Valley Forge memories: The time I didn't know Richard
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Valley Forge memories: The time I didn't know Richard
So Romney is flying tonight on a plane -- having more fun sleeping over in Philly before a day of events tomorrow. There's a fundraiser at the Union League, which is just the setting to dispel the notion that he's the candidate of the 1 Percent. He also comes out to (barely) Delaware County, where he speaks at the Valley Forge Military Academy. The hard-discipline school -- which educated some kids of the Chicago mob in the 1960s, true story -- is apparently also a favorite stop for Republican candidates. In fact, it was there at VMFA in 2000, when I was the Daily News political writer and we actually went to stuff, that I "confronted" Dick Cheney face to face.
Now anyone who's been reading Attytood for the last 7-and-a-half years (or it's long forgotten "pilot" episode, called "Campaign Extra!" with an exclamation point) knows that Cheney is the bete noir of the blog, pure evil rendered into human form, walking among us lowly mortals. So you can imagine the hard-hitting questions I asked the GOP vice presidential candidate as we sat around a small table -- Cheney, his wife Lynne and a small gaggle of local reporters -- and gazed out at the football field and the late summer foliage.
Here's an excerpt from the Daily News of Sept. 7, 2000 (via Nexis, so no link):
The GOP's Dick Cheney brought his quiet quest for the vice presidency to the Philadelphia suburbs yesterday, and bowed to political reality by saying he now "probably" would support the massive Delaware County defense contract that he sought so aggressively to kill a decade ago.
Responding to a question from the Daily News, Cheney conceded that he had lost the battle to kill the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor helicopter - manufactured by the Boeing Corp. in Ridley Park - and that he would likely support the project if he and George W. Bush are elected in November.
"We're committed now, and we've made a significant upfront investment, and if I had to sit down today and decide what our needs are and given the status of the program, I'd probably go forward with it," said Cheney.
Wow. Nothing about his secret energy task force, or his ties to Halliburton, or whether he planned to invade Iraq, or what his view was of torture or "waterboarding," or his views on duck-hunting safety (heh). Because on September 6, 2000, we had no idea what Cheney had up his sleeve with that "quiet quest" that I wrote about. At that moment, Cheney was the grown-up, the "smart one," not a monster. We just didn't know.
I only bring it up because it's a reminder that for all the words and all the blather about a 2012 presidential campaign that's gone on for months and months, what will probably strike us years from now will be the things we didn't know, and the questions we didn't ask. It never would have occurred to me in a million years to ask Cheney whether he was going to invade Iraq.
So what aren't we asking Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan?
Think about it this weekend.
Certainly, you've thought about an alternative, RG. Right?— wokmaster
"Its good to know that instead of caring about government accountability and what the country stands for, you're solely focused on your side "winning" the election." . . . . Because the other side does stand for those things, right RG?— montani semper liberi- Certainly, wok, you haven't bothered to question the narrative about effective drone strikes that has been spoonfed you from the media and admin.
The report entitled Living Under Drones calls into question the effectiveness of drone attacks as a weapon against terrorism in Pakistan, stating that it is overplayed by the US government.
It says: "The dominant narrative about the use of drones in Pakistan is of a surgically precise and effective tool that makes the US safer by enabling 'targeted killings' of terrorists, with minimal downsides or collateral impacts. This narrative is false."
— RG - More:
Third, publicly available evidence that the strikes have made the U.S. safer is ambiguous at best: they have certainly killed alleged combatants, but the number of “high-level” targets killed is estimated at just 2 percent, and there is evidence that strikes have motivated further attacks.— RG - I understand the drawbacks, RG. I'm am asking YOU what the alternative is. Stop dodging the question. If you don't have an alternative, just say so.— wokmaster
- "Because the other side does stand for those things, right RG?"
Where's TPS to call out your mommy, mommy whine? Finger pointing and tattle taling from an adult?— RG - Is Romney against the drone program, RG?— montani semper liberi
- I get it, RG. You don't agree with the drone strikes. I respect your opinion on this matter. What I don't respect would be to do nothing at all. What is the alternative?— wokmaster
- "What I don't respect would be to do nothing at all."
Yes, gosh forbid if we didn't kill civilians and a few militants overseas, America would be in mortal danger!
Start with a false presumption and go from there.— RG - "I understand the drawbacks, RG."
These aren't drawbacks, these are studies showing that they aren't nearly as effective or precise as you claim. But don't dare question Obama, because you need him to win. Just like MSL who deflects everything to a question about Romney. Good lemmings, do just as the Dem playbook tells you.— RG - I'm giving RG every chance to offer a cogent argument for a practical alternative to the principle (yes, principle) of "the lesser of two evils", but his failure to offer one leaves us no alternative but to assume he wants Romney to win.— montani semper liberi
- ==]] Well, you got the plain and simple part right. [[==
'bout sums it up.
Wokkie - Certainly a big problem with the drone policy is the lack of oversight and lack of transparency (say, in how targets are selected).
Additionally, there are clearly, obviously, huge problems with the moral justification of killing civilians - but the reality is that there is no good policy option (as some would prefer to argue from a binary mentality). A lack of involvement will result, without question, in more severe repression of women and girls at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists. But then, who are we to dictate how other societies should conduct themselves? None of these issues are well-served by binary thinking and extremist ideology.
Which is why it's so entertaining to watch RG jump through hoops and chase his own tail.— Talking point sleuth - ==]] I'm giving RG every chance to offer a cogent argument [[==
Dude. Why are you bothering. He has proven that he is either incapable or uniformly unwilling to do so. He hasn't made an argument that wasn't based on a logical fallacy in months, if not longer. The closer we get to the election the more fallacy-packed his posts have become.— Talking point sleuth - RG, this isn't about Obama. He's continuing a Bush policy - which I agree with. Stop squirming and answer the question. Would you prefer that we stop drone strikes and replace them with...nothing? Is that the false presumption you speak of?— wokmaster
- Yeah, I'm the one jumping through hoops to justify my vote for an unaccountable, inefficent murderer. It couldn't possibly be wok, because he plays on your team, despite his insistence that not drone bombing would make us less safe.— RG
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