Of course when medical science has given you the gift of life you would remiss not to use that to start a war. pic.twitter.com/Bu6AVGoNyt
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) September 8, 2015
Dick Cheney floats military action as alternative to Obama's Iran deal http://t.co/TtcgdZh36U pic.twitter.com/hPAL4ppeTX
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) September 8, 2015
At CNN, “Harry Reid: Support Iran deal because Cheney doesn’t“:
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, the Senate Democratic leader said no one with “any degree of intelligence” should agree with the former vice president, who strongly opposes the agreement.
“I’m sorry, I cannot hold back a smile,” Reid said just hours after Cheney delivered a stinging rebuke of the deal. “There are a lot of good reasons for this deal. But the best is that Cheney’s against it. I mean, think about this: The architect of the worst foreign policy decision in the history of America – to invade Iraq. Look what it has done. Why would anyone with any degree of intelligence agree with him?”…
Credit where due: Few Americans have done more to strengthen Iran's position than Cheney. https://t.co/8L98VOhABo
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) September 6, 2015
… The historic nuclear accord is coming to a head this month as Republican leaders in Congress aim to block the deal. He’s working to secure enough Democratic votes to filibuster the GOP effort to scuttle the agreement. But in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Cheney tried to keep up the pressure, arguing the “agreement will give Iran the means to launch a nuclear attack on the U.S.” and calling the six-nation deal “madness.”…
Obama has the necessary support in the Senate to ultimately protect the deal. But Republicans may still get enough support to overcome Democratic objections and send a disapproval resolution to the president’s desk for him to veto. Reid is hoping to block it in the Senate but doesn’t yet know if he will succeed…
beltane
Thank you for this post. I like what the current Senate Democratic leader has to say about critics of the deal. It’s a damn shame the next Senate Democratic leader stands with Dick Cheney and all those lacking “any degree of intelligence.”
Baud
I remember when good liberals were required to hate Harry.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I know. Times have changed, haven’t they?
WereBear
Since it’s an open thread, and I had to defend cats last week, pass along my article:
Why science gets cats wrong
To any of that “Hurr Hurr, cats don’t love you” that’s been roaming the Internet the past few days.
Thank you.
WereBear
@Baud: I could never bring myself to do that. And he has lived up to that.
beltane
Dick Cheney needs to be locked up, or returned to his refrigerator locker or wherever it is he spends his time. And what happened to his wife? He only does public appearances with his daughter now. I’m not a fan of Lynne Cheney, but this is a bit distressing in an Aguirre: Wrath of God kind of way.
sukabi
White House response to Cheney
And they used Cheney’s favorite venue to slap him.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
There is a new crop of Democrats to detest!
srv
For the last 30 years, Cheney’s positions could be best explained if you make only one assumption: He is an agent of Iranian hardliners.
Unfortunatelly, because of the damage he has done, we have to redouble our efforts against those same hardliners. Trump is the only candidate they will respect.
beltane
@srv: I thought he was an agent of the House of Saud.
Ruviana
@WereBear: There was another annoying one on Vox about a year ago. I’ve always said it’s really good that cats don’t have opposable thumbs or we’d be doomed.
raven
@Ruviana: Little tip to make your life easier, everyone is doomed.
A guy
I love Cheney. Only leader in the last 20 years worth a shit
Baud
@raven:
But some are more doomed than others.
raven
@Baud: Sooner fo sho.
srv
@beltane: How did turning Iraq over to the Shia benefit KSA?
beltane
@Baud: Most of the truly crappy Democrats, people like Evan Bayh and Joe Lieberman, are gone. There’s very few worthy of contempt these days.
Elizabelle
Colbert debut tonight on CBS.
Will try to stay awake for it. Was up at five this morning.
No f*cks to give about Cheney. Don’t like that he’s the top illustration for this blogpost; let’s give Harry (Honey Badger) Reid some respect.
beltane
@srv: The plan didn’t go according to plan.
Baud
@beltane:
Yeah, we’re “better,” but we have fewer seats. The test is whether we can be better after getting those seats back.
Cacti
I called this one last week.
Dick Cheney has been the best salesman for the Iran Deal that President Obama could have asked for.
A vote that would put you on the same side as Dick Cheney should give pause to any Democrat. I wonder if that isn’t what swayed Ron Wyden in the end.
beltane
@Baud: This should be possible in the Senate, not so sure about the House.
seaboogie
@A guy: Aha!…there you are. I keep confusing “some guy” with you and brace myself for teh stupid and am then surprised with evidence to the contrary.
east is east
This guy should be locked up. That he has any reputation he thinks he can save is owed to our both sides media.
Cacti
@srv:
Yeah. I’m sure they’re all quaking in fear over the guy who beat feet to the FBI when a Mexican drug lord called him out on his tough talk.
seaboogie
@Elizabelle: Agreed, and due to his unfortunate accident, Reid is the honey badger in shades, which makes him look even more badass. Hate to think Schumer is going to replace him. I’d prefer someone really wonky, earnest and slyly intelligent like Franken – which will never happen.
east is east
@seaboogie: It’s 2015 in America. Anything can happen. Sometimes outliers actualize.
Elizabelle
@seaboogie: Schumer ain’t replacing Reid if I (and you guys) have anything to say about it. Why reward that behavior? Plus, not good for Democrats to have Senator Wall Street as the party face. Why is Schumer even in the running?
srv
@beltane: That was the plan all along. Or he could be taking money from both.
seaboogie
@Elizabelle: From what I read, $chumer $eems a foregone conclu$ion for $ome rea$on….
And in the signage project I’m working on for an indy bookstore where I “volunteer” (i.e. work for what they can afford to pay), Politic$ is spelled thusly, and the owner of the shop is totally down with that.
JMV Pyro
@Elizabelle: Apparently, he’s good at raising money and a lot of people owe him one.
Would rather have anyone else at this point. Schumer’s lost what little respect I had for him with this Iran nonsense.
seaboogie
@east is east: From your lips to FSM’s ears….
WereBear
He’s a shrewd broker. He’s Kirsten Gillibrand’s mentor. Here’s how he votes.
benw
@raven:
Sol is due to expand into a red giant before collapsing back to a white dwarf and cooling to the vacuum temperature of the universe in about 7 billion years. GET TO WORK ON HYPERDRIVE, NERDS!
beltane
@JMV Pyro: Aside from being very, very wrong, Chuck Schumer was unable to convince many Senators to be wrong with him. He might be able to raise money but he is unable to lead.
Baud
@WereBear:
Sanders is the most lib, as you’d expect, but Warren is fairly low!
Baud
@beltane:
You’re assuming he tried very hard. I still say this was kabuki.
BillinGlendaleCA
@benw: We’ll all be dead in the long term.
Elizabelle
@WereBear: Schumer looks damn good on that “dot” chart.
But too many low info voters out there, and too easy to pillory him as Senator Wall Street.
I wish someone more appealing would be the face of the Senate. Let Schumer be a power behind the scenes.
Patricia Kayden
Preach Harry! If a Warmongerer like Cheney is against the Iran Deal, Democrats should rally around it. The fact that anyone cares about what he has to say is appalling.
I love the White House’s reaction to Cheney’s AEI speech.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/white-house-dick-cheney-video
Baud
@Elizabelle:
Any Democrat would be vilified.
Look at what they did to Obama.
WereBear
@Elizabelle: Doesn’t the Senate decide? They know him better than we do. And heaven knows they don’t care what we think!
Baud
@JMV Pyro:
He’s also in a very safe seat. A leader who is always worried about reelection (like Harry) is less ideal.
Mr Stagger Lee
@east is east: Hideki Tojo with and artificial heart.
Germy Shoemangler
@WereBear: Interesting video:
cats of the urban wild
Abandoned, feral cats roaming NYC.
Patrick
@WereBear:
Schumer reminds me of Dick Gephardt (then Dem House leader) who couldn’t wait to stand in the Rose Garden with George W Bush in 2002 to announce his support for the disastrous Iraq war. So demoralizing at the time.And here we go again…
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@seaboogie:
At one point, we had some guy, someguy, and Some Guy, who were three separate people. It was confusing, to say the least.
We also seem to have two people who use the Cervantes nym, but the other one doesn’t show up as often.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I can never remember which Cervantes uses the capital C.
gelfling545
@WereBear:
Much like the way we test students these days.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@WereBear:
I posted my stated objection over at your place (short version: sometimes laboratory conditions create behavior that only exists in the lab).
What I would say is that domestic cats, being creatures who are very aware of being in the middle of the food chain, are not automatically trusting like dogs and babies are, and have good evolutionary reasons not to be. So using trust that a human will protect them in a potentially dangerous situation as an automatic measure of “love” doesn’t really work for them.
WereBear
So true! It’s an insult to seals, and yet we do it to our children.
Waysel
@beltane: House of Halliburton.
Central Planning
@Ruviana:
My cat likes me because I don’t care if she likes me. We have a certain “understanding” about that. I don’t chase her around like the kids do, trying to pick her up and make her stay in my lap. They are always amazed when she comes and sits next to me or on my lap without any action on my part :)
BruceFromOhio
So what the fuck else is new? Dick Cheney would float military action as alternative to taking a dump in the morning.
In other news, water still wet.
jayjaybear
@BruceFromOhio: I’ve known some people for whom taking a dump in the morning actually COUNTED as military action…and a possible violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Jeffro
@sukabi: I’m not sure how unprecedented it is that a former VP is taking such an active role against a current administration’s policy (and vice versa), but it sure hasn’t happened much in recent years. Just another example of the GOP pushing well beyond the usual norms of our politics. Good on Obama/Biden for slapping back, and hard.
Danack
@Central Planning:
And that’s why so many cats will go up and be affectionate to people who are allergic to cats…
kindness
Who does Darth think he’s reaching? The old gang? Well yea, they drank the Koolaid but who else?
Funny thing about those making the argument that we should attack Iran. None of them have skin in the game. None of them have family in the military.
AxelFoley
@A guy:
Fuck that dirtbag, and fuck you, too.
Sherparick
@srv: And you get upset about Obama’s air war against ISIS/ISIL in Syria and Iraq? Supporting Trump? Egads. Your trollness has snapped your synapses.