Bent Corner

Now that Hillary Clinton has ended her presidential bid and endorsed Barack Obama, I’m wondering why I am supposed to now change my mind about him. I came to the conclusion a while back that he would make a really poor choice for President. Having Hillary Clinton now drop out of the race doesn’t change that.

It wasn’t a decision I came to lightly. It wasn’t a decision I enjoyed making. On February 12, I voted for Barack Obama in the Maryland primary. I felt good about doing it. I had never felt that good about voting for a candidate. Truth be known, I usually vote against someone instead of voting for someone. For example, in 2004 I was voted against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. I did this by voting for John Kerry and John Edwards. I was holding my nose when I voted for these two men to be President and Vice President. Continue Reading »

I’m not really sure why people are still protesting the Iraq war. I think it clear that this point the Bush administration doesn’t care what we think about their war. When Vice-President Dick Cheney was asked about recent polls that show two-thirds of Americans say the fight in Iraq is not worth it, Cheney replied, “So?”

They don’t care.

I think protesting a group or an entity that incorporates constant public polling — such as the Bush administration — is a complete waste of time. They already know what people think.

Martha Stewart lied when being questioned about insider stock trading. Scooter Libby lied when being questioned about leaking the identity of a covert CIA agent.

Martha Stewart is famous for baking cookies and making the perfect table arraignment. Scooter Libby is famous for being both the Chief-of-Staff and national security adviser to Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Martha Stewart ended up serving a five-month prison term. Scooter Libby ended up serving no time in prison.

Why is Scooter Libby exempt from serving even a day in prison when Martha Stewart did the same exact thing yet had to spend 5 months in prison?

Vice President Dick Cheney repeated his kooky assertions that al-Qaida was somehow linked to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq before the United States invaded:

Cheney contended that al-Qaida was operating in Iraq before the March 2003 invasion led by U.S. forces and that terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was leading the Iraqi branch of al-Qaida. Others in al-Qaida planned the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“He took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq, organized the al-Qaida operations inside Iraq before we even arrived on the scene and then, of course, led the charge for Iraq until we killed him last June,” Cheney told radio host Rush Limbaugh during an interview. “As I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq.

Granted, he said these things on The Rush Limbaugh Show. It’s not like you normally find a whole lot of truth on that particular radio program. It’s just that even Cheney has to realize that most people know he is lying when he says stuff like this. Even people that listen to Rush Limbaugh or watch Fox News.

What’s especially ironic about Cheney saying this yesterday was that yesterday the Pentagon released a recently declassified report that disputes the assertion that Saddam was in cahoots with al-Qaida.

Dick Cheney is such a silly goose. If he wasn’t such a warm and lovable soul, he would certainly face criticism from people who value the truth. People that are into facts. He tends to get a free pass on not telling the truth because he is so damn likable.

Iraq didn’t have an al-Qaida problem until George W. Bush invaded.

Barak Obama was speaking to a large crowd in Austin, Texas and spoke about British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to withdraw 1,600 troops from Iraq. Obama pointed out that Blair recognizes the fact that Iraq’s problems can’t be solved militarily. As though we are only one epic tank battle away from bringing peace to Iraq.

“Now if Tony Blair can understand that, than why can’t George Bush and Dick Cheney understand that?” Obama asked thousands of supporters who gathered in the rain to hear him. “In fact, Dick Cheney said this is all part of the plan (and) it was a good thing that Tony Blair was withdrawing, even as the administration is preparing to put 20,000 more of our young men and women in.

“Now, keep in mind, this is the same guy that said we’d be greeted as liberators, the same guy that said that we’re in the last throes. I’m sure he forecast sun today,” Obama said to laughter from supporters holding campaign signs over the heads to keep dry. “When Dick Cheney says it’s a good thing, you know that you’ve probably got some big problems.”

A spokeswoman for Cheney, traveling with him in Australia, said they had no comment on Obama’s remarks.

Obama points out something very important about Cheney. The man is always wrong. He is never right. Some people like to concentrate on the fact that he is an extreme asshole. That’s true, but that wouldn’t matter if he was ever right about something.

Take Donald Rumsfeld’s “farewell ceremony”. Cheney spoke about Rumsfeld in a way that seemed down right kooky. Even for Cheney:

“In his regard for our people in uniform, in his unwavering strength through unprecedented challenges, in his example of leadership and patriotic service, I believe the record speaks for itself: Don Rumsfeld is the finest Secretary of Defense this nation has ever had.”

Don Rumsfeld was an awful Secretary of Defense. That’s precisely why he was fired. Most of the problems now in Iraq are the direct result of Rumsfeld’s incompetence and mismanagement. Only Cheney would praise a man being forced out of a job because he was bad at it. If he is (was) the finest Secretary of Defense this nation has ever had, why isn’t he still Secretary of Defense? We are involved in two wars. It seems to me that now is not the time to fire your finest Secretary of Defense.

Cheney is always wrong.

Dick Cheney’s non-lesbian daughter wrote an op-ed in today’s Washington Post that spoke of continuing the war in Iraq.

We are at war. America faces an existential threat. This is not, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi has claimed, a “situation to be solved.” It would be nice if we could wake up tomorrow and say, as Sen. Barack Obama suggested at a Jan. 11 hearing, “Enough is enough.” Wishing doesn’t make it so. We will have to fight these terrorists to the death somewhere, sometime. We can’t negotiate with them or “solve” their jihad. If we quit in Iraq now, we must get ready for a harder, longer, more deadly struggle later.

Iraq didn’t have any terrorists until the United States invaded Iraq and sacked the government. Bush invaded Iraq not because of a jihad, but because Iraq supposedly had weapons of mass destruction and had the will to use them against the United States. Something that has turned out to be completely false.

Liz Cheney doesn’t want the war in Iraq to end. I find that more then a little ironic since as a baby, Liz Cheney helped her father dodge Vietnam. Dick Cheney received one of his many military deferments because of baby Liz. The Selective Service reclassified Dick Cheney from 1-A to 3-A because military service would have caused hardship on his family.

The war needs to come to an end. Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction. Saddam is dead. There have been democratic elections. Iraqis got purple fingers. The mission has been accomplished.

Over 3,000 American troops have been killed in Iraq. It’s time to bring them home. Continued occupation of Iraq will only help to increase terrorism, not decrease it.

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