home

Dick Cheney is On Vacation

By Jeralyn, Section Huricanes Katrina and Rita
Posted on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 10:20:15 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

The Washington Post reported Wednesday:

Vice President Cheney, who has spent part of August at his home outside scenic Jackson, Wyo., remains there today -- although his spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, doesn't call it vacation. "He's working from Wyoming today," McBride told me this morning.

And when is he coming back? "He will certainly be coming back. I'm not able to tell you the day right now. I don't have that handy."

Via America Blog.

< LA. Governor Gives 'Shoot to Kill' Orders | New Orleans Officers Surrender Badges >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Dick Cheney is On Vacation | 35 comments (35 topical)
    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#1)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    "Let them eat rats and raw sewage"

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    Redefines the phrase "phoning it in".

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    I maybe totally insane which is likely but what if something is happening we really don't know about and what if this new orleans storm was manufactured to take down our oil capability? that maybe why bush is running all over the place talking to generals..you understand china is a real enemy and china is the top people in the world with whether weapons.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    Emesto we will all be eating sewage soon.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#5)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    now fred, i just can't imagine anyone thinking that you, of all the posters on here, might be clinically insane. nah, not a chance! lol geez, i don't know why you're picking on ol' dick, he isn't even out shopping for obscenely expensive shoes or playing tennis. i'll bet he's in the basement, cooking up a plan, as we speak, to have halliburton come riding into NO and save the day! ok, probably not.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    Yet another example of Bush's Compassion Deficit.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#7)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    Wether weapons will work or not be able to leeve it up to them. Cheney's still on vacation anyway.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#8)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    At an undisclosed location for an undisclosed time.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#9)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    He has other priorities...again.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#10)
    by Steven Sanderson on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    How can anybody be critical of Dick Cheney remaining on his "well-earned" vacation? After all, it's hard work counting all of the billions of dollars he's looted from our treasury.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    I hereby propose that we start using the name "Bushville" for each and every refugee encampment. The bumbling of the Bush Administration and its utter inability to cope with a predictable and much anticipated natural disaster should provide the spark for a new populist movement in our beloved country that will reverse and vanquish the elitism, selfishness and insanity that has infected our government during the past 5 years.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    He is playing online war games with Condiliar

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#13)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    I wanted to wait a few days to see how the feds responded to this disaster before criticizing, I think it is now safe to say there is a severe lack of leadership in the response to this disaster. I believe the officials in the disaster zone when they say the response has been disgraceful. Where is the leadership? Time for Bush, Cheney and their cohorts to earn their salary. They are employees of the citizenry, and the citizenry needs them to get to work.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    Fred, We've all been eating sewage (metaphorically, anyway) since 12 noon on January 20, 2001.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    It's amazing how TL has so much criticism for Republican officials, whether they have any authority over the situation or not. Meanwhile, not a word about Governor Blanco, who spent the first two days being overwhelmed an ineffective. Not that I blame her; I can't imagine how I would react in her shoes. From TL though, all blame and criticism goes in one direction only, almost as if it's a desperate attempt to find some issue, any issue, with which to beat Republicans. This is a disaster of pretty epic proportions. No one was prepared (at any level) - you might read this article from a 2003 Civil Engineering magazine in order to get some idea of what was being looked at, and how far out the timelines were for upgrading the water barriers. You might also note that the very efforts to protect the city have been having the perverse side effect of eliminating the bayou that acts as a first line storm barrier. What that article points out is that even higher, stronger levees (in places where they are even possible) are a short term, stop gap measure. Without restoration of the bayou, NO is going to be on the gulf coast within 30 years - at which point, Lake Ponchartrain will be the least of the city's problems. But go ahead and play scapegoat, aiming only at your partisan opponents. It's so useful, and does so much to help.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#16)
    by aw on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    JR: Nobody's buying any excuses anymore.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#17)
    by roger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    JR, Disaster relief is a federal task. FEMA and Homeland Security are federal agencies. Repubs control all branches of federal gov't right now. The buck stops here, huh? TL has critisized the gov, BTW

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#18)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    Oil at record highs. Gas at record highs. Halliburton and Exxon profits at record highs. Third largest oil field in the world under our "control". His work is done.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    cpinva, oh i see the light now, and it isn't the va drugs, old dick is helping the people with his new plan to make 500 billion in rebuilding new orleans, yes we need Halliburton and i hope dick isn't riding in on any little kids tonight, if you know what i mean. but i think?...he maybe riding all of us soon with the help of out business government and make a deal non government and its real ideals? will say no more! do not want to go to prison today.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    aw - what I posted aren't excuses - it's the reality of the situation. Every level of government spent the last few decades assuming that a Katrina level event would magically avoid NO. You don't like that, I don't like that, but there it is. Additionally, you should read that article. As I said above, things are going to get worse over time if we look at this simply as a "build the walls higher" problem. In the interim, pointing fingers at uninvolved officials isn't useful in any way, shape, or form. As to the person who thinks that Bush is gleeful because of high oil/gas prices? Apply Occam's Razor, and ponder what happens to Republican political opportunities if prices stay spiked for long. The simple answer: nothing good. You can't simultaneously think that Rove is an evil genious out to ensure Republican dominance and that he and Bush are pleased as punch about high oil prices. Especially given that such prices ripple through the entire economy. Unless you are the same sort of conspiracy nut who was "sure" that Hillary had Vincent Foster killed.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#21)
    by roger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    JR, Ask the Dutch about flood control. It is possible.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:04 PM EST
    Roger, It's not a matter of what's possible - it's a matter of what people believe to be realistic and useful. Prior to Katrina, government officials at all levels didn't want to believe that a Katrina scale event was probable. The Dutch only got serious about 1000 year events after the 1953 floods. The west coast started getting serious about dealing with Earthquakes after 1906. In general, people don't accept the possibility of true catastrophe (or plan for it) until after it happens. Take a purely political matter from the 19th century - the prelude to the civil war. It was clear that slavery was going to cause a huge national rift at least from the 1830's. However, politicians of all stripes spent those thirty years (prior to 1861) using one inadequate band-aid after another, rather than grapple with the real problem. In hindsight, anyone could tell that a real solution in the 1850's would have been far cheaper than the civil war was. However, people in power then didn't see it that way. Just as state, local, and federal officials, prior to last week, judged the cost/benefits of doing a real fix to southern Louisiana (better levees, a solution to the disappearing bayous - the whole ball of wax) as a remote problem that "just wasn't going to happen". Sure, some officials and outside people saw the train wreck coming - just as some astute 19th century observers saw the train wreck of the civil war coming. Now, as then, no one in power paid any attention until the crisis actually happened.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#23)
    by Darryl Pearce on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    Where in the world is Dick Cheney? Planning a trip to Alberta's oilsands at Fort McMurray on September 9. "It's not the right time for politics," said Scott McClellan. It never is but especially when this administration screws up. Like the potato famine in Ireland: "God gave us the potato blight, but the English gave us the famine."

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#24)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    In the interim, pointing fingers at uninvolved officials isn't useful in any way, shape, or form.
    The vice president of the US is an uninvolved official? My god James, do you expect anything from our leadership? This man is paid several hundred thousand dollars a year by all of us, demanding the number 2 man in the country get involved is not to much to ask. If he can't think of anything to do, he can drive a busload of refugees out of the area.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    I suppose, once again, Cheney has other priorities.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    Yes, the VP is uninvolved. You can check the Constitution for his duties if you are unclear. You might also read this, which extracts a letter from a military person who sounds like he knows more about the subject than any of us. What exactly do you expect Cheney or Rice to do? Go to the disaster area and man soup lines? If your answer is yes, consider what the security needs for that would be, and ask yourself whether they would be mostly in the way as a result (I recall constant whining from the left last year that Bush's tour of the area was impeding rescue efforts, due to the security footprint). You want high officials to "do more" by showing up? Or do you want them to stay away, and not impose the requisite security bubble on an area in crisis? Pick one.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#27)
    by DonS on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    JR you are either obtuse by nature or have lost your apologist bearings completely. SENIOR government officials should be at least at their posts in DC (NOT necessarily in the field) AT THE READY for WHATEVER capacity they might be called to act in. Is this a crisis of national proportions, or is it not? Guess what? The "president" might even want to hold a cabinet meeting which should take place under the most favorable, face to face, conditions. What about this is so difficult for the normal brain to seize.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#28)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    Try it this way, jr: If we don't need Dick Cheney to show up for work in Washington today, when do we need him?

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#29)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    Quaker: A VP early in the century (one of FDR's, I think, but I could be wrong) once described the Vice Presidency as "Not worth a bucket of warm spit". Other than casting tie breaking votes in the Senate, the VP's only responsibility is to step in if the President is dead/disabled. Prior to Carter - who gave Mondale some responsibility - the VP was pretty much ignored by all and sundry. Or, to put this in terms that fellow software people might understand: "Crap, the project is late. Get the CIO down here to pitch in!" Anyone actually think that would be helpful?

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#30)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:05 PM EST
    The Navy just awarded Hailburton it's first Katrina contract--Dick was home praying at his money alter.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:06 PM EST
    James: "how far out the timelines were for upgrading the water barriers." Gee, James, nevermind water barriers, those briefings were of historical interest only. No need for leadership. No need for leadership on any level. What we need is a BUFFOON who wears a firefighter uniform. We don't need a firefighter. We don't need competent leadership -- we need AN IDIOT IN A STEAMBOAT CAPTAIN'S SUIT. Toot-toot, James. You have your work cut out for you, filling in Bush's crack with your tongue of patronizing lies.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#32)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:06 PM EST
    "Crap, the project is late. Get the CIO down here to pitch in!" Anyone actually think that would be helpful?
    Let's try your analogy from the other side: "Crap, the project is late and the clients are due here any minute. Where the hell is the CIO?" "Uh...Wyoming?"

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#33)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:06 PM EST
    And this:
    Other than casting tie breaking votes in the Senate, the VP's only responsibility is to step in if the President is dead/disabled.
    Now we're getting somewhere. You're saying that Cheney essentially serves no purpose whatever. I think we finally agree on something.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#34)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:06 PM EST
    You want high officials to "do more" by showing up?
    Good heavens, no! They need to extend their vacations further; indefinitely, if possible. Look at the national disgrace they've contributed to shortly after curtailing their vacations.
    He [Dick] is playing online war games with Condiliar
    But she was busy buying shoes on 5th Avenue for the poor "refugees" in Louisiana; until she had to order security guards to eject an unruly woman customer who obviously mistook Condi's charity for selfishness.

    Re: Dick Cheney is On Vacation (none / 0) (#35)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:10 PM EST
    Doesn't the Secret Service, as a matter of national security, always get the veep out of DC to somewhere they can control security and access, whenever the president is deemed at risk?

    Dick Cheney is On Vacation | 35 comments (35 topical)