Let's Put Cheney Out to Pasture

Duty calls him to forgo retirement to bash Obama, daughter says

(NEWSER) - Liz Cheney went on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, firing back at Washington Post scribe Eugene Robinson for calling her dad a “crazy old coot.” Robinson had said we ought to send Cheney “back to Wyoming” where he could rant in peace. “My dad would probably rather be fishing in Wyoming, given his druthers,” she said. But he feels strongly that he must attack Obama instead. More»

Former VP's defense of torture full of half-truths, falsehoods: Froomkin

(NEWSER) - Since leaving government, Dick Cheney has realized that TV and newspapers will report anything he says, writes Dan Froomkin for the Huffington Post, even though "he is a monstrous liar”—remember Saddam's WMDs? "After years of speaking in whispers, operating by proxy, and leaving as few fingerprints as possible," Cheney can't seem to shut up—and no matter what he's selling, the media "will fail to put it in any context whatsoever." More»

Veep intervened when legislators got twitchy

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney personally led at least four briefings with senior House and Senate members about harsh interrogation techniques, reports the Washington Post. The former vice president's interventions took place at critical moments when Congress was threatening to investigate or even outlaw techniques, such as waterboarding, that are widely considered torture. Although Cheney was a vocal advocate for the Bush administration's policies in public, his role in defending the program to Congress was previously unknown. More»

(NEWSER) - Fidel Castro thinks those creative forms of interrogation used by the US amount to torture, and he criticized Dick Cheney for defending them, the AP reports. In an online essay, Castro argued that torture should never be used to get information from terror suspects. In fact, he went one better and accused the US of acts of terrorism against Cuba, citing the Bay of Pigs invasion as one of his examples. More»

Ex-veep far less popular than his target for criticism

(NEWSER) - When Dick Cheney got in a fight with Colin Powell, it looks like he was punching above his weight class. Cheney dismissed Powell’s views on the Republican Party’s direction, saying, “I didn’t think he was still a Republican”—a comment echoed by Rush Limbaugh. But CNN reports a poll that shows Powell—who says, “I am still a Republican"—with astronomical popularity: 70% rate the former general favorably, compared to 37% for Cheney and 30% for Limbaugh. More»