As Josh Marshall noted last night, this excerpt from Vice President Dick Cheney's speech last night is staggering:
I know what it's like to operate in a highly charged political environment, in which the players on all sides of an issue feel passionately and speak forcefully. In such an environment people sometimes lose their cool, and yet in Washington you can ordinarily rely on some basic measure of truthfulness and good faith in the conduct of political debate. But in the last several weeks we have seen a wild departure from that tradition.
As Marshall says, "The up-is-downism is truly bracing -- hilarious or outrageous depending on your mood." Cheney, of course, comes from an administration that has broken new ground in its use of dishonest rhetoric to market its policies (see All the President's Spin for more). And the Vice President stands out within the White House for the number of misleading claims he has made -- check out the size of his index entry in ATPS.
Cheney's speech is full of such mock outrage. He continues:
And the suggestion that's been made by some U.S. senators that the President of the United States or any member of this administration purposely misled the American people on pre-war intelligence is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.
The goal here is to characterize accusations of pre-war presidential dishonesty as out of bounds and uniquely disreputable. But the horse is out of the barn on this one.
Cheney soon went on to join the administration's effort to silence dissent by implying that critics are undermining US troops:
What we're hearing now is some politicians contradicting their own statements and making a play for political advantage in the middle of a war. The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods day in and day out. American soldiers and Marines are out there every day in dangerous conditions and desert temperatures -- conducting raids, training Iraqi forces, countering attacks, seizing weapons, and capturing killers -- and back home a few opportunists are suggesting they were sent into battle for a lie.
The President and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone -- but we're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history.
We're going to continue throwing their own words back at them. And far more important, we're going to continue sending a consistent message to the men and women who are fighting the war on terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other fronts. We can never say enough how much we appreciate them, and how proud they make us.
They and their families can be certain that this cause is right and just, and the performance of our military has been brave and honorable. And this nation will stand behind our fighting forces with pride and without wavering until the day of victory.
Clearly, Cheney needs to listen to fellow Republican Chuck Hagel:
The Bush Administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and should not be demonized for disagreeing with them. Suggesting that to challenge or criticize policy is undermining and hurting our troops is not democracy nor what this country has stood for, for over 200 years.
Who else in the GOP will stand up against this demagoguery?
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