October 13, 2009 4:47 PM

Liz Cheney Launches Group to "Keep America Safe"

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Republicans
5049638Like her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, Elizabeth Cheney doesn't think highly of President Obama's policies. And now she has a new organization, Keep America Safe, dedicated to pressing her argument.

"Like a lot of Americans, we have watched with concern and dismay as the Obama administration has cut defense spending, wavered on the war in Afghanistan, and launched investigations into Americans serving on the front lines of the war on terror, while at the same time expanding legal protections for the terrorists that plot to attack this country," Cheney writes in an opening statement, which is also signed by fellow board members Debra Burlingame and William Kristol. "These policies, along with President Obama's abandonment of America's allies and attempts to appease our adversaries are weakening the nation."

The group vows to "make the case for an unapologetic approach to fighting terrorism around the world, for victory in the wars this country fights, for democracy, freedom and human rights, and for a strong American military that is needed in the dangerous world in which we live."

Keep America Safe has also produced a video (at left) articulating a critique of Mr. Obama for failing to match his rhetoric with reality – and for playing golf and traveling to Copenhagen instead of dealing with various issues.

Politico reports that the group, incorporated as a 501 (c ) 4 non-profit, launches its fundraising push today. Said Kristol, the editor of the conservative Weekly Standard: "The Left has dozens of organizations and tens of millions of dollars dedicated to undercutting the war on terror. The good guys need some help too."

The video will be promoted on the Conservative Drudge report Web site and other sympathetic outlets for fundraising purposes, according to Politico. Among those tied to the group are at least three former staffers to 2008 Republican Presidential candidate John McCain: Michael Goldfarb, Aaron Harison and Justin Germany, who produced the infamous campaign video that cast Mr. Obama as the self-anointed messianic "one" who "can do no wrong."

Cheney, a former deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, is seen as a potential future Congressional candidate out of Virginia.

Mary Cheney to Start Consulting Firm

Add a Comment See all 37 Comments
by mfractal10 February 15, 2010 12:49 PM EST
It is rare to read a commentary that is as well constructed as this. Most of the commentaries submitted are done so by individuals who lack the emotional and intellectual skills required to navigate the terrain of productive discourse. In other words most commentaries are submitted to vent but to offer nothing in the way of a constructive dialogue. Having said as much let me offer a concise statement with regard to the claim that the Bush Administration kept American safe. It is a lie! 911 occurred on their watch. This is as if trying to disprove gravity because we see movement from balloon technology in the skies above.The Bush Administration did not keep America safe because they ignored all request to deal with issues relevant to the middle east. Why because they were not equipped to deal with the responsibilities of the presidency to begin with. Meaning the American Public elected a man with the intellectual capacity of a snail to handle the affairs of this nation. We have seen the results!

Stating that the Bush Administration failed to connect the dots thereby making 911 possible can be reduced to the following: President Bush being charged with the responsibility of protecting the American Public in much the same way a LifeGuard is charged with protecting the public while at the beach. The LifeGuard sees several triangular fins extended from the water but does not check it out because he concludes they must be sail boats. The sharks end up killing several vacationers because the lifguard failed to connect the dots. His claim was that he kept the vacationers safe......up to the point they ended up in the water and were killed by the sharks. The argument is ludicrous. The lifeguard is and was responsible for the deaths of the vacationers because he was asleep at the wheel!

Making the claim that he kept the public safe until they hit the water because he thought the fins were sails just clarifies how stupid the lifeguard was to begin with. He should have never been given the job or the responsibility to begin with. This is the argument that the American Public has been asked to accept as a valid claim that the Bush Adminstration kept America safe. You would have to be a complete idiot to buy it and as evidenced by the simple minded minnows that swallowed these arguments whole. Are we really surprised that these faulty arguments prevail? I?m not. We have truly lost our way when a form of voodoo or alchemy if you will elevates bullshi?. to the status of truth and the public asks for supersize spoonfuls from frauds of the ilk of Bush and Cheney......They kept us safe? Oh, except for on 911 but that doesn?t really count because??..why??? There answer is because they didn?t do their job!!!
Nobody could have prevented 911? That is not an argument it is a defense the kind of lame defense advanced by the lifeguard or a coward. Bush and Cheney both fall into this category??. They profess to be patriots but are nothing but political Hucksters!!! ??..and a hard rain.....a hard rain's gonna fall. Nice work drsam8
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by lease1 October 22, 2009 8:58 AM EDT
I guess since Cheney isn't in office anymore he has to find another way to profit from the war...
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by CSCHULTZ1 October 18, 2009 12:03 PM EDT
Keep America Safe? A Rightwing, Neocon Republican group is calling itself Keep America Safe?? HaHaHaHaha!

By my standards and Bush/Cheney standards Obama has kept America safe longer than the previous gang of thugs did!
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by carami6 October 15, 2009 7:05 PM EDT
what is the point shes trying to make.bush and both her and her father has put all of us in danger during the time they were in office.the 9/11/2001 happened while they were in office.the attack should never happened in the first because they should have put a secuirty team and follow it when they were in office from day 1.and they talked about both wars.they started both of them.the one in iraq should never happened.we lost so many lives on that war and wasted over $10 billon on that war that wasnt involved with 9/11/2001.we might have spent a little if we had put more attention on afganistan and pakistan insatead.we wasted so much money on the war on iraq its part of the reason why gas prices went to $4 a gallon during the middle of 2008.she talks about obama taking too many vactions?bush and her father has taking more vactions during their times in office,especially while over 2 millon people have lost their jobs and losing their homes.she claims that obama has weaken our security.we havent had attack since he came in office.and she said its shameful for gen. holder to review the harsh tatics.it is illegal to have these tatics.not only that it has isolated us from the rest of the world and that weakens our security.now she wants to waste money on a website that full of hate and lies.i never have someone like her and her father that can be so evil and so hateful.we need to keep america safe buy ignoring all the cheneys and put these war criminal in jail for what they have done
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by Aussie2009 October 15, 2009 7:44 AM EDT
Maybe the fact that "nothing" can make you people happy !

If after 9/11 the govt did nothing, you would have said that your govt failed as they did nothing ! Then if YOU had been invaded ? As doing nothing would have been a sign of weakness, in all your eyes.

You would have been out protesting not for peace, but to save your own *****. What you may not realize is having sympathy for mass murderers ( suicide bombers ) etc... is odd !

"Oh... those poor guys, that came and flew planes and killed thousands of Americans" and the others that are training to kill more Americans. At various camps in South East Asia, Middle East etc... Lets all go out and rally !!!! And ask for peace and sympathize with them, that might make a psychotic person who hates Americans and loves Jihad, to just go " Hey yeh !!! your right, you ALL SUPPORT me too, you really are idiots " So in your showing your weakness, they gather strength and could just do a repeat ! then you will all complain again.

You either love America, or you can move too the Middle East yourselves and show them your support !
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by mfractal10 February 15, 2010 1:02 PM EST
Loving America doesn't mean yielding to arguments advanced by simpletons. If you want to promote being a patriot. Sit down in front of a mirror and do the hard work of personal assesment and just be honest with yourself. Acknowledge the fact that you are not equipped to express an opinion that requires some degree of intellect. What comes across from your expose is that your consolidated brainpower could probably not turn on a lightswtich. Go back to school and get an education. The dark ages have been over for quite some time......except those who actually still live in caves.....like yourself for instance.
by Imperious813 October 14, 2009 9:18 AM EDT
George Bush: 487 vacation days at Camp David, 490 vacation days at his TX ranch. All the while he has committed troops under false pretenses to an unnecessary war.

Dick Cheney: FIVE draft deferments.

Yep, them Cheney's is THE EXPERTS when it comes to national security
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by ralphvt October 14, 2009 8:20 AM EDT
Check out that "deer caught in the headlights" look. Remind you of anybody else?
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by mprahl October 14, 2009 7:56 AM EDT
I am very concern in the direction our country is going. Leaving our men in Afghanistan without the support they need to be successful is criminal. I would advise anyone who has a son or daughter wanting to join the military at this time to wait. This administration is not supportive of our men and women who volunteer to serve this country in good faith that the commander in chief is behind their efforts. If we cannot depend on our government to keep us safe every other commitment for our welfare is a mute point. I consider myself a concerned American. Mary Prahl
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by Magpie54 November 5, 2009 8:31 AM EST
Lets look at the big picture - remember when we invaded Iraq? Insufficient arms and weapons - remember our guys scrounging scrap metal to armor their vehicles and families taking up collections to send armored vests to their kids in Iraq. Insufficient intel - there was no thought that even anti-Baathists might object to an invasion, and they apparently didn't know what any one who has read the newspapers for the last ten years knows, that Sunnis and Shhites like to shoot at each other. No planning - the thought of an insurgency apparently never occurred to them, there was no exit strategy, and they disbanded the Iraqi army, leaving a 100,000 armed men with no way to feed their families, and lots of American soldiers to shoot at. AND ALL THIS while we were fighting a drawn out frustrating war in Afghanistan. Troops and resources were pulled out of Afghanistan, where they were needed, and sent to Iraq. President Obama sent them back, and is returning focus to Afghanistan where it should have been all along. And if he wants to take some time to reassess strategy and find one that works, or works better, that's fine with me. THAT is caring for the troops.
by reffrog October 14, 2009 7:07 AM EDT
Why should we not be surprised that Liz Cheney is an advocate for sending other people's children to defend her father's failed policies in the Middle East? Let's shovel hundreds of billions more dollars into the third world cesspools of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan under the guise of nation building while rejecting any effort to transform this nation's health care system to include more of our own citizens because it would be TOO EXPENSIVE.
On second thought, who determined that Liz Cheney's opinions have a value?
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by drsam8 October 14, 2009 2:49 AM EDT
CAN AMERICA LEARN ANYTHING USEFUL ABOUT SECURITY FROM THIS FAMILY

Many of us were naive enough to believe that America's nightmare was over as soon as the Bush-Cheney joint-Presidency ended with the election of Obama as president. Now we know to our chagrin that we were terribly mistaken. How many times would Americans be fooled before they finally wake up to the realization that they have been used and misused in the interest of a prevaricating, cunning human abstractions who seem to care little about them but mostly their own selfish interests. Does it matter that such interests may be dressed in the gab of country and patriotism, as if this country is more theirs than ours collectively or that they are more patriotic than anybody else? I don't know of any Cheney that paid the ultimate penalty for America in war. Did any even ever served in the military? Yet they have benefitted very much from government and government contracts through their associated companies. On the other hand, Dick Cheney, in fact, helped to decimate America's reputation and global respect because of his hard-headed ideological views and policies that in the end left America largely isolated and scorned by other nations around the world. Just think about the recently tartered reputation of America and the quick turnaround that happened as soon as Obama stepped in as the President. The allies the Cheneys say Obama should defend are the very ones that are today openly condemning the last administration and enthusing about the new American leadership. The Cheneys believe that they can always count on deceiving the gaullible masses in America in order to advance their dark side agenda. We need not ignore their effort; but I daresay the President and his wise advisers and followers will be equal to the task of eventually defeating their ill-conceived political objectives. Perhaps, at last, Americans will stand up to the Cheneys and say "enough is enough, we know what you have represented in the past, and we know what an ugly future your current intervention will bring to us all". Think for a moment about the deceptions that preceded the Iraq war and the with which it was conceived and fought. It is almost as if those who conceived it were not trully honorable, but were de facto inhuman abstractions. Think about the consequences of that war--the human and financial and other related costs, including cost in reputation. It is a war of choice that has in reality made America much less secure--by allowing Al Quada to grow in strength and the taliban to re-group and reorganize in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And look at other costs such as the near collapse of the world economy because of the cost war and lack of any effective regulation of Wall Street. Look at Gitmo and Abu Gareb and what it did to America's image abroad. The Obama administration can't even prosecute many of the key plotters in the 9/11 attack because the relevant evidence has been compromised by the interrogation processes. That is Dick Cheney's legacy. Obviously, he and his family think they can teach us something about how to keep America safe. They even ignore the fact that 9/11 took place under the Bush-Cheney watch. It is the height of arrogance for this people to think they can teach us anything with THAT KIND OF LEGACY! We cannot be fooled this time!
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by gilamonstrous October 20, 2009 9:10 AM EDT
The greatest blow, in the last twenty years, to America's image and reputation overseas was the Bush re-election. Europeans are aware how govts act beyond the will or belief of the peoples.. so while the Bush foreign policy (ala the intentional mismanagment of what was a tentatively justifiable aggression early-on) quickly settled before their eyes into a sour crusading cowboy mash of unilateral swagger and corrupt, criminal and murderous profiteering. Euros, like Americans, hoped a Presidential election, this time of 2004, would show America was not a willingly fascist "Militocracy"... However it was accomplished, the re-installation of Bush in 2004 was a disheartening shocker and a call to all Americans, since "you are what you eat", to put more spine in their diets. Now, after the 2008 Turnaround, which Cheney and it's ilk still hope to thwart by keeping their favorite multitool (ignorance, fear and bigotry) in hand and within earshot, the recent antics of Grayson of Fla. (opposers to whom the GOP, come the next election there, will lavishly fund to eject from office) give perspective to all persevering hopefuls that the Congressional Dems are still largely vertebrationally malnourished.
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