kept us safe…
… Then what was 9/11 about?
Oh, SINCE 9/11 they kept us safe…
… Yea, right! Pppfffttt!!!
Let’s forget how safe they kept us ON 9/11, YES?
.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:29 pm“better than cable” is to network news as “better than Hoover” is to George W. Bush.
Happily, PBS was not completely killed during the Bush years. Even PBS has been tragically wounded.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:30 pmReally? Stopped future attacks. Can you list out the names of the people who were arrested before they attacked America?
August 30th, 2009 at 3:32 pmIt did stop several other attacks that were planned
August 30th, 2009 at 3:32 pm——-
Please be more specific. How did you come to this conclusion.Were you told it by anyone that had a vested interest in telling you it was so?
I see there are a few coffee drinking chain smoking booze hounds in the house…
August 30th, 2009 at 3:33 pm*waving to dbadass* LOL
August 30th, 2009 at 3:37 pmPeter C says:
“better than cable” is to network news as “better than Hoover” is to George W. Bush.
Happily, PBS was not completely killed during the Bush years. Even PBS has been tragically wounded.
Sadly true. It’s really more about style than substance. At least they don’t feature endless hours of paid shills yelling at each other. Please note that I exclude the Sunday morning crap. The whole mess has just become an emulation of the cable crap. But PBS largely avoids it entirely.
I would dearly love to see any of the group who came up with McNeil and Lehrer become managing editor for a cable “news” network. One would think that the current market would welcome in-depth, civil, HONEST discourse.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:39 pmHey! I have a “new” fan.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:40 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Well that certainly seems to be an unbiased source. Did you fail information literacy 101?
August 30th, 2009 at 3:44 pm‘They’ didn’t keep us safe after 9/11, ‘they’ kept themselves safe while enriching ‘themselves’ from the public coffers. ‘They’ had ‘other priorities’ (or butt cysts) to keep ‘them’ out of harms way.
Every roadside bomb is a terrorist attack on ‘us’ – just the ‘us’ part that ‘they’ sent to a foreign land and idiotically put in such horrible danger. There have been thousands of terrorist attacks on ‘us’, just none on ‘them’.
‘They’ don’t include ‘us’ as part of ‘them’.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:45 pmHoly schizophrenia, Batman! Our “new” troll can manage 4 windows at once.
But, seriously, doesn’t voting for your own post make you feel like a turd? Doesn’t the need to make up avatars, in order to find acceptance, seem like a warning sign? It does to us.
You really should seek out help, stupid troll. But, most importantly, you need to interact with real people who share a common goal and learn to earn the acceptance of those around you.
Making up people to agree with you is a path to madness. Your brain will turn in on itself and start creating phantoms that will torment you until all semblance of reason has fled.
Get help!
August 30th, 2009 at 3:46 pmAfter how many times did he give this information? Gee, that was conveniently left out of the “article”.
Next time, provide a legit resource.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:48 pmChris Wallace is an idiot. He’s nothing but a coward chickenhawk like Cheney. This fool makes my blood boil, he was too chicken to serve in the military so he acts tough with other people doing the actual fighting. If he were to go to combat, he’d pee his pants. Chris you’re nothing but a weak little punk so keep you trap shut about military matters. You need to be waterboarded so you can see how long you last. After about half a second and you would start crying “mommy help me”.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:51 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Iraq had stockpiles of weapons I mass destruction. I know it is so because I was told it was so? Is that how it works calculus22?
August 30th, 2009 at 3:55 pmI will leave here
August 30th, 2009 at 3:56 pm— Oh please don’t. I was just getting started.
Hi Pete,
I agree that PBS is a different animal than all the rest of TV news; it is less dependent upon corporate money. I think if it were better funded and didn’t need corporate sponsors, it’d be even better.
The only ‘corporate owned’ news program that presents SUPPORTED ARGUMENTS is Rachel Maddow’s show. I’ll watch her.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:57 pmHow many Americans have died who would now be alive had we not invaded Iraq? I can tell you the number is higher than the number that lost their lives in the twin towers.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:57 pmI like the wat they blended immigration, healthcare, and torture. It was uniquely inane….
August 30th, 2009 at 3:58 pmHe’s on board with a Fox hacktor?
August 30th, 2009 at 3:58 pmGeez, I thought he used to be a journalist.
Could we go back in time and flunk him out of his journalism so he could find his true calling as a roto-tooter operator?
I sgree with pete…
August 30th, 2009 at 3:59 pmUncle Fester Lurks says, “But who was in charge of our government on 9/11?”
Why do they hate America so much that they would hijack four passenger planes and crash them into high profile targets?
Osama bin Laden’s manifesto, which was published in all the major newspapers and magazines, said the #1 reason was America’s support for Israel’s aggression against Palestine and Muslims in the Middle East. The manifesto can be found on the internet if you care to read it.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:04 pmHi Peter C,
Rachael is a treasure but still, very much, an entertainer as much as a teacher. And she’s still defining and polishing her style.
There’s so much that’s bad about the corporate news industry that it’s easy to overlook the good. Especially when one outfit is devoted to declaring everything “good” to be “bad” and vice versa.
And even that insufferable blowhard, Tweety, is fun to watch when he smells fresh blood or gets a hold of a moron like Bachmann (InsaneR-Mn.). LOL!
August 30th, 2009 at 4:05 pmcalculus22 says: [first post August 30th, 2009 at 3:15 pm]
“The liberals are funny! They cry about waterboarding …”
calculus22 says: [August 30th, 2009 at 3:53 pm]
“… You simply begin to call names(stupid troll) rather than try to discuss something. … name calling is too juvenile for me.”
Yeah, WAY too juvenile. *rolls eyes*
August 30th, 2009 at 4:06 pmI’m not with Jack Bauer because he’s not real except in the mind of all the repug cowards.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:08 pm“Wallace defends torture, snidely says it’s ‘purely coincidental’ U.S. hasn’t been attacked since 9/11.”
Gee, Wallace. May be the terrorist is on vacation. It all about fear and ratings for Fox News. When this country was attacked, Fox News was raking in the ratings and profits thanks to the Sith Administration feeding fear and distorted information of the 9/11 attacks to this news outlet. Now, that there isn’t an attack, Fox News has to bring it up.
Terrorists are not stupid. And they certainly don’t need to attack this country again since this country and the American people are now financially, mentally, and emotionally in trouble. And I am sure that Bin Laden’s name will get tossed around on the 8th anniversary of 9/11 in less than 2 weeks.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:08 pmYeah, WAY too juvenile. *rolls eyes*
—Hey come on now. calculus22 doesn’t need your acceptance. calculus22 has created an imaginary word of calculus22’s own. It is a magical place full of mystical wonders…
August 30th, 2009 at 4:09 pmSorry gang. I didn’t mean to break the “new” troll but, recent research suggests that it’s damaging to humor lunatics. It’s not “name calling”, it’s “tough love”.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:13 pmand by word I of course mean world. Damn I need my own letterman able to leap capital T and all…
August 30th, 2009 at 4:13 pmThis is not only correlation over causation, it’s desperately cherry-picked correlation. By his argument, everything that the U.S. did or did not do is directly responsible for preventing a terrorist attack, whether it actually prevented a real terrorist attack or not.
Hypothetically, if the U.S.A. had raped babies, the Wallace would be defending baby rape as protecting America.
Bush choking on a pretzel saved thousands of lives.
And so on.
.
tballou says:
Can no one, not even the moderaters of this site, recall that this country was attacked after 9/11? Did not the multiple deaths and extreme disruption of our mail system, much less Congress that resulted from anthrax mailed from New Jersey not constitue a terrorist attack?
Whether something or someone counts as a terrorist, attack or victim to wingnuts is entirely based on how politically useful to it is them at the moment.
But I agree that should be mentioned as a response in the article above.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:16 pmPerhaps, dbadass, perhaps, … although, I like to think of calculus22 himself as a fictional character. Wait, let me correct that: I think of calculus22 as a fictional character. I don’t like to think about him at all.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:18 pmThose that can’t handle it just hide and vote down….I am unsure who bums me out more pussy frauds or tax whiners…
August 30th, 2009 at 4:20 pmI picture a hive that’s known, both individually and collectively, as “stupid troll”. But I don’t impose the name on anyone. I just throw the name out there and wait to see if they take the bait.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:22 pmDifferent laws have different weight. This is why laws have different penalties. As a people, Americans have decided that if you plan to kill someone in advance, and then murder that person, the penalty is (usually) life in prison. Compare that to running through a stop sign and not seeing the little girl on her bike, killing her. Probably only get 5 years and off on probation because the murder was unintentional.
The penalty for torturing prisoners or ordering prisoners to be tortured is death by hanging, if I am not mistaken. The penalty for immigrating illegally is deportation. The law is quite clear that torturing prisoners of war is a bit worse than being an illegal immigrant.
You can only compare them because they are both violations of the law, but you lack the ability to recognize the severity of a war crime over a secure boarder issue.
I would compare illegal immigration to a fancy parking ticket but torturing prisoners of war is the big granddaddy of them all, a war crime. I would compare ordering the torture of prisoners with committing genocide.
The fascist Republican C-street crime family demands abandonment of basic morality. Wingnuts simply cannot differentiate between right and wrong.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:24 pmpete
August 30th, 2009 at 4:24 pmSomeday with have to go fishing together for actual fish…
with=we. Damn….
August 30th, 2009 at 4:25 pmSee what I mean about that hide and vote pussy shit…
August 30th, 2009 at 4:27 pmI might add that it takes a truly unrepentant liar, like our stupid trolls, to express such indignation when they are called on their lies. Unless, in fact, they are so delusional that they really believe the lies. That would be sad.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:28 pmtry and get to -10. Come on big guy…
August 30th, 2009 at 4:29 pmcalculus22 says:
It did stop several other attacks that were planned.
No it didn’t. Cheney & Co. have had plenty of opportunity to demonstrate even one instance where torturing somebody saved somebody else’s life, and they have utterly failed to do so. Every example put forth has been proven false by public record.
.
calculus22 says:
But we must follow the law. OK when do all the illegal Mexicans go home?
There’s laws and then there’s laws. Doing horrific, inhuman things is not only a violation of the legal code, but also of basic standards of humanity. You clearly have none.
.
calculus22 says:
http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com...
This has been proven to be false. The terrorists were caught by a routine search. Only after the attack was prevented did KSM provide any information purportedly describing what had been prevented. However, that information is completely suspect because he was being tortured. He very likely made it up to get them to stop. We’ll never know, now.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:32 pmCome on SOCOTOA. Toughen up. You have a Texas Instrument don’t you…
August 30th, 2009 at 4:34 pmThis is why Chris Wallace works for Fox News. He’s not good enough to work elsewhere.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:42 pmThey are sort of like wolffish. I still like to smack them on the head long after they have already been boated and beaten. It is sort of weird…
August 30th, 2009 at 4:50 pmWhat bothers me about Dick Cheney bis this: He did every thing he could to stay out of a war he should have fought in. Then he is in a position to craft “war” policy years later.These ideas and policies he pursued put Americans at risk.It bothers me that he wouldn’t fight for America but has no qualms about sending Americans into peril. He is a fraud. We were unprepared for an attack. We absorbed the blow and then were vigilant. Dick wants credit for this. He is part of a small group of people who have profited in the past 8 years. The conservative control of network television and radio makes this possible. They continue to give Dick opportunities to explain his viewpoint long after it was pertinent. The American people should say “No more”.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:50 pmcalculus22 says
Conservatives aer stupid, soulless creatures. It REALLY makes sense that because some immigrants break the law that we should just eschew any comittment to follow the law at all. Yeah how stupid do you have to be to think it makes sense to say some people are breaking the law so there is no reason we should be bound by it ANARCHY TIME. My GOD you are stupid. Do us all a favor, back away from the crackpipe, and just STFU till you make more sense than a schitzephrenic crackhead
August 30th, 2009 at 4:51 pmQuestion to the Cheney/Torture supporters:
“When Khalid Sheik Mohammad “confessed” after being tortured that upcoming attacks on America were going to happen, who did the CIA arrest to thwart those new attacks?”
We want names please. KSM was in custody for being the ‘mastermind of 9/11′, so if torture really did work, then he would have released the names of other people on the planet who were in the middle of planning attacks against Americans and the CIA/Bush Regime would have rounded these terrorists up. Name the people who were arrested as a result of KSM being tortured as Cheney and others claim.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:52 pmHarsh as it might be I love your work…
August 30th, 2009 at 4:52 pmcalculus22 says:
Take your ignorant propaganda hatesite fold it till its all corners and shove it up your jackhole you worthless ignorant punkass troll
August 30th, 2009 at 4:52 pmWasn’t it the military that stopped our soldiers from using waterboarding for practice because our soldiers couldn’t last more than a few seconds and it was bad for morale? I read that somewhere.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:56 pmcalculus22 says:
Oh my GOD you are stupid. Do you TAPE the Rush Limbaugh show are are you so far along in your brainwashing that you spew it word for word naturally? So just STFU and move along you braindead moron. Isnt it time for Rush to tell you what you think today?
August 30th, 2009 at 4:58 pmFishing would be splendid, dbadass.
August 30th, 2009 at 5:00 pmdbadass says:
And magical ponies
August 30th, 2009 at 5:01 pmpete says:
I bet a nickel that the “new” troll, despite the handle, can’t
manage the simplest geometry or algebra, much less calculus.
i found out recently that “calculus” is the clinical name
August 30th, 2009 at 5:16 pmfor “tartar”… you know, the hard crap on your teeth…
Mike Wallace is a fifth columnist, Zionist thug. Any questions?
August 30th, 2009 at 5:25 pmrepublicanSScareme says:
Mike Wallace is a fifth columnist, Zionist thug. Any questions?
Yes.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:10 pm1. This article isn’t about Mike Wallace, so why are you bringing him up?
2. Do you have any supporting arguments, or are you just name-calling?
3. What does the capitalized “SS” in your username signify?
Why no Al Qaeda attacks after 9/11?
1) George Bush (business partner to the Bin Laden family) gathers together all the bin Ladens in the US and flies them out of the US to safety while the flight ban is still in effect.
2) We withdraw our troops from Saudi Arabian soil–the first and greatest objection OBL voiced
3) We stage an attack on OBL’s headquarters in Tora Bora but allow him to eescape easily. (Let’s conduct the operation with 95% local Muslim troops!)
4) We attack a secular arab leader OBL hates.
5) We resolutely don’t go after OBL.
6) Bush signals this by saying publicly that OBL ‘doesn’t interest him.’
All that’s missing are the cash payments and jobs for relatives.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:30 pmWallace said last week that on the issue of waterboarding, “I’m with Jack Bauer on this.”
____________
Of course you are, Chris… just one fictional character supporting another.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:50 pm101. calculus22 says: The liberals are funny! They cry about waterboarding because it’s illegal. It did stop several other attacks that were planned. But we must follow the law. OK when do all the illegal Mexicans go home? … August 30th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Good on you, calc22. You seem to have gotten the part that torture is illegal. Our last government did that illegal stuff and it really doesn’t seem appropriate to let it simply pass without notice.
Then bad on you – it has not been proved that the torture, whether it was waterboarding or any other abusive technique, produced the result you and Darth Cheney think it did. There are many reasons to think that torture is counterproductive, more than there are to think it produces useful information.
Then good on you again – you noticed we have a respectable number of people in the country who wandered in without government documentation. I hate to have to tell you that a fair number of those people come from cultures which were on the continent before the US Government arrived on the scene. While most of them now recognize that there’s someone on the other side of that line scratched in the sand between Brownsville and San Diego saying, “No”, they may not share your opinion of arbitrary political boundaries. Anyway, SubSith Shrub and DarthBarney Cheney had eight years to wrap that up, and they didn’t. Just think of it as your government inaction.
Immigration and migration needs to be rationalized and regularized, but stewing around yelping about “illegals” doesn’t advance an improvement in their situation or in ours, if you assume, which I do not, that the benefits to our nation are outweighed by the problems of allowing people reasonable access who also inhabit the continent. As noted, a lot of them have ties to cultures that were here first; even the ones who think of themselves as predominantly Spanish in culture were here before most “Anglos” were.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:01 pmChris Wallace is definitely no Walter Cronkite.
In fact, no one at Cluster-Fox news even comes close to being a Walter Cronkite.
And Dick “Lies, lies and more lies” Cheney is definitely no George Washington.
The Bush/Cheney administration WAS a terrorist organization, in and of itself, spreading terror wherever possible, for partisan political purposes or as a result of outright stupidity and incompetence.
The 9/11 attacks could have been prevented if top Bush/Cheney administration officials had been paying any attention. They weren’t. It happened. Then these same officials decided that the 9/11 attacks presented a great political opportunity, a means of pumping up the fear, the terror, to further their right-wing agenda, one item of which was their planned invasion of Iraq. Thus, a color-coded terror alert system was instituted…and politicized for purely partisan Republican purposes. Then, Bush/Cheney administration officials pumped-up the fear talk about the Republican-manufactured “threat” that Iraq and Saddam Hussein’s regime “supposedly” represented to the United States, getting people susceptible to their fear campaign to believe pure crap.
Shortly after the 9/11 right-wing terrorist attacks, there was another terrorist attack, this time using anthrax, mailed, people died. However, the Bush/Cheney administration, and the news media, handled this differently, almost like they wanted people to forget that this even happened. Why? Oh, it wasn’t the initial anthrax mailing they wanted kept hidden, it was all the copy-cat right-wing mailings of powder in envelopes that followed that they wanted kept hidden, involving potentially hundreds of thousands of these mailings by right-wingers to liberal, progressive individuals and organizations. A whole lot of independents in America might have turned against the Republican Party even earlier if word got out that tens of thousands of right-wingers were terrorizing their fellow citizens.
And then we have what happened during Hurricane Katrina, when the Bush/Cheney administration launched a terror campaign against Louisianan Democrats. Two things: 1) on the day New Orleans flooded, the Bush/Cheney administration (and their conservative news outlets) started a smear campaign against Gov. Blanco (D-LA). Their message: She was incompetent. She didn’t ask for federal disaster assistance before Katrina Hit (blatantly false..she did). Be very afraid of any Democrats trying to respond to a disaster. Trust Republicans. Vote Republican. To make this smear campaign stick, though, the Bush/Cheney administration had to make the disaster worse than it already was…by withholding officially-requested federal emergency disaster aid from Louisiana and New Orleans.
Thus, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered U.S. military search-and-rescue helicopter units to stand-down. Two pilots who did make it into New Orleans with their crew to rescue stranded people were reprimanded upon their return to their Pensacola base. Boaters heading into New Orleans to rescue people were turned back. Rescue personnel used for photo-ops. Louisiana Gov. Blanco, stiffed by the Bush/Cheney administration, asked other states for emergency assistance. And we all saw the pictures of what happened at the Superdome in New Orleans. All deliberate. All part of a Bush/Cheney administration plan to blame Louisianan Democrats and terrorize Louisiana citizens (and U.S. citizens) into voting for Republicans.
This is why I call the Bush/Cheney administration a terrorist organization. Fear was one of their primary policy tools. A tool that the corrupt conservative Republicans continue to use to this day, with Cluster-Fox news being one of the biggest purveyors of this fear, this emotional terrorism, with Cluster-Fox news producers and anchors pumping up the fear volume every chance they get…which must mean that Cluster-Fox news is a terrorist organization in and of itself.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:45 pmWALLACE: Alirght, we have to take a break here but I just want to point out to the audience that it is purely coincidental that this country has not been attacked since 9/11.
The Daily Show needs to do a segment on the “Fox News Smirk”, like the segment they did on Fox’s use of the question mark to plant an inflammatory suggestion without any evidence.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:59 pmSlick how he slips it in while going to commercial so no one can rebut it.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:17 pmThe whole idea that a terrorist network would be completely crippled for seven years because a few guys were tortured is ridiculous. I’m so sorry that many people would fall for such magical thinking. Torture is a talisman to these people.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:45 pm9/11 occurred on his watch.
But, of course, that doesn’t count.
August 30th, 2009 at 9:40 pmSo Wallace is saying our military can’t protect us…
What? I thought the right was proud and believed in our military to protect us…
Homeland Security must suck too, huh Wallace?
It’s alot like the Anti-Christian, Christians that are on the right too…
Phucking cowards and backbiters and victims….
Chris Wallace….a jerk making a living off his old man’s career..
August 30th, 2009 at 9:45 pmOnly on fox
So Chris Wallace thinks that we are a nation of men and not laws. Come to think of it, this country rebelled against King George over this very issue. Does Wallace want an all powerful Monarchy? He obviously has not thought through the consequences of the actions he supports. Is Wallace joining the rest of the brain-dead GOP? He is stepping into Michael Steele territory here.
August 30th, 2009 at 10:44 pmDoes Mr. Wallace have insider knowledge of al Qaeda’s operation?
August 30th, 2009 at 11:46 pmWALLACE: Alirght, we have to take a break here but I just want to point out to the audience that it is purely coincidental that this country has not been attacked since 9/11.
We were under attack from 2000-1/20/2009.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:38 amThis is the trouble with republicans,
They are always complaining about Hollywood. Then they sell Hollywood’s FICTION. Wallace is with Jack Bauer on this?
Oh, I guess since Wallace is with Bauer, I mean when did Wallace become the “DECIDER”.
My Rambo trumps your Jack Bauer………………………..
August 31st, 2009 at 2:37 amRight, Robt—-Jack Bauer is FICTION (NOT TRUE, DOES NOT HAPPEN, NOT REALITY)! Now if you want to have as your role model people who actually DID torture, then you can tell us how great the Inquisition was. Or the Japanese in WWII who we executed for torturing.
There are reasons we signed these laws against torture:
August 31st, 2009 at 4:08 am1) it does not give you reliable information
2) we do not want it used against our troops. If it’s all right for us to do it (and say it is to prevent an attack), then why would it not be all right for someone we attack frequently to use it against us? Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Pakistan, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Chile, Lebanon, etc.
If we had captured, say, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on Sept 10, 2001 and knowing then what you know now, what interrogations techniques would you use? Water boarding, mock executions, the threat of killing family members, etc?
But of course you nutty libs won’t answer this question. You will dance around the question yelping something about me being a right winger, but you have not the guts to honestly answer this question.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:38 ambush had knowledge of an impending attack without capturing anyone or torturing anyone. What good did it do?
but of course you nutty regressives won’t answer this question. You will dance around the question yelping something about me being a left winger, but you have not the guts to honestly answer this question.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:44 amexcellent point Robt. Wonder what Capatian Kirk would do?
August 31st, 2009 at 7:45 amGood job Fred. You just proved my point perfectly – didn’t answer the question.
But I will answer your question anyway – the US had been complacent for years before 911 and I will agree that the Bush admin (and Clinton admin) didn’t do enough. The whole government screwed the pooch on this one. But playing patty cake with terrorists and losing sleep if we hurt their feelings is not the way to handle terror suspects.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:14 amThe only point you have is on top of your head.
If torure works, where is ben ladin fool?
August 31st, 2009 at 8:25 amBy the way, I did answer your question. Why don’t you address that instead of posing more failed solutions?
Bush had the info and ignored it and he didn’t have to torture anyone to get it.
What good does torture do if you already have actionable info handed by Clinton to bush that bush ignored?
Seems you just want to hurt people. You do not represent America and you have been rejected by Americans.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:29 amStubain,
If we had a prisoner that had actionable intelligence a week before 9/11/2001, and we tortured him to get that intelligence, and that intelligence allowed us to prevent the 9/11 attack, it would still have been against US and international law.
If you want to change US law, you may do so through the established system for changing laws. If you want to change international law, I am not sure how you could even go about that, but I am certain there is a process for doing so. Until you change US and international law, torture remains illegal.
Even if you did manage to change US laws to make it legal for prisoners to be tortured, it would still have been illegal to torture prisoners in an effort to stop 9/11. I am not a lawyer, but I don’t think you can even change a law retroactively, so that Cheney could not be tried for ordering the torture of American prisoners.
Cheney has publicly confessed to ordering the torture of US prisoners. For that he must be tried, convicted, and at least imprisoned, if not hung. What I would like to see is everyone that defended the use of torture be tried, convicted and imprisoned, and that includes you Stubain.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:40 amHey check out the new legislation coming out of the house that our bought and sold senators are going kill and our puppet president is going to veto.
Rep. Frank and Ron Paul eyes Fed audit, emergency lending curbs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2DX9Iu4wNo
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090830/pl_nm/us_usa_fed_audits;_ylt=AnopcuRicZIZhAV0hbHf9Gwa.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTJvczBpMG9iBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMDkwODMwL3VzX3VzYV9mZWRfYXVkaXRzBHBvcwMxMQRzZWMDeW5fcGFnaW5hdGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNmdWxsbmJzcHN0b3I-
August 31st, 2009 at 8:48 amThe antichrist spammed this across every thread. Vote him down and report him for spam please.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:51 amChris Wallace sure isn’t his Father’s son.
August 31st, 2009 at 9:49 amI’m on Superman’s side. Superman wouldn’t torture anybody. Batman might, but Spider-man wouldn’t. Look everybody, I can do TV journalism!
.
Stubain says:
If we had captured, say, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on Sept 10, 2001 and knowing then what you know now, what interrogations techniques would you use? Water boarding, mock executions, the threat of killing family members, etc?
But of course you nutty libs won’t answer this question.
I’d love to answer your stupid question: nothing, it wouldn’t have worked.
You just said that we already “know then what we know now,” so either we know how and when we’re going to be attacked or we don’t. If we don’t, then we wouldn’t know what was going to happen and wouldn’t see the urgency. If we did then we wouldn’t need to torture him because we already knew enough to stop it. See the logic problem there?
Besides, even if I really did believe that torturing a guy would stop an attack, and I went ahead and did it, I’d gladly face the legal consequences for breaking the law. I wouldn’t try to skate on facing responsibility for my actions. Because a hero would realize that upholding the rule of law was just as important as protecting people, and would therefore try to do both.
August 31st, 2009 at 10:41 amHere’s a question that neocons refuse to answer: would you be willing to accept the legal consequences of your actions even if you believed they were right?
Socrates drank poison and died because of exactly this principle, btw.
August 31st, 2009 at 10:46 amElBruce says:
“republicanSScareme says:
Mike Wallace is a fifth columnist, Zionist thug. Any questions?
Yes.
1. This article isn’t about Mike Wallace, so why are you bringing him up?
2. Do you have any supporting arguments, or are you just name-calling?
3. What does the capitalized “SS” in your username signify?”
My mistake. I meant Chris Wallace. But since Chris is such a Zionist nut-job, it stands to reason his father is too.
The SS signifies that the Republican Party is basically a fascist criminal organization.
As far as supporting arguments go, I guess you just haven’t been paying attention. Faux News is a Zionist hate machine. It’s ovbious. Duh!
August 31st, 2009 at 12:10 pm177. Stubain sez: If we had captured, say, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on Sept 10, 2001 and knowing then what you know now, what interrogations techniques would you use? Water boarding, mock executions, the threat of killing family members, etc?
But of course you nutty libs … August 31st, 2009 at 7:38 am
Say what? Another pluperfect idiot troll.
If we had known then what we know now, there would be no point to torturing anyone because we would have already known it. Wouldn’t matter whether the captive was KSM, OBL, Barney, your sister Kate, whoever; if you already know then you can already prevent, etc. Or further. In fact, we wouldn’t have had to capture anyone except the hi-jackers as they went through the turnstiles. So what’s your point, idiot troll?
Save your derogatory remarks for your friends and neighbors, if you have any.
August 31st, 2009 at 2:11 pmStubain says:
People like you are SO mind numbingly stupid it is just sad. You guys keep trying this ticking bomb scenario despite the FACT it is illogical AND a flawed argument which is why it has never actually happened in the history of the world. First in YOUR scenario you would have to KNOW when you caught him that he HAD such knowledge, that the attack was going to happen immediatly, because after only a few hours they would KNOW you have the guy and change the plan and since HE knows those things all he has to do is lie a couple of times and waste the small amount of time you have. Second it is a flawed argument because you can justify virtually ANYTHING by coming up with some far fetched scenario about how it will stop something worse. It YOU raping murdering and eating five babies you could have stopped 9/11 wouldnt you have to do so? So see it isnt that us lefties are looney its that you righties are just flat out too stupid to do basic analysis. You are morons so you THINK things make sense because you are too stupid to see the obvious reasons they DONT.
August 31st, 2009 at 3:09 pmLevi the Dungbeetle says:
A week is too long. After at most 24 hrs they know you have the guy and just change the plan.
August 31st, 2009 at 3:11 pmSorry Chris – I’d rather be aligned with George Washington than Dick Cheney. You pick the side of the anti-American. I’m choosing America.
“”In 1776,” wrote historian David Hackett Fischer in “Washington’s Crossing,” “American leaders believed it was not enough to win the war. They also had to win in a way that was consistent with the values of their society and the principles of their cause. One of their greatest achievements … was to manage the war in a manner that was true to the expanding humanitarian ideals of the American Revolution.”
“The fact that the patriots refused to abandon these principles, even in the dark times when the war seemed lost, when the enemy controlled our cities and our ragged army was barefoot and starving, credits the character of Washington and the founding fathers and puts to shame the conduct of America’s present leadership.”
August 31st, 2009 at 3:35 pm911 was an Inside jb by the PNAC a-holes.
They are war criminals and traitors.
August 31st, 2009 at 3:57 pm>>>WALLACE: Alirght, we have to take a break here but I just want to point out to the audience that it is purely coincidental that this country has not been attacked since 9/11.<<<
“Well, besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”
September 1st, 2009 at 12:41 amPoor nutty libs – letting a little ol’ troll like me get your shorts in a twist.
-My question was pretty simple – if we captured a bad guy who we knew had intel on a plot like 911, what would you do to get that info? And I was 100% right! You nutty libs didn’t answer the question because you would have to concede that you would do what was necessary – but like most nutty libs, you love your ideology more than your country. Your blinding hatred of all things Bush has clouded your judgment.
-According to you folks, I (you) was tortured at college, many jobs I (you) have had, and standing in live at the DMV. I suppose you want Drill Sergeants and law enforcement trainers put in prison for torture, too huh? Be careful, nutty libs, what you define as torture.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:11 amvery thanks for article!
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:43 am