Liz Cheney And Her Ridiculous Grasp On History

Excellent article Scott. I think the title says it all!

I can't think of a better rebuttal to what Liz Cheney stated than what you've said in your article.

Liz Cheney is the boy he never had.

I understand patriots and nationalists exist, but I find it hard how they omit every flaw of their country's history. It becomes zealotry.

Isn't this exactly what the current Russian admin are doing by rewriting their history books to make them look more favorable? She's basically excusing every wrong foreign act the US has committed because other countries have been worse. This is pretty much what many apathetic governments do by not acknowledging anything they've done. Obama may look like an 'apologizer', but publicly just put the States back up on the morale high ground with his acknowledgements. This is a small bit of ethics and diplomacy.

"Unmatched force for good"?

US domestic freedoms and US foreign freedoms, are two totally separate things.

"The Cold War ended not because the Soviets decided it should but because they were no match for the forces of freedom and the commitment of free nations to defend liberty and defeat Communism."

Talk about exaggerated rhetoric.

Not exactly. An unsung hero was Gorbachev. The economic system and bureaucracy of the former USSR was collapsing and its ethnic tensions could not be restrained. Afghanistan was a blow, but not the death knell.

She somewhat gives us an insight to Cheney's mindset. The man was a patriot and may have believed in what he was doing. Unfortunately that patriot mind became extremely vicious and hawkish.

Well, Mr. Scott Isaacs you ripped her. That's the same lady that Rush was telling people to listen to. Liz is smart, but she's also manipulative and a propagandist. Great article.

It sounds like a well thought out rebuttal, but ultimately a rebuttal like most on here, to point out someones failings so I wont have to admit that maybe whatever party I support has faults. No different than sarah Palin is a big loser...just a very well written version of the same.

Any person who has been alive for at least 40 years would know the errors in her version of the 'story'...

Excellent article Scott.

And yes, the US must lead by example...not just 'say one thing and do the opposite' (that creates distrust all around)...

Game. Set. Match. To Scott. Even if you disagree with some of what's touted here--you have to concede...it's a fuller, more honest and introspective world view than that held by the ubiquitous Liz Cheney.

I can't believe the Wall Street Journal actually takes this woman seriously.

His and Her-story?

They're weepy and they're kooky,

Darth Vader and his pookie.

They both are full of dookie,

The Cheney family.

Good article Scott.

You touched on this briefly:

In many cases, as a method of our foreign policy the United States incited and supported opposition against the Soviet Union that we knew were likely to fail, nearly sure to result in casualties and then watched them happen without intervention to stop the killing.

It's the story of places like Vietnam & Cambodia. East Timor & Indonesia. A handful of countries in Central America & The Middle East.

The Human Costs of spreading Freedom.
We're still paying the price even though we "Won" the Cold War and that it supposedly ended with the fall of the Soviet Union.

Amongst other things, we have Liz's father to thank for that...

"The Cold War ended not because the Soviets decided it should but because they were no match for the forces of freedom and the commitment of free nations to defend liberty and defeat Communism." So sayeth Liz Cheney.

Piffle.

The cold war ended because the United States outspent them and the Russian economy collapsed. I spent 8 weeks in Russia, shortly after the so-called Cold War "ended." It was far more like a third-world country than a world superpower at that point.

Anyone see Liz C. on Morning Joe today? The HUBRIS apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

All this posturing about how ANY investigation would pull valuable agents from the field and "make us less safe" ...we voted such myopia OUT of office, ya know?

For my money? If Dick Dad is such a standup American... HE should get sworn in in front of a committee and simply ADMIT to the laws he broke by giving the orders for assassinations...that way he could "protect" the sanctity of our agents in the field....

to the point of competition I wonder where Cheney was during the 1980 hockey game?

I am going to give her a pass though with Dick as a dad she was exposed to a pretty warped view. To him french toast and french fires are a threat freedom and national security.

Got cut off.

The Old Dick thinks french toast and french fries are a threat to freedom and national security.

He claimed it was only Reagan's actions that brought an end to the cold war. this speech is from Sept 2004

During the 1980s, Senator Kerry opposed Ronald Reagan's major defense initiatives that brought victory in the Cold War.

I assume he is talking about star wars.

Of course in the same speech he said this:

As President Bush and I were sworn into office, our nation was sliding into recession, and American workers were overburdened with federal taxes. Then came the events of September 11th, which hit our economy very hard. So President Bush delivered the greatest tax reduction in a generation, and the results are clear to see.

Businesses are creating jobs. People are returning to work. Mortgage rates are low, and home ownership in this country is at an all-time high. The Bush tax cuts are working.

Our nation has the best health care in the world and President Bush is making it more affordable and accessible to all Americans.

Still complaining about an inherited recession after 4 years in office.

as of aug. 2004 Bush by the numbers

Number of people who have become uninsured since Bush took office: 3.8 million

Number of jobs lost since Bush took office: 1.2 million

Number of jobs promised to come from Bush tax cuts: 5.5 million

Yeah boy those tax cuts worked so well and more tax cuts seems to be the only solution the current GOP has.

In 1994, $11 billion of subprime mortgages were sold on the secondary market; in 2003, it was more than $200 billion. "Done right, subprime lending provides an important source of mortgage financing for families with imperfect financial or credit histories," Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines said in a recent speech. "Done wrong, subprime lending is a huge rip-off that siphons wealth — and hope — from people who have very little to begin with."

I would have to say they were done wrong. How many times have you heard no one could predict the coming problems, I know I have heard it more than I can count yet this story is from 2004.

Good detailed article!

Maybe the Cheney family has a LIE gene? Just like Daddy. Spin history to justify the neo con blue print for a New American Century and Empire.

I think what Obama is saying is crucial to understand if we are going to move on from an outdated cold war mentality, which was essentially one wannabe empire country vs another wannabe empire country. The Soviets collapsed and we needed another adversary to take its place to generate fear politics and contracts for the military industrial complex.

The lesson to be learned isn't Reagan "winning" the cold war. We need to learn from the Soviets, that the pursuit of empire can lead to economic disaster. They caused their own downfall by over spending on the military and military exploits.

Are we causing our own downfall? We have two battle fronts in two mideastern countries that may leave us with a longterm cost of $3-4 trillion. Then we are still investing taxpayer money on building airplanes that were designed for the cold war and are now NOT requested by the military just to keep giving the military industrial complex contracts. Each legislator wants their voters employed, even if it is a waste of taxpayer money during a deep recession.

I would rather listen to Cindy McCain than Liz Cheney. Cindy at least had the courage to tell Republicans what they needed to hear to cope with the future while Cheney is looking backward as a GOP revisionist historian.

I love your commentary on her ill-informed statements. Is it coincidental that the Berlin Wall was taken down during a Republican's administration and she wants to make that the focus of GOP accomplishment since, well, there isn't much to work with? Mr. Reagan didn't tear down the wall, the USSR did and the USSR is still a superpower. As far as competing with other countries goes, we do it every four years in the Olympics. Do I want to see U.S. athletes win? Of course. But that doesn't make me not appreciate the grace and beauty of other countries' athletes. Liz is stuck in the last century.

Successful leaders get to write history. Failures have to try to revise.

I don't quite know what to think of this. My first thought was, why are you dumping on Liz Cheney? Who cares what she thinks, anyway? Okay, so she wrote an article that ran in the WSJ, but still, why are you making such a big deal out of this (besides the fact that you don't like her dad)? Secondly, you are mostly talking about perspective and opinion. Your perspective seems to be that we deliberately provoked some people into action, knowing they would die, in order to make the Soviets look bad. You criticized us for not getting involved, and then you remembered they have nukes. What, we should directly confront a nation that could wipe us out with nukes? There was a reason for all those "proxy wars," it was to avoid that very thing. As someone pointed out, we "won" the Cold War because we outspent them, particularly with the "Star Wars" stuff. I remember being terrified that Regan would bankrupt us with all that spending - and he came close, didn't he?

But I think you really didn't like the fact that she is critical of Obama's form of diplomacy. Yes, GWB was full of pride, but President Obama doesn't seem to have any. There's a such thing as too much humility, and it makes me uncomfortable that he might be seen as a pushover. Iran could be a perfect opportunity for his own spine to stiffen, and I would think a democrat would be all over those human rights violations. Talk about saying one thing and doing another!

There IS no good solution for North Korea. Clinton tried the carrot and stick approach, and that didn't work too well. GWB tried isolation, which also didn't work. I don't know WHAT Obama is trying. Now Kim Jong Il has pancreatic cancer; I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe when he dies we can finally make some progress in that area. No one is more stuck in last century than Kim Jong Il.

This is the woman, after all, now going around saying that all of her Dad's failures and violations of U.S. law just prove how untrustworthy Dems are at keeping the nation safe. One has to have just a bit of grudging admiration for someone who can actually have so little shame and self-respect, but apparently an abundance of love for her unspeakably reptilian father, to go out and say such preposterous things in open society. All I can say to that is that Dick Cheney doesn't deserve such a daughter. As for the larger issue: she's got all his traits, apparently.

Good article. In a sentence, it describes Cheney's worldview that morality consists simply of the ongoing cosmic struggle between "good" (freedom) and "evil" (tyranny). As with all those who distill the world down to such a simple polarity (including Al Queda, the Nazis, the Soviets, the Ku Klux Klan, and all fundamentalists) "good" always wins, and "we" are always conveniently on the side of "good" while "they" are always rightfully the bad guys. You're either with us or against us. No questions, only orders. No need to think about subtleties, we're always right, they're always wrong. No fuss, no muss. In the epic battle between good and evil, good guys always win, and who wants to be a loser anyway.

If she weren't so completely irrelevant, I'd probably give a damn.

its clear that this woman is trying to cover hers and her fathers butt.but in the end shes a liar so is her father and george bush .this morning on morning joe she couldnt answer the questions.she just put in her political spin and blamed other people.she wasnt in all her fathers meetings but you notice she put other spin on it.may i remind her that the bush cheney admin.failed to stop the 9-11 attacks so they failed they are the liars it wasnt nancy pelosi who was running the country it was her father and george bush and she was in on the lies too and now instead of her father answering the questions its her wipeing his butt again.get with it liz your a liar so is your father and george bush.the american people arent stupid and we know better not to believe your lieing pitifull butt!!! we voted for change because you your father and bush failed the american people and caused over 4000 of our young men and women to die in a senceless war you just plain suck go away your a liar like your dad and we the american people dont believe your lieing butt!!!!!

Sleeze Cheney, was an assistant Secretary of State and I think she knows more than she should have because of being Darth Vader's offspring. She is trying to keep both of their A$$es out of Federal Prison.