Challenging Cheney
Is too much government business conducted in secret?
One of the things I've reflected on lately is that I truly believe we need to introduce a new balancing test. In the past, we've looked at it as, 'we have to balance national security against the public's right to know or whatever.' My balancing test would be national security versus national security: yes, disclosing information may cause damage, but you know what, withholding that information may even cause greater damage… And I don't think we sufficiently taken that into greater account.
The global struggle that we're engaged in today is more than anything else is an ideological struggle. And in my mind….that calls for greater transparency, not less transparency. We're in a situation where we're attempting to win over the hearts and minds of the world's population. And yet, we seem to have a habit—when we restrict information, we're often times find ourselves in a position where we're ceding the playing field to the other side. We allow ourselves to be almost reduced to a caricature by taking positions on certain issues, oh , we simply can't talk about that.
(Note: Asked for comment, Lea A. McBride, spokeswoman for Cheney, pointed to recent comments by Cheney in an interview with the online publication, Politico, on his office's dispute with the National Archives. In the interview, the vice president specifically referred to his position that, because he serves as Secretary of the Senate, his office was not an "entity" in the executive branch governed by the executive order relating to classified information.
"I'm aware of the kerfuffle here a few months ago — is he or isn't he; is he part of the executive branch, part of the legislative branch?" Cheney said. "And the answer really is, you've got a foot in both camps. I obviously work for the president. That's why I'm sitting here in the West Wing of the White House. But I also have a role to play in the Congress as the president of the Senate. I actually get paid — that's where my paycheck comes from, is the Senate. So I try to keep lines open to both sides of the Congress, both the House and the Senate.")
© 2007
Loading Menu
Member Comments
Posted By: Duck Soup @ 12/30/2007 11:00:52 PM
Comment: How are Democrats supposed to argue for transparency when their leading candidate, Hillary Clinton, still won't release her records as First Lady or those associated with her and Bill's mega-"charity"? That's right, Hillary says her "experience" that places her above Obama is her time in the White House, yet she won't release her records until after the Primary. And her and Bill's charity has raised over $500 MILLION dollars from the same people who are their major donors and lend them their jets to hop around in. The "charity" also employed their leading campaign staff. This is a lot of money sloshing around and they won't let us see the details.
How can we demand that Cheney release his records when Hillary and Bill won't release theirs. We need a change already. We need Obama. We need someone honest. Obama has the guts to take the right position even when it's unpopular, like in opposing the Iraq war from the start. He is for transparency. He has not used government to amass a personal wealth of tens of millions of dollars (over $30 mil for Hillary, over $40 mil for Bill, over $50 mil for Cheney, over $50 mil for Edwards) etc. - Obama's net worth is just over $1 million. Obama is one of us. It's time to take back our goverment. We can't afford to take the chance of letting the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton cycle continue.
Posted By: Markwri @ 12/30/2007 4:53:12 PM
Comment: Always been amazed that Cheney, who could go out around the World and actually DO some things simply stays in dc and runs clusterfrick maneauvers which do nothing but act as a flanking draws supposedly to guise the things that are really happening.
GW, Cheney and a few of their annointed Club....truly a 3 Stooges network.
Maybe that's why we keep tuning in.
Posted By: roncraw @ 12/28/2007 9:35:30 PM
Comment: Short and sweet impeach Cheney