Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on May 22, 2009

By Vicki McClure Davidson * Frugal Café Blog Zone

Dick Cheney, you’ve been quiet for so long and we’ve watched so many empty-headed, left-wing extremist comedians shred you to ribbons, we had forgotten how smart you are. And how much you love America and keeping her (and all of us, as well) safe.

Your speech, not as polished as Obama’s, was more honest. It came from the heart and spoke with strength, wisdom, experience, and patriotism. No posturing, no attempts to start campaigning for 2012, no empty rhetoric, no appeasing the enemy.

You did well, Mr. Cheney. And most of America believes you on what we must do, and continue to do, in these violent times. You’ve also made most Democrats more miserable than they usually are (which is not hard to do… someone please tell me why Janeane Garofalo and Bill Maher and Sean Penn and Keith Olbermann, and so many other liberals like them, are always so angry and unhappy?).

National security poll, Obama vs. Cheney… Screen capture of the MSNBC poll results, as of this morning, May 22, 2009: NBC Washington News: Do You Agree with Obama or Cheney?
The question asked was: Whose position on national security do you support? (The Question of the Day poll has now closed and it’s now a different question).

MSNBC must be stunned that Cheney has earned 61% over Obama’s pitiful 31% in their poll, especially since they stacked the deck with liberal, vitriol-spewing, anti-Cheney talking heads after Cheney’s speech (except Pat Robertson, who was barely allowed to speak… good tries, though, Pat).

Great analysis video from Pajamas TV:
Pajamas TV – Powerline: Vice Versus: Obama v. Cheney; Dueling Statesmen… Will Obama Keep America As Safe as Cheney Did? (video)

Excellent post today at GayPatriot; here are a few paragraphs:

GayPatriot: Warming (back) Up to Cheney

…Critics of our policies are given to lecturing on the theme of being consistent with American values. But no moral value held dear by the American people obliges public servants ever to sacrifice innocent lives to spare a captured terrorist from unpleasant things. And when an entire population is targeted by a terror network, nothing is more consistent with American values than to stop them.

As a practical matter, too, terrorists may lack much, but they have never lacked for grievances against the United States. Our belief in freedom of speech and religion … our belief in equal rights for women … our support for Israel … our cultural and political influence in the world – these are the true sources of resentment, all mixed in with the lies and conspiracy theories of the radical clerics. These recruitment tools were in vigorous use throughout the 1990s, and they were sufficient to motivate the 19 recruits who boarded those planes on September 11th, 2001.

[...]

President Obama has reserved unto himself the right to order the use of enhanced interrogation should he deem it appropriate. What value remains to that authority is debatable, given that the enemy now knows exactly what interrogation methods to train against, and which ones not to worry about. Yet having reserved for himself the authority to order enhanced interrogation after an emergency, you would think that President Obama would be less disdainful of what his predecessor authorized after 9/11. It’s almost gone unnoticed that the president has retained the power to order the same methods in the same circumstances. When they talk about interrogations, he and his administration speak as if they have resolved some great moral dilemma in how to extract critical information from terrorists. Instead they have put the decision off, while assigning a presumption of moral superiority to any decision they make in the future.

Commenters abound on the blogs today, most giving Cheney high marks for casting aside all pandering and poetry and just “talking the talk.” Naturally, there are a handful of liberals who are not *ahem* in agreement… you can usually spot these from a mile away because they use no fewer than five expletives per post.

This particular comment, posted by Lazaro on CNN’s site, echoes my take on all this—there are hundreds of other posts that do so, too:

The gist of what they both said can be boiled down to this- Dick Cheney: “We did all we could to keep our country safe and we’ll do it again in a heartbeat.” Barack Obama: “We did too much to keep us safe and other countries aren’t very happy with us.”… I don’t know about anyone else, but applause in Europe won’t mean much to me if it results in a mushroom cloud over Dallas, Seattle, or New York because we didn’t get all the information we could out of some scumbag.

Amen to that, brother.

Other national security and terrorist-inspired posts and articles:
NBC Washington News: Cheney: Leader of the Opposition
Legal Insurrection: Speech, Counter-Speech
CNN PoliticalTicker: RNC uses controversial ‘Daisy’ ad to target Obama
Pundit & Pundette: Cheney’s KO of Obama
Jane Q. Republican: Popularity Contest: The Good News And The Bad News
Hot Air Green Room: Obama Admits to Being on the Wrong Side of History on Iraq
Tim Slagle, Big Hollywood: Democrats — Why so Unhappy?
Right Voices: I Love Dick Cheney
Hot Air: Oh my: GOP now leads Dems by six points on economy in Rasmussen and Cheney: “In the fight against terrorism, there is no middle ground” and Video: Obama takes swipe at Iraq war — at Naval Academy commencement and Liz Cheney to Obama: Stop letting the polls shape your policy on terror
Caffeinated Thoughts: Cheney vs. Obama: Dueling Speeches on National Security
Michelle Malkin: The jihadi virus in our jails and Sharia Watch: Facebook = haram! and Obama channels John Kerry and Supermax: No, we’re not ready, President Obama
The Tygrrrr Express: Vice President Cheney Educates Young President Obama
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: Obama: Bush was wrong in seeking to prevent terrorist attacks – One of 28 “BLAME BUSH” remarks and How stupid or arrogant is Obama in regards to Gitmo detainees? “Supermax” Prisons can’t even handle them and Most transparent administration ever: Pentagon holding back report showing 1 in 7 freed Gitmo detainees returned to terrorism and Let’s close gitmo! Only 61 of the previously held returned to terrorism!
GayPatriot: Does Dick Cheney Owe it All to Lynne?
The Lonely Conservative: Obama’s Ugly on Defense and Michael Steele: We Will Take on Obama
Pirates! Man Your Women!: One of the Reasons That I Want Gitmo To Stay Open
Cold Fury: President Recruiting O’Tool, Doing Bin Laden’s Job for Him
Urbin Report: Barry gets it wrong again
A Conservative Edge: Two Good Men, Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney
Vocal Minority: DoD Report: More Released G’tmo Detainees Returning to Terrorism
Peace and Freedom Promises: Obama: Get Used to The Truth, You Were Wrong On Biden, Gitmo, What Else? and White House: “It Was a Mistake” To Set Up Gitmo. Really?
Denver Post: Supermax too full for Guantanamo detainees
Neoavatrara: Terrorist Recividism
Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian: “The Axis of Idiots”

Categories: Bless Our Troops, Conservatism, Economy, Freedom of Speech, Government, International Relations, National Security, Social and Political Climate
Tags: 9/11, Barack Obama, Bill Maher, CIA, Daisy ad, Democrats, detainees, Dick Cheney, EITs, Gitmo, GOP, Guantanamo Bay, interrogation, Janeane Garofalo, Keith Olbermann, liberal, MSNBC poll, Obama, POTUS, president, prison, Republican, Sean Penn, speech, terrorism, terrorist, war on terrorists, waterboarding