When Republicans Think Iraq Is Going Poorly, What's A Vice President To Do?

In the lead up to the W, Rove and Co full court press to try and not lose their Congressional "majority," they will say anything to be sure that people think electing Democrats is the wrong way to go. What's the Big Dick Cheney to do when GOP heavy weights suggest his administration is incompetent?

Ah, I know. We see that when even stalwart supporters of the administration are turning on them, the Big Dick Cheney will try to pin the problem on the Dems.

Have a look at this interview exchange posted today at the Whitehouse web location. Ask yourselves two questions when you read through this: 1) Does the Veep answer the questions adequately? 2) Why do Republicans who used to support the war in Iraq no longer support it?

Q But you've had a lot of Republican defections on Iraq, as well. Just today, just a few minutes ago, Vanity Fair magazine reported that Richard Perle and Ken Adelman, two of the strongest early supporters of the war, say that now they would not have supported the invasion if they knew how incompetent the administration would be in handling it.

Listen to Ken Adelman. He called your administration "among the most incompetent administrations in the post-war era. Individually, each team member has serious flaws. Together they were deadly dysfunctional."

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Well, I haven't seen the piece. I'm not going to comment on it, George.

Q But Richard Perle and Ken Adelman were two of the strongest supporters in the administration.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Well, I think there's no question but what it's a tough war, but it's also the right thing to do. And it's very important we complete the mission. I just fundamentally disagree.

Q You also have a lot of Republican candidates for Senate out there right now; six, by my count, who are calling either for a change of course in the war, or a change of leadership.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: George, the primary opposition to the war is coming from the Democratic Party. They haven't offered up a plan, but they've got several different positions: withdraw, withdraw at some future date, cut off funding -- there's been legislation introduced in the House now by House Democrats to do that.

The fact of the matter is, this is the right thing for us to be doing. We need to succeed here. It has a direct bearing on how we do around the world in the global war on terror. If, in fact, Karzai in Afghanistan, and Musharraf in Pakistan, who've been great allies in the war on terror where we've had major success, were to see us suddenly decide we're going to depart from Iraq and decide that it's gotten too tough, it would seriously undermine our efforts in all those other places.

So to suggest that somehow there's a solution here to walk away from Iraq and still aggressively pursue the global war on terror, is just wrong. It's just not --

Q Yet you're seeing that come from your own candidates right now.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: George, it's tough. This is hard to do, no question about it. But it's the right thing to do, and that's why the President is out there, as aggressively as he is, and so am I. We don't make decisions based on the polls. We don't make decisions based on pundits on television or whether or not it's popular. It's the right thing to do and that's why we're doing it.

Q So will the vote on Tuesday have any affect on the President's Iraq policy?

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: I think it will have some effect, perhaps, in the Congress, but the President has made clear what his objective is, it's victory in Iraq. And full speed ahead on that basis, and that's exactly what we're going to do.

Q So even those Republican candidates calling for a change of course are not going to get that on Wednesday?

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: No, you can't make policy -- national security policy on the basis of that. These are people running for Congress, they're entitled to their own views, on both sides of the aisle. But I think there's no question but what when we get into the global war on terror, when we get into the measures that are needed to go on offense and take the fight to the enemy, if you will, that the support that we've had and continue to have is primarily on the Republican side, and I think the Democrats have come up weak on it.