Talking to reporters aboard his government plane as he flew from Islamabad, Pakistan to Muscat, Oman on an overseas mission, Cheney said a contraction in the power of the presidency since the Vietnam and Watergate era must be reversed. "I believe in a strong, robust executive authority and I think that the world we live in demands it. And to some extent, that we have an obligation as the administration to pass on the offices we hold to our successors in as good of shape as we found them," he said. WooHoo! Hitting Congress (McCain/Linds/Specter/Dems) and the peaceniks right between the eyes!
Cheney said he believes the American people support President Bush's terror-fighting strategy. "If there's a backlash pending," because of reports of National Security Agency surveillance of calls originating within the United States, he said, "I think the backlash is going to be against those who are suggesting somehow that we shouldn't take these steps to defend the country."
damn right. Libs on record supporting terrorist not be tortured, not be wire tapped, and not be fought. What a swell election platform.
"Either we're serious about fighting the war on terror or we're not," the vice president said. "The president and I believe very deeply that there is a hell of a threat."
I love the strength of the language to emphasis a crucial point.
"I believe that the president is entitled and needs to have unfiltered advice in formulating policy," Cheney said. "He ought to be able to seek the opinion of anybody he wants to and that he should not have to reveal, for example, who he talked to that morning. That issue was litigated all the way up to the Supreme Court and we won."
Another shot at Congress. LOL Keep 'em coming.
"But I do believe that especially in the day and age we live in, the nature of the threats of we face — and this is true during the Cold War as well as I think is true now — the president of the United States needs to have his constitutional powers unimpaired, if you will, in terms of the conduct of national security policy," the vice president said.
Especially since so many in the other branches are willing to surrender for sake of a "Global Test".
"You know, it's not an accident that we haven't been hit in four years," Cheney said. "I think there's a temptation for people to sit around and say, 'Well, gee that was just a one-of affair, they didn't really mean it.' " "The bottom line is we've been very active and very aggressively defending the nation and using the tools at our disposal to do that," he said.
The endangerment of our security due to these leaks is NOT good. However, there is a side benefit. The American people are hearing about tools that have been in place to keep us from attack. I think those that were thinking it a one time event are getting a cram session in just how wrong they were, and probably regaining a sense we are at war and the administration's efforts are why we've been safe, alongside of our troops and intelligence gathering services improving.
Excellent summation and analysis! Good job...:)