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Aren't We Cheneyed Out Yet?

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 1:20pm.

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Laura Flanders

At what point do we call them the family of mass intimidation and simply stop playing into the Cheney clan’s tired old terror tactics?

Liz is the latest. Cheney child number one made the headlines this week, with an innuendo-laced video questioning the loyalty of lawyers who represent Guantanamo detainees. “The Al Qaeda 7: Who are they?" Asks the voice on a video released by Cheney's supposedly nonprofit, non-partisan new hit squad. (They call it an advocacy group?)

Liz is playing from a battered old family play book. Shortly after September 11, it was her mother out there, accusing people of lack of patriotism. Lynne Cheney teamed up with Senator Joseph Lieberman to release a report which accused colleges and universities of being the “weak link in America’s response” and naming 117 professors and students whom they called “short on patriotism" and "hostile to the US and western Civilization."

Not to be outdone by his women, barely a month has passed between 2001 and today in which Darth Vader patriarch Dick Cheney didn’t accuse some Democrat or another of endangering the homeland. The former vice president's training in bait and snitch dates back to the 60s when when he spied on Students for A Democratic Society meetings, jotting down names for his then-boss Donald Rumsfeld in an attempt to cut government funding for public colleges.

Teachers, lawyers, politicians... in case it’s not entirely clear, the Cheneys aren’t too hot on the independent professions of a free democracy, but they are red hot for the contemporary equivalent of red-baiting and they've gotten it down pat; how to harness the money media to do their bidding.

After all, it's thanks to the media it works. Even concerted attacks on campus progressives, lawyers, and political candidates don't successfully discredit their targets without the help of the media who carry the allegations and innuendos. Facts be damned, it's the accusations that do the work: intimidating scholars, chilling freedom of expression, driving lawyers and politicians out of the line of fire.

The media -- like FOX -- who went ahead this week and obediently printed the names of the Cheney-tagged "7" place the dead horse heads in the beds. Without them, the Cheney mob are simply name callers.

It's time the media started greeting Cheneyisms with the reaction they deserve. Snore. And most important of all, silence.

The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com.

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY




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Cut Obama Slack?

Submitted by neoconned on Sat, 03/13/2010 - 12:13am.

I would be willing to if that slacker had bothered to lift a finger in a way that doesn't harm me even once during his first year. All the things he did promote have made things worse for the average citizen: bank bailoouts without oversight, credit card reform which is hammering people's credit ratings at the very time they need them most, renewing the Patriot Act, increasing the forces fighting the Terror Wars Against Terror, selling the population to the insurance companies and getting us nothing in return, and so on and so on.

The worst incidence of his negligence through his incompetence was helping the GOP up off the floor where they richly deserved to remain. Whey they kick his ass this fall, he can learn the hard way what the Republicans mean by bipartisanship.

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Are we Cheneyed out yet?

Submitted by banjobailey on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 7:35pm.

Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, you, no doubt are aware of the machinations of the Republicans during the last 20 out of 28 years of their dominance in our government.  Therefore, think about it:  did you really expect Obama to waltz into the Presidency and simply wave a wand over the government, packed, I might add, by the outgoing administration's clones?

Obama is in a terrible position here.  Those who elected him are deserting him in droves because he did not fulfill our dreams within a year.  Like, we who elected him, had NO IDEA about the evil he was going to encounter when he assumed office?  I guess so.  I guess those who voted for him, worked for him, devoted themselves to him had NO IDEA whatsoever just exactly what he was up against.  They thought he would simply be able to sign some kind of executive order and bring into reality all our Progressive Dreams.  

   Frankly, I am tired of people who claimed to know the true nature of evil now expecting it to be overturned, up-ended, and simply washed away "just like that".  

   One more personal note, when I walked into my caucus during the election cycle and listened to those who supported Obama, I had to wonder:  are they REALLY going to be able to stick with him?  They KNEW NOTHING historically about anything.  They were entirely NEW to the election process, the historical process of our nation, and, while I was VERY glad to see them vote the way they did, I, in my heart, knew they would desert him the moment he didn't do what THEY expected him to do.  Innocents who now turn on their beloved.

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delete "After all, it's"

Submitted by daphne chyprious on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 7:00pm.

replace with "And." perfect

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Aren't We Obamaed Out Yet?

Submitted by Kevin Schmidt S... on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 5:44pm.

It doesn't do any good to bitch and moan about what dick Cheney or his daughter says.

They would not be able to say anything if Obama would have prosecuted dick for war crimes.

But instead, all Obama did was turn himself into a war criminal and enable the Republicans to take back the majority in Congress later this year.

Treason comes in two forms, Republican and Democratic.

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