Cheney Hits Obama’s Bow, But Cheney Served Two Presidents Who Bowed
Fun times as Dick Cheney, in a new interview, takes a direct shot at Obama’s bow:
When the President of the United States bows to a foreign leader, our friends and allies don’t expect it and our adversaries perceive it as a sign of weakness. I think it’s fundamentally harmful and it shows in my mind that this is a guy, a president, who would bow, for example, who doesn’t fully understand or have the same perception of the U.S. role in the world that I think most Americans have…
What I see in President Obama is somebody who bows before foreign leaders and spends his trips aboard primarily apologizing for U.S. behavior. I find that very upsetting.
Cheney was a high-level staffer for Donald Rumsfeld at President Nixon’s Office of Ecomic Opportunity. Nixon bowed very deeply.
Cheney was Defense Secretary under President George H.W. Bush, who also bowed very deeply.
In that context, it’s worth noting that Cheney is not merely criticizing Obama’s bow. He’s faulting the general idea of American presidents bowing before foreign leaders, because such an act will inevitably be perceived by adversaries “as a sign of weakness.” But two of the former GOP presidents he served bowed, too.
Also, Cheney’s suggestion that “most Americans” would oppose the bow is false: A recent poll conducted by Cheney’s favorite network found that 67% — and a majority of Republicans, too — have no problem with presidential bowing.
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Nixon bowed to someone responsible for tens of millions of deaths.
Only reason Cheney is mad is because he couldn’t bow cause his big gut prevents it. The man hasn’t seen his own shoes in at least a decade.
Doh, didn’t realize you linked to that vid when I typed that. heh. I need to learn how to read.
OT:
Doug Hampton, the husband of Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign’s ex-mistress, alleges that the senator threw the couple a goodbye party after firing them both in early 2008, while Ensign’s affair with Cindy Hampton was still going on.
Doug Hampton, who was a top aide in Ensign’s personal office, made the allegation in an interview with ABC’s “Nightline” scheduled to air tonight.
[...]
Doug Hampton said that when Ensign fired him and his wife over the affair in April 2008, he still made the Hamptons attend a goodbye party in their honor so that no one would guess the real reason behind their dismissal.
“[Ensign] called me and said you need to come back here; I need to throw you a party. If you don’t come back here and let me throw you a party, people will suspect something,” Hampton told ABC. Ensign reportedly gave Hampton a crystal replica of the Capitol with the inscription “To the best AA on Capitol Hill.”
Unable to stop Ensign from pursuing his wife, Hampton at one point enlisted the help Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who lived with Ensign in a Christian fellowship home on Capitol Hill, in a bid to break up the extramarital relationship, but that effort failed.
Coburn later acted as a go-between for Ensign and the Hamptons as they sought millions of dollars from the senator to make up for their lost income, but the Oklahoma Republican has denied playing any active role in the negotiations.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29840.html
Man, I am SO glad we have a Senate Ethics Committee and an FBI there to tell us IOKIYAR.
Hah, no worries, Mike. We’re all absorbing a ton of content at breakneck speed.
F***k Cheney – there are photographs of Cheney with Saddam Hussein, all chummy. I think there might be photographs of Cheney and bin Laden from the old days.
In that context, it’s worth noting that Cheney is not merely criticizing Obama’s bow. He’s faulting the general idea of American presidents bowing before foreign leaders, because such an act will inevitably be perceived by adversaries “as a sign of weakness.” But two of the former GOP presidents he served bowed, too.
Typical deceit from an extraordinarily deceitful man.
there are photographs of Cheney with Saddam Hussein, all chummy
IOKIYAR
“IOKIYAR”
Yeah, I know. If it had been Obama waltzing through the rose garden hand and hand with Prince Bandar, we’d never hear the end of it.
What a sad pathetic little man.
@Greg
“In that context, it’s worth noting that Cheney is not merely criticizing Obama’s bow.”
Uh, no. He’s criticizing Pres. Obama. That’s it. It has nothing to do with the bow. If he hadn’t bowed, then Cheney would have found something, anything, else to moan about.
It’s well past time to stop wasting time on people are criticizing for no other reason than to criticize. Just dismiss them as empty blowhards with a blatant case of Obama derangment syndrome, sore losers hell bent on getting power back even if it means delegitimizing a sitting US President, pathetic greedy blowhards that put partisan politics WELL above the health of our nation.
It doesn’t matter what Pres. Obama does. They will find SOMETHING to complain about, and NOTHING to praise. It’s a waste of time to treat them as anything other than purely un-loyal, obsessed, dishonest opposition.
Cheney and progeny keep trying but I think they’re talking points are getting less and less traction. Remember they were rebuffed last week on the prisons after trying to scare everyone. They also tried to round up a protest against the KSM trial that didn’t go too well for them.
Do real men bow down? Do real men hold other men’s hands?
Is “the Dick” trying to say something else here?
The only thing less relevant thant Palin is Cheney, why are we treating this man with any degree of seriousness?
To riff off of BBQ’s excellent comment, I think there should be a ban on any post that could read “critics lambaste/moan/disagree with Obama’s latest footstep” unless there is a legitimate criticism at the end of it. I don’t need anyone to tell me what GOP talking heads will say, except Steele who makes hilarious bloopers, I could write what they have to say 5 seconds after watching the relevant Obama clip.
Well,Paul, who do you want to talk about?
Imsinca – “Cheney and progeny keep trying but I think they’re talking points are getting less and less traction. ”
I am beginning to see Cheney and Babydick’s criticism as helpful, frankly. Nobody likes Dick Cheney.
“unless there is a legitimate criticism at the end of it. I don’t need anyone to tell me what GOP talking heads will say,”
You do have an excellent point there.
BBQ — the point is that his claim that American presidents in general shouldn’t bow is more laughable when you recall that his bosses both bowed.
So Cheney’s wrong……AGAIN?
Holding hands was just foreplay… W lip-kissed the Saudi Prince…. nothing more Patriotic and American than that. Obama is clearly out of his league when it comes to showing respect for foreign dignitaries. No more bowing and hand shaking… apparently, he must *** them up in order to gain the favor of the American Taliban (i.e. Cheney and his ilk).
Old Bush not only bowed to the Japanese guy, he threw up on him.
Well, I’ve been following the series of 5 amazing posts by James Fallows on The Atlantic concerning actual news about the trip. The semantics aren’t worth talking about, China was never going to throw open their doors for any number of reasons (wouldn’t look strong to domestic audience, ruled by party and not one leader, skeptical of how appealing Obama can be, and on and on). But I guess talking about that would be setting aside last week’s outrage of the minute.
All, Happy Hour roundup posted:
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/happy-hour-roundup-118/
As far as Darth Cheney is concerned: (1) consistency is for wimps; (2) deficits don’t matter; and (3) draft deferments are for people who “have other priorities”.
He’s a dork. Let him hide out in his undisclosed location and don’t seek out his opinion about anything ever again. He’s dug a deep enough hole for my country already. It’s time for him to bury his shovel.
Uh, what’s the problem with bowing to the Japanese, anyway? Does Cheney think they’ll sense weakness and attack?
Somebody ask Cheney what year it is -
“Well, I’ve been following the series of 5 amazing posts by James Fallows on The Atlantic concerning actual news about the trip”
How it sounds fascinating. thanks for the link!
I was serious, by the way, when I asked, so thanks for taking it that way.
That was supposed to be Paul that sounds fascinating. I have no idea how it ended up being How.
Republican Cheney is a war criminal who used the sadism of torture to force false confessions that were used by him to lie US into the Iraq War.
On top of all of that…
Republican Cheney PROFITED from ‘trading with the enemy’:
“… Halliburton Products and Services, Ltd., is wholly owned by the U.S.-based Halliburton and is registered in a building in the capital of the Cayman Islands – a building owned by the local Calidonian Bank. Halliburton and other companies set up in this Caribbean Island, because of tax and secrecy laws that are corporate friendly.
Halliburton is the company that [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney used to run [and continued to profit from while Vice President]. …[Republican Dick Cheney was Halliburton's] CEO from 1995 to 2000, during which time Halliburton Products and Services set up shop in Iran. Today, it sells about $40 million a year worth of oil field services to the Iranian government.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/22/60minutes/main595214.shtml
Republican Cheney’s boss was kissing and holding hands with dictators who funded terrorism.
Right wing corporate-media outlets like Politico.com are shameful for not holding Cheney to, at minimum, the standard that Cheney demands of others even while he fails it himself.
Right wingers first rule: Rules are for others.
As far as Darth Cheney is concerned: (1) consistency is for wimps; (2) deficits don’t matter; and (3) draft deferments are for people who “have other priorities”.
(4) “Energy conservation” is for sissies! REAL MEN DRILL!
Obama bowed to a Muslim king, left wing;
You get what you deserve, when Islam starts showing up everyday, like FT HOOD. Cry your heads off, I wont shed a tear.
You asked for it. You put in a Muslim as a non-Pres.
if cheney says it’s wrong, you know Obama did the right thing
if cheney says Obama did the right thing, you know Obama did the wrong thing
this cheney guy ain’t so hard to decipher
Right winger “Your Nitemare” is a coward who trembles at shadows.
Keep in mind that Republican Bush kissed and held hands with a Muslim dictator (the Saud King).
Republican Nixon bowed to a Communist dictator accused of mass murder.
Even Republican Eisenhower bowed to a French socialist.
But right wingers first rule is: Rules are for other people.
But how does any of that compare to when Republican Cheney illegally traded with the enemy: Iran?
It’s a consistent pattern on the right: Republican Reagan gave weapons to Iran.
Why do right wingers give aid and comfort to the enemies of America?