Republicans Privately Frustrated With Dick Cheney’s Ability To Win “Caricature” Media Attention
They won’t dare say this publicly. But Republicans in key messaging roles are privately voicing serious frustration with Dick Cheney’s ability to win media attention for his national security attacks on President Obama, claiming the attention is making it easier for the White House and Dems to mock GOP views as “cartoonish” and the stuff of “caricature.”
This is a particularly timely problem right now, with Obama about to announce his war plan and Republicans preparing to offer general support for the Commander in Chief.
One senior Congressional aide said Cheney’s use of words like “dithering” and “weakness” to describe Obama made it easier for Dems to portray GOP criticism of Obama as hostile and untempered.
“The former Vice President has been less tempered in his criticism of the President’s decision-making process than Republican Leaders in Congress,” this aide said, adding that such talk made it easier for the White House to “create cartoonish villains.”
“Too often, the media plays along,” this aide lamented.
A second senior Republican official said that while many Republicans support Cheney’s views, it’s a source of frustration when Cheney is treated by the media as a spokesperson for the party, a negative given his historic unpopularity.
The official argued that Cheney’s high profile made it easier for the media to create “a caricature of Republicans.”
The worry is that Cheney’s abysmal public image could add a negative taint to views shared more broadly by Republicans and even by some segments of the public at large. “Think Gitmo,” the official said. “Fifty five percent agree with him but 30% approve of him.”
This is what some Republicans are thinking right now. Who will be the first to voice this sentiment publicly?
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They won’t dare say this publicly. But Republicans in key messaging roles are privately voicing serious frustration with Dick Cheney’s ability to win media attention for his national security attacks on President Obama
Until they grow a pair and publicly separate themselves and their party from Cheney this will continue. The MSM has a very long-standing addiction to keeping certain people around for public comment, and Cheney is now clearly a part of that set of people. Until the GOP collectively makes it clear that Cheney’s comments do not speak for anyone but himself and that he and his opinions are not a relevant part of the national conversation the MSM will continue to make sure that Cheney’s comments are a relevant part of the national conversation.
This guy seems pretty frustrated, but not at Cheney:
Why I Parted Ways With The Right
Opinion | Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 6:49:45 pm PST
1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)
2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)
3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)
4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)
5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)
6. Support for anti-government lunacy (see: tea parties, militias, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.)
7. Support for conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.)
8. A right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic, Ace of Spades, etc.)
9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.)
10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source)
And much, much more. The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff.
I won’t be going over the cliff with them.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/35243_Why_I_Parted_Ways_With_The_Right
They won’t because their dementia will surely win over.
As to “thinking Gitmo”, it would be nice if a national political party would support the rule of law, you know?
Indefinite imprisonment without trial or any access to the outside world is strictly the stuff of dictatorships.
Like I said, Cheney is becoming quite the freak show on display for all to see. He’s right between the 2000 lbs man and the cow with three heads.
Reverend Pat Robertson has come out against the Afghanistan Surge. He says that he does not think that Afghanistan is a place that we can rescue.
Will the Right Wing Republicans now apply their purity test to Rev. Robertson, and purge him from their midst?
Inquiring Purist Minds Want To Know!
Republican Cheney lied US into the Iraq War.
Republican Cheney supported the sadism of torture and even helped authorize the use of Communist Chinese torture techniques.
Republican Cheney’s war crimes now endanger American soldiers all over the world. The sick standards set by Republicans Cheney and Bush and their twisted lawyers are now used by our enemies. Repressive, sadistic regimes now compare their torture techniques to those of Republican Cheney.
And even while Republican Cheney was lying US into the pointless Iraq War, he was war profiteering as well.
Republican Vice President Cheney looted America through war profiteering corporations that were still paying him off for his criminal acts.
But Republican propaganda outlets like Politico.com are always slavishly willing to push Cheney’s sick attacks.
Cheney is after all a perfect example of what the Republican Party has degenerated into: Cowardly, vicious, deceitful, sociopaths who expect to profit from wars they’ve lied US into even while they refuse to serve in America’s armed forces.
Liam, I would only guess Robertson’s position is so because it’s not close enough to the Holy Land and has no biblical references therefore he has no use for their people.
Republican Cheney supported the sadism of torture and even helped authorize the use of Communist Chinese torture techniques.
Actually, I think sooner or later it will become clear that, along with Rumsfeld, he was instrumental in its adoption by the USA, and as such is an unindicted war criminal.
And yet, his voice gets rebroadcast even in outlets which I typically consider capable of real journalism (NPR, BBC, etc). Most specifically, last week’s Economist carries a sentence not two paragraphs in of “It looks to many as if he has dithered, not deliberated”. The piece is the opening article, but I don’t advise you read it as it might have well have been written at Politico. There is no analysis, there is only opinion voiced through the ethereal “some say” style that the rest of the MSM usually traffics in.
Specifically, the magazine has spent weeks advocating a “hurry up and give Afghanistan the troops so we can win”. You see this attitude everywhere, with critics of Obama usually making absolute assertions that if Obama would just be a Decider then the world would be at his feet… except we spent 8 years trying that and we are in the greatest economic trough since the Great Depression, our military is overstretched leaving the nation vulnerable, our standing and influence over other nations is at an all time low, and we are on the verge of having a greater rate debt than any time since we fought a world war.
We don’t need a “bold” leader who issues proclamations and troops without regard for consequence, we need a strategist who contemplates further than the their own next move and is able to distinguish the difference between acting like a leader and being one.
The GOP is growing increasingly frustrated with an embittered and vocal Dick Cheney, eh? Too dammn bad. This situation is one which they created. They allowed Dick Cheney to wipe his cowardly behind with the Constitution for eight years with nary a word of criticism. They created this neo-fascist monster, so I now say to them, “Suck it up buttercup.”
Dick Cheney has displayed utter contempt for the Constitution and the basic concepts of the rule of law and human rights. Until the GOP begins to once again support those concepts, even if it means publicly denouncing Big Dick, they will not regain their former glory.
The GOP has become a parody of its former self; the once law-and-order party that willingly disobeys domestic and international law. If they are frustrated with Cheney, then they are the ones that need to stop “dithering” and do something to silence their Big Dick.
And for those of us who feel increasingly betrayed by the ‘fourth estate’, we have another awesome article by Sully
Cartooonish? Caricature? What’s their point? This ‘party’ is ‘led’ by fakes and lunatics like Beck, Limbaugh and Palin, for God’s sake. Lie down with cartoons, get up smelling like it.
I think the points about Palin getting an inordinate amount of publicity are valid. She is a former Mayor of Wasilla, a half term Governor forced out of office by lawsuits (her explanation), and a failed VP candidate. Her book has no policy substance but is simply a revenge laden tell all suitable for National Enquirer readers.
Cheney on the other hand…as much as I despise him…was the VP (some would say he called the shots for puppet Bush) for 8 years and served in numerous other positions. I believe Gore would receive the same coverage if he was shooting his mouth off about current POLICY. Cheney is talking about POLICY and given his repeated powerful positions in Rethug Administrations it seems appropriate to cover his paranoid frightened rantings as he was…and perhaps still is a power broker on the right.
What is a bit curious is that his puppet…GWBush has chosen to remain silent through all of this nonsense. Perhaps Bush has enough class and decorum to realize what Cheney is doing is bad form…maybe he is angry with all the horrid advice Cheney gave him and wants the rest of the country to see exactly what kind of frightened little torturer he had to deal with.
Remember the terrorist’s goal was not to invade or occupy us..but to terrorize us. They succeeded with Cheney…Cheney’s views represent an Al Qaeda victory!!!
these anonymous sources are upset that Dick Cheney has become the unofficial(if cartoonish)spokesperson for the republican party while admitting many other republicans agree with him and being too afraid to stand-up and contradict him.nice.
The sane elements of the Republican Party are beginnng to realize that Cheney, Limbaugh, COulter, Hannity, Beck and ORiley, et al. are doing great damage to the Republican image. This type of hatemongering and criticism is not being well accepted by the American people, especially in light of the fact that Obama was elected with a huge mandate of the people which could be construed as a rejection of the Republicans and their old philosophy. Now, they can’t shut Palin, Chaney, and the rest of the nutcases up and because of that, they will sustain substantial damage.
Give me a break, only the republican can stop Cheney, if the are unwilling to stand-up to him, it’s not the meida’s fault, its their own. One more reason not to trust the GOP
Let me get this straight:
You’re crying because you don’t look good overall right now? THERE IS NO CRYING IN POLITICS! Your most visible spokespeople are as follows right now:
Ann Coulter
Bil O’Reily
Glen Beck
Lou Dobbs
Mike Huckabee
Pat Buchanan
Rush Limbaugh
Sarah Pailin
Sean Hannity
GOP, these are your voices. This is what you are offering. Twin beds, cellophane on the davenport and the belief that “duck and cover” works (as long as you’re white). NOT my fault.
Dick Cheney and I were born in 1941. I enlisted and served my country. Dick hid under his bed clutching his blankie, teddy bear soiling his britches calling for his Mommy. Real men defended America Cheney is a gutless coward and a war criminal.
cheney is the most disgraceful ex vice of our country.we were entirely ill when we voted an evil luny..and that is cheney,don’t have any respect for him,an ex vice should follow the civil way when you arent vice anymore,silence is golden,cheney is a low life same with his family..bush did it right..civilized..mouth shut on his views on President Bam,that’s Classy,but cheney doesn’t even know the meaning of stupid.How about sending cheney to Afghanistan to fight??w/limbaugh the big evil twin brither of him in TOW..
Bam is the world and we adore our classy President Obama.
The ’sane’ elements of the Republican party have already left it.
The media does not pay attention because it is Dick Chaney who is making the comments. He is known to be a liar, law breaker( torture, Gitmo, lots more), and he is responsible for the murder of thousands of Americans and others with the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions. The Republicans have associated themselves to so many extremist comedians they may completely collapse for years to come. Chaney does not seem to realize that when he was Vice President, no one believed him except Dubyah, He was very unpopular and now he continues to break precedent and criticize the present administration. He seems to be a man whose rage makes him out of control.
Dick Cheney is a coward and an embarrassment to the this country. Along with his piss poor daughter. Neither have any class whatsoever. He is not in office now and my parents taught if you can’t say anything good about someone say nothing at all. At least he’s tied up the Bush / Cheney legacy. They will go down as the wort twosome ever. That’s including George Washing and all those that followed by a long shot.
Moe, what do you mean “He seems to be a man whose rage makes him out of control.”
He’s an out of office, out of terms, out of options, out of his mind veep who doesn’t realize that he is about as relevant to the world of politics as Al Gore became when he lost.
He’s an embarrassment to anybody with an IQ above room temperature. That’s too few left to make him relevant.
He should shut up, but I hope he won’t, (because I’m Canadian and we already have universal health care. Its good to have something to gloat about.)
Dick Cheney is as well known as Celine, Whitney, and Barbra ….He needs only his first name to be recognized!
Dick is just that! He is bothersome, annoying, imbecilic, and totally ignorant of the people of these United States. His purpose is singular and egotistical. He could give a good hot **** about any of the people. So anyone would be a fool to listen to his insane BS.
Has anyone else noticed that Dick went COMPLETELY off his rocker after his last 2 heart “problems”? Lack of Oxygen can do that to a person.
Dick Cbeney is a WAR CRIMINAL and President Obama could shut him up by allowing the DOJ to investigate the Bush administration. A lot of the **** we are listening to from
Cheney would cease if he thought he was going to jail. But,
Obama appears to be afraid to call Cheney out. So, I am
putting my faith in the world courts. Sooner or later one
of the countries we screwed over under Cheney and Bush is
sooner or later going to indict someone for all of the
Torture they think they have gotten away with. This man’s
contempt for Obama is racially motivated in an under the
cover sort of way. But he is still a WAR CRIMINAL.
Wanda J. Brown
The radical conservative fundamentalists think that cheney is doing just fine and will take the GOP into the political toilet with them. They should all be in jail.
Like an arsenist frustrated by firefighters.
I am appalled at the state of american politics nowadays and yet you have shown the world to be able to change in
a big way by electing the best possible man on the field.
What’s unbelievable is that while you have a man of such stature at the helm,evil ******** that caused irreparable
damage to your country’s economy,prestige,honorability not
to mention death and bodily harm to its citizen as well as
to foreign citizen in very sensitive areas of the world,are
still allowed to speak their minds as though they were sinl
ess virgins.The true republicans should demand such people
be brought to trial for high treason and war crimes.This is
the only way the GOP will be again respected in the US and
outside the US.A great independent like Dr RON PAUL could
take over the GOP and give it the leadership that it so badly needs.I know,it’s only wishfull thinking.Wall street
calls the shots!And yet,think it over,had dr Paul been in
charge,America would be the richest,most beloved country in
the world rather than being the most indebted,hated ex-super power with a horrible future ahead for many millions
of its citizens.And why all this?Because most americans dont go to the polls?Because they dont follow politics?Or
is it because their elections were rigged?Remenber what
happened in Florida?That’s too bad,and yet you still allow this ******* Cheney to speack his f… mind,not to mention
the hatemongers which look laughable to any sane person but extremely dangerous to the ignorant masses.
Greetings from Europe and best of luck to us all.
NO ONE WILL SAY ANYTHING ABOUT OR TO THIS SPAWN OF SATAN. REALLY PATHETIC THAT NO ONE IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS THE DECENCY TO END HIS EVIL DIATRIBES.
for i guy who got five…count five defferments he sure likes to use the nilitary to fight wars all over the world
I really agree with the comments about President Bush’s silence. He is a classy ex-President. Of course, there is little doubt that Cheney was a really rotten influence on G. W. Now the huge difference between their out of office blabbing is a credit to the class of President George Bush.
Conflict of Interest and Collusion has been legalized by who? If America started prosecuting the politicians and officials who are bribed and pass laws fiancially benefitting their corporate pimps, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. And they’ve got their neo con United States Supreme Court Justices to legalize their corruption. Who made any money off Iraq? All I see are the neo con owned conglomerates and their bought off politicians and officials making money off our kids backs. Over 4500 American kids died in a country with no ties to 9/11. And who made money off Iraq? Cheney made millions, Bush’s brother made millions, Cheneys companies made billions and killed quite a few American kids with their shoddy construction. I know I’d be mad if my kid died in a country with no ties to 9/11 to line the crooked scumbags pockets.
You liberals are just mad because of the jerk you put in office. Don’t kid yourself, come next november we’ll clean your clock and put you girley men out of business.
It’s Politico that is providing a platform for Cheney, much to their disgrace. It’s Politi-trash. Why is anyone listening to such a malicious phony? Why is anyone interviewing him, when all he does is lie to his own advangage?
Dick Cheney now has indigestion
For no one will heed his suggestion:
When Afghans confronting
Pretend you are hunting
And shoot before asking a question.
News Short n’ Sweet by JFD8
Maybe the Republicans who support Cheney and his thugs should tell us how the US will pay for two wars and get out of an economic recession. This hypocrite is enjoying the cover of free speech to take potshots at the president, when he was in office faux noise and his propangists would have called his attacks treason. I would love to hear him Cheney explain how their fiscal conservative policies put more money into the countries coffers? I want to know how conservative they were when they wage wars by borrowing from China and draining our resources. They can attack all they want, they all words no actions. Once a coward always a coward, if he loves this country as much as he says he does, he should give back what he owes to the American people, $3 trillion Dollars for a war that was unnecessary and allowing Bin Laden to escape. We could have used the CIA to capture Bin Laden at the fraction of the cost of the wars. Fiscal responsibility indeed!
When W. grows old enough to tell the truth, I’d like to read what he really thinks of Dick Cheney and the destructive influence that Cheney exerted over the utterly unqualified-to-be-president young George Bush. I suspect that about six years in, he realized that he’d been had and that the legacy of his administration would be almost all bad. If, as I suspect, the worst decisions of the “Bush Administration” were made by Cheney, it’s no wonder he wants to make a public *** of himself with cowardly attacks on President Obama, to divert attention from his record.
What is left to say about the decision making failures of Dick Cheney? An unjust, unwise and unnecessary war in Iraq; the wresting of failure from the brink of success in Afghanistan; classical incompetence in the laisse faire mismanagement of the economy; cynical arrogance that scorned diplomacy, masked tone-deaf ineptitude in foreign policy… taken all-in-all Dick Cheney will go down as one of the most complete failures in US history.
In light of his abject failure while in office, how do we respond to the sniveling condemnations of President Obama from the clipped-winged chicken-hawk, Dick Cheney and his pseudo-clone daughter, Liz? I think his own words, serve us best: “SO?”
The vitriolic hatred for Republicans and Dick Cheney here is amusing. Few people in these comments even mention substantive policy issues, and seemingly their hatred of the Republicans stems from their fear of various bogeymen such as Limbaugh, Coulter, Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck. None of whom currently hold any elected office. At least the anti-Bush platform of 2008 was targeted at an actual elected official (even if not on the ballot). If you want to lose in 2010, keep it up because the American public will not be primarily motivated to the ballot box out of Kafka-esque image of Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin.
Meanwhile, there are a myriad of good ideas the Republicans offer, such as nuclear power. Jeff Sessions wisely points out that France has a carbon free electricity grid thanks to nuclear power, we could learn a thing or two from them. Even Mark Udall (Colorado Democrat) has come around and joined Sessions. Thanks to Bush’s Nuclear 2010 initiative there’s actually some movement on that front, Steven Chu (Obama’s energy secretary) can thank Bush and Republicans for the nuclear loan guarantees he has. Furthermore, we have a Stimulus package which spends money at snails pace when the economy needs that spending now. Republicans criticized the Obama stimulus for being focused on government spending, tax cuts or rebates would have gotten the money out fast and made a quick difference. But sadly, no Democrats were willing to point out the slow rate of stimulus spending, because, as here, they were too busy attacking Republicans. Now we’re talking about a second stimulus because the first one was botched. Not inspiring leadership. But at least you guys hate Palin and Limbaugh, that much is clear to me.
The reason Bush is not speaking out is because Cheney was the guy with the power all along. Bush was a puppet and he knows it. Recall how Cheney became vice president in the first place, he was tasked, allegedly by Bush, to come up with an appropriate candidate and he chose himself. And don’t kid yourself, a guy like Cheney doesn’t just disappear. He’s still got his fingers in a lot of pots. And he’s pissed he never got the credit he feels he is due for the whole Bush era. He’s like a cornered animal, lashing out in all directions. You have to either kill him or get out of the way.
And by the way the older I get, the more I despise the GOP. Selfish ********, the lot of them.
Only when Limbaugh, the Republican king maker, attacks Cheney, will the Republican establishment speak up.
Well, let’s call a spade a spade. The GOP is hostile and untempered when it comes to Obama. They reflexively condemn everything he says and does, no matter how trivial. Cheney is a loose cannon. He was a horrible vp, and should be chastised, not rewarded for his horrible decisions on a host of issues. He does himself and the country no favors by constantly attacking a sitting president. In fact, he’s committing borderline treason. Cheney is a liar, and has been proven wrong many times. His daughter is no better. The two of them are currently trying to polish his pathetic legacy, which is blatantly obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention. I seriously wonder if the man has complete control of his mental faculties. Why does the press give this deranged individual so much attention, and refuse to challenge his disingenuous assertions?
Cheney has always been about Dick Cheney. He has never been about Republicans or America in general. He has loyalty to himself and to his god Mammon and maybe his family but all the rest are just obstacles in his path.
“A second senior Republican official said that while many Republicans support Cheney’s views, it’s a source of frustration when Cheney is treated by the media as a spokesperson for the party, a negative given his historic unpopularity.”
Now, if citizens actually agreed with cheney about Obama, and thus making the coverage positive, the GOP would be ecstatic (sp?) This is like the KKK complaining that a member is giving them a bad name because he’s using the “N” word in interviews about someone black. The fact is that GOP approves of Cheney’s attacks but doesn’t want the responsibility for its approval of the mud slinging because the voters dislike the mud slinging.
Draft Dodger Dick
Manipulates false intelligence to get the US into an unnecessary war with 5000 american casualties and a TRILLION dollar price tag.
Cheney NEEDS TO BE ON TRIAL.
The GOP has become like a worm which has been cut into sections. Writhing,thrashing, and going nowhere. Years ago, the Party was a rational entity offering real options and solutions for the Country. Today it has become a collection of virulenttoxic talking heads, offering nothing but hostility,denials, stonewalling, gross misrepresentations of the truth at three times the rate of the other party, all in the pathetic hope that they can wreck any semblance of progress towards this Country working out solutions to its many problems. Self first,Party second,Country last. The GOP,lead by its compassionate conservative Lemmings , led themselves over the Cliffs. The Country is at the edge of the Cliffs, and the talking heads offer new direction, other than follow us on over America.Where is the GOP health plan, It can be summed up in two letters, NO. No change, everything is great the way it is. Block all attempts to acomplish anything, hope to do it for the next 3 years, then blame the party and politicians in power for nothing getting done, and try to step forward and suddenly come up with their “New solutions” with the magic GOP buzzwords and NeoCon policies which when analyzed, offer nothing. This is the GOP grand plan for America over the next three years, regaining power.
Lest we not forget Vice President Cheney searched and found himself for that position. Enough said.
Hate hate hate. I hate Dick Cheney, I hate Limbaugh, I hate Ann Coulter. I can assure you, you guys have convinced me never to vote for Rush Limbaugh! Never ever ever!! That’s why I don’t vote for them, instead I voted for Republicans this year and will do so in 2010, all these people you guys hate, are not elected officials. Good for the Republicans, bad for you.
Obama’s energy policy sucks, throws nuclear power under the bus, the stimulus package is a waste and spends money slow when it needs to go out fast. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are long nosed money grubbing scumbags who want us to die quickly so they can use our blood to bake Matzva, I read it in Der Sturmer… er I mean Mother Jones, sorry, it’s hard to keep all the vitriolic hate straight… too much overlap.
atc333, yeah GOP buzzwords. Like energy independence, green energy… Oh wait. Those are Obama’s buzzwords. How will we become energy independent by decreasing domestic oil production when our entire infrastructure runs on oil? We can’t run cars on wind power when we don’t have a battery technology to quickly, cheaply store energy. At least when Republicans talk about energy independence, it’s based on reality instead of hope for a miraculous new battery technology, smart grid which hasn’t worked for Germany and would take decades to build anyway…
Oh yeah, how is stopping jews from building homes in Jerusalem going to bring peace in the middle east? Some Obama supporter needs to explain that one.
Republicans who have the last vestiges of sanity have made the serious error of allowing mindless and mean spirited talking heads represent them over and over in every media venue in America. The seemingly few Republicans with sanity have chosen to be the silent minority, allowing a very poor lab experiment with obvious social,economic and political consequences to take place here in America which created a GOP metaphor represented by madness, mindlessness, social malignancy and woeful ignorance. It will take many years, much work, and a more intelligent group of Republicans to evolve in future years before America has a viable 2+party representation. In the meantime, most of us thank Heaven above for President Obama and his good moral character as he takes America up a higher road from the brambles and thorns of the Bush years.
If Andy is a Republican, I say “bravo!” Thank you for actually saying things that make sense. The American democratic process NEEDS a healthy, responsible and reasonable Republican Party. But the far right-wing religious zealots have infested that party and nearly destroyed it. And I’m not a Republican. I’m simply an American who knows that all reasonable points of view need to be considered and heard in order for our democracy to truly work, even opinions from those I do not necessarily agree with. The far right wing blow hards (see everyone Andy mentioned above and beyond them as well) don’t really care about democracy, the United States or freedom. They truly want the kind of authoritarian totalitarianism they had in the Soviet Union on our shores. God forbid. Thank you, Andy. Please keep it up and post that message all over the Internet. There are Republicans who have common sense and whose questioning of the Obama Administration is reasonable and needed, without trying to destroy democracy and treating anyone who is president with respect at the same time. Bravo, Andy, bravo!
That’s why I don’t vote for them, instead I voted for Republicans this year and will do so in 2010, all these people you guys hate, are not elected officials. Good for the Republicans, bad for you.
I guess the troll hasn’t noticed that over the last year a number of elected Republicans have publicly criticzed Rush Limbaugh and then been forced to apologize for having the temerity to criticize what he says.
How will we become energy independent by decreasing domestic oil production when our entire infrastructure runs on oil?
And why does it all run on oil? Republican powers that be always block meaningful attempts to leave that way of doing things.
(Except, of course, when it means increasing the use of an energy source that creates waste even more dangerous than the energy waste we create now.)
And why does it all run on oil? Republican powers that be always block meaningful attempts to leave that way of doing things.
What attempts are those? Which countries have switched off of oil? Pray tell.
“What attempts are those? Which countries have switched off of oil?”
Sticking with “attempts”, those countries that have started reducing their oil dependence through alternative energies have included Germany’s investment in solar power, Iceland’s investment in hydrogen power, France’s investment in nuclear power just to name a few.
And while Republicans want to ‘drill baby drill’ for the diminishing oil supplies, the left-wing want to invest in effective alternative energies like solar and wind.
The left would also like to invest in alternative energy research like algae, wave, hydrogen, and geothermal, just to name a few.
But Republicans keep chanting ‘drill baby drill’ as if dinosaur fuels will last forever….
Germany’s investment in Solar power has switched less than .1% of their actual energy production over to solar. Iceland gets free energy from the ground (geothermal) – not a solution for most areas unless you want to cap Yellowstone and start generating electricity there. And good point about France, Jeff Sessions, a Republican Senator, agrees with you there. So does McCain. So did Bush (Nucler 2010, largely passed on a Partisan vote, was the largest reform of nuclear energy regulatory regime since Carters regressive anti-nuclear reforms). Obama shut down Yucca Mountain which puts nuclear power development at a stop in 17 states which require a permanent storage repository before moving forward – and he canceled the review of reprocessing of nuclear waste, another thing France has done for decades.
And obviously, everyone realizes that we have a limited amount of Hydrocarbons. But the problem you’ve got going there, is that Obama and the Democrats pretend to care about energy independence, but none of their policies will switch us off of oil for decades (at best). Drilling domestically actually would reduce the trade deficit, our current account balance, and do so for at least decades (till the oil runs out of course).
I’m not sure what you mean by hydrogen energy, but since H2 gas is not naturally occurring, the only way to get it is electrolyzing water (or stripping it off of natural gas, of course, but Democrats are against building a pipeline to bring cheap natural gas down from Alaska). Nuclear power would be a good way of doing that as well. Too bad Obama is doing his level best to block it. Perhaps Republican policies are simply too realistic, they look at countries and model their energy policy after the one that works best: France.
Ah, and wind power, sure it can play a role, Republicans have nothing against people building it if they like. The problem is, where do you store the power when the wind isn’t blowing? Wind works well for southern Germany where it can be coupled with hydro-electric which can be quickly cycled on and off, but poorly in Texas where there are no hydro dams. Algae based biofuels or thin film solar panels are of course research worthy, McCain and Obama both favor those, along with Bush, but they depend mostly on basic R&D and not massive deployment and billions of subsidies. Both of those have real promise anyway, and as such are funded by venture capitalists.
Noch Dazu, bitte verstehen Sie mich nicht falsch, ich habe nichts gegen Deutscher, dessen Energiepolitik ist einfach bescheurt.
By the way, here is Obama on nuclear power:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN2443769620080624