Okay, so Obama didn't really say "shut the fuck up asshole" but he may as well have:
President Obama is reprising some of his most familiar campaign rhetoric to criticize Dick Cheney, saying in an interview that the former vice president has no room to criticize him on national security.
"How many terrorists have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney?" Obama asked on "60 Minutes," according to excerpts released by CBS ahead of its Sunday airing. "It hasn't made us safer. What it has been is a great advertisement for anti-American sentiment."
I guess the Republicans have to get used to this new breed of Democrat, you know, the one that hits back.
In case you missed it, this was in response to Cheney saying Obama's policies made us less safe. Even Bush for all of his faults had enough class to not to be overly critical of the new administration. Then again, I think Bush is just happy to not have to hang out with Cheney anymore.
In fact, Obama's comments mirror (Republican) Chuck Hagel's:
HAGEL: That’s ridiculous! It has no merit on fact or by any measurement. I mean come on, this guy hasn’t even been in office two months. The mess that the Bush administration left the Obama administration. I’m a Republican...we got America into two wars, we’ve done great damage to our economy, to our force structure, to our standing in the world. For a Vice President who participated in that, who led in that, to come on and say that this new administration has really put America in danger is just folly.
I just think it's funny that no one could really FIND Cheney for the last 4-8 years, and now all of a sudden he's everywhere insulting Obama. BTW, did we ever find out what's in that man sized safe?
I'm really looking forward to the 60 minutes interview tomorrow, they really tend to do decent interviews on 60 minutes, and I'm sure there will be plenty more newsworthy items. Here's the last interview he did on 60 Minutes right after the election:
(sorry for the short diary, just thought you guys would appreciate this "preview" quote :o) )
UPDATE CBS released other previews:
CBS PREVIEWS TONIGHT’S "60 MINUTES" INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT – 7 p.m. ET: "In his longest interview since taking office, President Barack Obama tells Steve Kroft that New York’s Wall Street executives need to get out of town to appreciate the public’s anger towards them and that embattled Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s job is safe. The president even joked that were Geithner to tender his resignation, he would say, ‘Sorry Buddy, you’ve still got the job.’ The 90-minute interview [Friday] evening began on the White House lawn and ended in the Oval Office where the president also addressed the economy, the bonus tax, healthcare, automakers’ bailouts, Afghanistan and Pakistan and answered recent criticism from former Vice President Dick Cheney. ... The president said neither he nor Geithner has mentioned resignation from his Treasury post and that criticism is natural. ‘It’s going to take a little bit more time than we would like to make sure that we get this plan just right. Of course, then we'd still be subject to criticism,’ he tells Kroft. ‘What's taken so long? You've been in office a whole 40 days and you haven't solved the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression,’ Obama said with a laugh.
40 whole days? What a slacker! (actually it's been more than 40 days, he's getting dangerously close to "Bush incompetence" here)
"The president acknowledged his need for the support of Wall Street for his banking plan that he will reveal next week. But many of those executives, particularly in New York, need to appreciate populist perspective, too, he said in a discussion of the 90 percent bonus tax for workers making over $250,000 a year at companies receiving large taxpayer bailouts. Responding to Kroft’s observation that Wall Street types in the New York area thought the appointments of Geithner and Lawrence Summers to his cabinet indicated he would be more supportive of them, Obama said those people need to get out of town. ‘They need to spend a little time outside of New York. Because...if you go to North Dakota, or you go to Iowa, or you go to Arkansas, where folks would be thrilled to be making $75,000 a year-- without a bonus -- then I think they'd get a sense of why people are frustrated.’
"Obama fires back at former Vice President Dick Cheney’s charge that his plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and end torture of terrorism suspects has made the U.S. less safe. ‘How many terrorists have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney? It hasn't made us safer. What it has been is a great advertisement for anti-American sentiment.’ Pressed by Kroft that some of the released prisoners have returned to terrorist groups, the president said, ‘There is no doubt that we have not done a particularly effective job in sorting through who are truly dangerous individuals...to make sure [they] are not a threat to us,’ he says. But he called the Bush administration’s policy on detainees at Guantanamo –including long incarcerations with no trials – ‘unsustainable.’
"The interview includes a walk on the grounds of the White House, where the swing set for his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, is visible. Obama said having dinner with his family and playing with his children each day is a welcome respite from the pressure of his office where, he concedes, decisions that land on his desk are often a choice ‘between bad and worse.’ His hardest one thus far, he tells Kroft, was sending an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan."
Sounds like it should be a good interview.