Wednesday night

Back from gym and store, after good nap.

Not much to report. It's interesting that certain Republicans are piling on Obama for causing the Xmas terrorist incident, when they themselves switched from going after Al Qaeda to attacking Iraq after 9/11 and earned the enmity of the Arab world. As a direct result, Al Qaeda quickly expanded. Then the Bush Administration went on to release the Yemeni prisoners from Guantanamo who apparently masterminded this latest attack. I got a kick out of this.

Dick Cheney, Patron Of The Arts

by BarbinMD

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Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 03:36:04 PM PST

How many times have we seen Dick Cheney's mug plastered across our TV screens over the past 12 months, spewing garbage about the Obama administration putting the lives of the American people at risk?

Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.

American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.

Somehow this brings to mind what Cheney had to say just weeks after President Obama took office:

When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry.

So, how's that protecting America one still life painting class at a time working out, eh, Dick?

Of course the question now is, will Cheney again be booked on every Fox News to peddle more criticism of President Obama, or will this little "oops" moment mean that Dick is slithering back to his undisclosed location?

Unfortunately not. He opened his trap. Then the Obama people put out this:

There has been a lot of discussion online and in the mainstream media about our response to various critics of the President, specifically former Vice President Cheney, who have been coming out of the woodwork since the incident on Christmas Day. I think we all agree that there should be honest debate about these issues, but it is telling that Vice President Cheney and others seem to be more focused on criticizing the Administration than condemning the attackers. Unfortunately too many are engaged in the typical Washington game of pointing fingers and making political hay, instead of working together to find solutions to make our country safer.

First, it’s important that the substantive context be clear: for seven years after 9/11, while our national security was overwhelmingly focused on Iraq – a country that had no al Qaeda presence before our invasion – Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda's leadership was able to set up camp in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where they continued to plot attacks against the United States. Meanwhile, al Qaeda also regenerated in places like Yemen and Somalia, establishing new safe-havens that have grown over a period of years ...

To put it simply: this President is not interested in bellicose rhetoric, he is focused on action. Seven years of bellicose rhetoric failed to reduce the threat from al Qaeda and succeeded in dividing this country. And it seems strangely off-key now, at a time when our country is under attack, for the architect of those policies to be attacking the President.

Second, the former Vice President makes the clearly untrue claim that the President – who is this nation’s Commander-in-Chief – needs to realize we are at War. I don’t think anyone realizes this very hard reality more than President Obama. In his inaugural, the President said “our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred" [...]

There are numerous other such public statements that explicitly state we are at war. The difference is this: President Obama doesn’t need to beat his chest to prove it, and – unlike the last Administration – we are not at war with a tactic (“terrorism”), we at war with something that is tangible: al Qaeda and its violent extremist allies. And we will prosecute that war as long as the American people are endangered.