...when it fucking well did not!

Why doesn't anyone say to him, "Well, the chances are extremely good that no matter how badly Obama does, there won't be anything as bad as your 9/11"?

America can only be safe through the routine use of torture agains anyone we suspect may be harboring bad intentions against us.

Brilliant...

In that Dick Cheney is the king of the evil people he would know. I liked Frank Rich's description of Cheney at the Inauguration...the evil spawn of Mr. Potter of "It's A Wonderful Life fame and the Wicked Witch of the West. He needs to go back to Wyoming and shut up. He has done his damage now go away.

. . .a list of 42 terrorists released from Guantanamo who returned to the battlefield." --The Ghost of McCarthy, as channeled by every neoconservative that can find a microphone.

This is a joke. Every time one of these clowns cites the number of "confirmed releases who returned to the battlefield" it's a different value. Even the 4% claim by Gates is a lie. The fact is, there are no "confirmed" cases; how would you even know? Does everybody exchange names and home addresses, maybe insurance information, prior to battle? Is there some sort of terrorist registry that they all have to sign up with before they can resume terrorizing? Wait, I got it, after every skirmish, the military is scrupulous about positively identifying every enemy combatant killed, right? They take DNA and fingerprints, check ID's, confirm whether the identification is forged or valid and cross check against a central database. That must be it.

Or maybe, just maybe, every idiot who cites this statistic is flat out lying.

I wish he'd just stick with duck-hunting.

The Bush-Cheney Presidency is OVER. Obama was absolutely clear about the break with its policies throughout his entire campaign, and he WON.

Shut up, Dick. You're just inviting trouble and you're right there with Rush, hoping he'll fail. America does not want our president to fail ... again.

FOAD you asshole!

to demonstrate that he really is over the edge. It was not just a matter of getting the goodies for his friends. He really believes this crap!

"When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,"

First prove your disgusting assumption true. The current administration respects the rule of law and believe that demonstrating our belief in human rights and trust in our justice system will actually keep us SAFER that running rogue on the constitution, trampling global human rights standards and behaving like power mad criminals.

So I read the first paragraph and thing STFU you egocentric-self-serving-soulless-liar. Then I'm so happy you have no power any longer that I go all liberal misty eyed. I hope that while I'm off guard a terrorist won't see my defenses are down and attack me because I showed some human decency.

If you took even an innocent man and locked him up at Guantanomo for 6 years with no trial, he would emerge as a terrorist. After all, he's been locked up with terrorists and experienced treatment from the Americans completely at odds with our rhetoric of freedom. Even if he came out somehow not hating our country, whatever living he earned is gone. His experience makes him a valuable asset to the terrorists though, so he'll take a job they offer.

it will probably be planned and sponsored by Dick Cheney.

"And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek." -- Dick Cheney, Christian.

In my most cynical moments, I sometimes wonder if the hard right will launch covert terrorist attacks against this country as a way of discrediting the Democrats and proving that they're weak on terrorism. To try to destabilize non-Republican regimes as "proof" that they were right all along.

Like there are two groups who have a vested interest in more terrorist attacks: 1) the terrorist groups themselves, and 2) the reactionaries who want to sacrifice our country's morals, ethics, and ideals in a holy war against said terrorists. Because without terrorist attacks, both groups suffer.

In that weird way, the American Right resembles the jihadists, just as no party in our country so resembles the Bolsheviks as the Republican Party. They have come to resemble what they fight and obsess about, and I think that resemblance will only grow as they spend more time in the political wilderness.

Cheney is part of the reason this country is where we are right now. The Obama administration is finally governing keeping in mind the country's foreign image. Let's see how Obama deals with the situation in the Middle East, especially since Hamas continues to act against its own people in Gaza by stealing U.N. aid parcels, which are FOR families in Gaza.

http://www.governmentalityblog.com/my_weblog/2009/02/hamas-shows-more-signs-of-weakening-by-stealing-from-un.html

speaks volumes for the Politico--giving a stage to this sick freak.

Alex, three points: The 61 figure you cite is from Pentagon sources, that number needs to be carefully examined. I've heard reports that it jumped from the low teens to 60+ just in the last months of the Bush administration. Someone is trying to cover their ass.

Second, blow-back. Hasn't anyone ever explained that concept to this idiot? Any security gained by lawlessness (torture, chicken-shit airstrikes from pilotless drones, etc.) is not security--quite the contrary.

Third, I am so sick of feeble fear mongering. He is the opposite of strength/warrior--to so easily surrender the most precious and sacred tenets of our society because of a few "terrists" is not strength. To let the rule of law succumb to fear is treason.

The article, as expected, seems void of any skepticism, but there are a few gems in there:

...The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected...

....the combination of the financial crisis that started last year, coupled now with, obviously, a major recession, I think we’re a long way from having solved these problems...

Last year? Sounds like denial to me, serious denial.

And I had hoped this stain on our society would ship back to Wyoming and disappear in a creek somewhere.