Whose Fault, Dick?

From Frank Rich at the New York Times:

Once again Cheney and his cohort were using lies and fear to try to gain political advantage — this time to rewrite history and escape accountability for the failed Bush presidency rather than to drum up a new war. Once again Democrats in Congress were cowed. And once again too much of the so-called liberal news media parroted the right’s scare tactics, putting America’s real security interests at risk by failing to challenge any Washington politician carrying a big stick.

"Dick Cheney and his cohort" are just doing what they do, taking the slimy low road to deceive, manipulate, and now weasel out of their responsibility for the giant, smelly pile that they left behind. But WTF is wrong with the Democrats in Congress and the news media?

The Democrats are in charge, now but they're still scared silly by the Republicans, even after their massive repudiation by the citizens of the country. The Senate hands Obama a 90-6 "NO!" vote to shutting down that hall of horrors and shame called Guantanamo. What will it take to stiffen the spines of the Congress critters? What will it take?

And the so-called liberal media, the media who view themselves as unbiased, not Fox News, not Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, but those whom we expect to inform us of the true state of things, what are they doing? Only a very few call Cheney and his pals on their lies - and none in face to face confrontation with the Dick himself. Ooooh! If they laid out Cheney's deceptions before him, he might not appear again on their shows. And what a profound loss THAT would be to us all! I ask the media, "Why do you give Cheney a forum to repeat his lies over and over, even after the lies have been repudiated and exposed for what they are? What's wrong with you?"

The reporters and columnists who do their jobs look like heroes today. A big "THANK YOU" to Frank Rich for this column and for his many other truth-telling columns and to Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel at McKlatchy who lay out the "omissions, exaggerations and misstatements" in Cheney's speech at the American Enterprise Institute and who also were amongst those who called attention to the "omissions, exaggerations and misstatements" of the Bush maladministration before the Iraq War.

Shame on you, Democrats in Congress. Shame on you hotshots and pundits in the media. You're not doing your jobs. I'm compiling an "Enemies in the So-called Liberal Media" list, and David Gregory's name is on it.

Paul, the BB, highlights the money quote, and I thank him for calling my attention to Rich's column.

The harrowing truth remains unchanged from what it was before Cheney emerged from his bunker to set Washington atwitter. The Bush administration did not make us safer either before or after 9/11. Obama is not making us less safe. If there’s another terrorist attack, it will be because the mess the Bush administration ignored in Pakistan and Afghanistan spun beyond anyone’s control well before Americans could throw the bums out.

UPDATE: Heroes of the Senate who voted against the amendment to prevent appropriation funds to be used to close Guantanamo:

Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
Carl Levin (D-Mich.)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
Jack Reed (D-R.I.)

Thank you, Senators. I am proud of you.