The White House Fires Back at Dick Cheney on Afghanistan

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:07 pm

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At his briefing today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had a tough response to former vice president Dick Cheney’s criticism that Obama is dithering on the decision to add more troops in Afghanistan. Gibbs said that the vice president seems to have forgotten his role in the last seven years of Afghanistan.

In a speech last night Cheney accused Obama of, “dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.” Here is the video of Cheney’s speech:

Here is the White House’s reply from Think Progress:

Gibbs pointed out that the Bush administration denied a request for more troops in Afghanistan, “It wasn’t — Whether it was taken seriously or not, it wasn’t filled. I assume since it wasn’t filled, it was not taken seriously. Maybe they filled unserious ones and didn’t fill serious ones. That’s a fabulous question for the Vice President, who seems to have forgotten his role in the last seven years of Afghanistan.”

Gibbs later added, “I think it’s interesting what the Vice President is suggesting the President isn’t acting on is what the previous administration didn’t act on, right?..Help me understand the rationale how one goes from half as many troops as are now in Afghanistan under his watch, to 68,000, to now wanting an additional 40 [thousand], when you didn’t want the additional troops that President Obama approved. I mean, how do you go from 68-plus, when you didn’t want 34-plus? How — Do you — It defies some modicum of logic to get “I didn’t want to go from 35,000 to 65,000, but I want to.”

You better believe that the White House is licking their chops every time Cheney shuffles out to criticize Obama. Nothing helps Obama more on any issue than having Dick Cheney stand up in front of the cameras and speak against it. Cheney is in no position to criticize Obama on Afghanistan. It is his mess that Obama is trying to clean up.

Every time that it seems like the GOP might be gaining a little momentum, Dick Cheney pops up to remind Americans just how incompetent the Bush administration was for the last eight years. If the Republicans are ever going to make any kind of serious comeback, they need to do something about Cheney, because he is absolutely killing his party.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association