Cheney Hits Back At Rand Paul: He’s An ‘Isolationist’

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is interviewed by Neil Cavuto for his program "Cavuto," on the Fox Business Network, in New York Monday, Dec. 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday responded to Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) charge that the U.S. should not be listening to Cheney when it comes to Iraq.

On ABC’s “This Week,” Jonathan Karl asked Cheney to respond to an op-ed Paul wrote for the Wall Street Journal, in which he criticized the former Vice President.

“I was a strong supporter then of going into Iraq, I’m a strong supporter now. Everybody knows what my position is,” Cheney said. “But if we spend our time debating what happened 11 or 12 years ago, we’re going to miss the threat that is growing and that we do face. Rand Paul, with all due respect, is basically an isolationist. He doesn’t believe we ought to be involved in that part of the world.”

Karl also asked Cheney to defend his criticism of Obama.

“It almost seems like you’re accusing the president of treason here, saying he’s intentionally bringing America down a notch,” Karl probed.

“No, my reference didn’t refer just to Iraq. It referred to the fact that we’ve left a big vacuum in the Middle East by our withdrawal from Iraq with no stay-behind agreement, by the commitment he made just a couple of weeks ago, that we’re going to completely withdraw from Afghanistan with no stay-behind agreement,” Cheney responded. “Now, I don’t intend any disrespect for the president, but I fundamentally disagree with him. I think he’s dead wrong in terms of the course he’s taken this nation and I think we’re in for big trouble in the years ahead because of his refusal to recognize reality and because of his continual emphasis upon getting the U.S. basically to withdraw from that part of the world.”

Latest Livewire
110
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Sounds like more of a compliment.

  2. Avatar for jw1 jw1 says:

    ‘Rand Paul, with all due respect, is basically an isolationist…’

    And you’re the biggest assh^le of my lifetime.
    And a real Dick to boot.

    jw1

  3. Avatar for marby marby says:

    “I think he’s dead wrong in terms of the course he’s taken this nation.” Even if that were true, Mr. Cheney, you beat that because we KNOW you were dead wrong in terms of where you took our country (100,000+ in terms of being dead wrong)

  4. “our withdrawal from Iraq with no stay-behind agreement”

    Karl followed up by asking Cheney if he agreed with the Iraqi Govt that our forces would have to leave unless we agreed to have them be under the umbrella of Iraqi law - NOT.

  5. The sneer in the suit doesn’t seem to understand that he’s irrelevant.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

104 more replies

Participants

Avatar for lestatdelc Avatar for rook429 Avatar for kms Avatar for jackson_frisell Avatar for fgs Avatar for jw1 Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for lochsabill Avatar for marby Avatar for grindelwald Avatar for trumpdog Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for Dwig3d Avatar for stephen_maturin Avatar for arc_of_the_universe Avatar for chadingo Avatar for 538liberal Avatar for captaincommonsense Avatar for jimgroom Avatar for smokinthegotp Avatar for darrtown Avatar for Izzie Avatar for antisachetdethe Avatar for sockbunny08

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: