John Kerry (D-MA) was right when he responded to Vice President Dick Cheney's Nov. 16
attack against critics of the White House's handling of pre-war intelligence by
saying “it is hard to name a government official with less credibility on Iraq” than Cheney.
Kerry may speak for the 57% of Americans who
believe that Bush "deliberately misled" the nation when making the case for war. But it's easy for the conservative noise machine to marginalize Kerry -- perhaps by calling him French or
making fun of his wife's riches.
Far more people, no doubt, will remember the brilliant commentary about Cheney's attack delivered last night by Jon Stewart and the writers at Comedy Central's
The Daily Show.Cheney, in his talk before the Frontiers of Freedom Institute, a conservative policy group, said of White House critics: "We're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history. ... We're going to continue throwing their own words back at them."
That bit of empty conservative spin was just too big a bullseye for
The Daily Show writers.
Here's an unofficial transcript of what Stewart said:
STEWART: The Vice President, Dick Cheney, emerged from his bunker yesterday in a fight mood.
CHENEY: 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 in pre-war intelligence, is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.
...
STEWART: So, if the president and the vice president didn't intentionally mislead us, then our intelligence apparatus failed entirely. I guess, Vice President Cheney, that's the saddest part of this whole thing.
CHENEY: The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods, day in and day out.
STEWART (imitating Cheney): I mean, do you know how hard it is for the troops to hear the president deny and criticize? I mean, it's one thing for the soldiers to be literally attacked --- bombs and bullets. But, to see us figuratively attacked -- words -- I mean, people, there's only so much they can ...
Bring it home, Brother Dick!
CHENEY: We're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history. ... We're going to continue throwing their own words back at them."
STEWART: All right, so here we go, let's see who's made some of the most damaging untrue statements about the war:
(pulls giant lever, as giant slot machine images begin behind him)
CHENEY (August 22, 2002): There's no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.
CHENEY (May 30, 2005): I think they are in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.
CHENEY (March 16, 2003): My belief is, we will in fact be greeted as liberators.
(On screen, in giant letters: "JACKA$$")
STEWART: We'll be right back ...
***
This item first appeared at
Journalists Against Bush's B.S.