Mondale v. Cheney

AP follows Walter Mondale who had the courage in 1984 to tell us taxes would have to be increased. Jimmy Carter’s former Vice President is not happy with George W. Bush’s Vice President: Dick “Deficits Don’t Matter” Cheney:

Vice President Dick Cheney has bullied federal agencies and given absurd advice about the nation’s risk and Iraq, Walter Mondale said Friday … Mondale, who served under Carter, said Cheney and his assistants pressured federal agencies as they prepared information for President Bush. “I think Cheney’s been at the center of cooking up farcical estimates of national risks, weapons of mass destruction and the 9/11 connection to Iraq,” he said. That does not serve the president, because he needs facts, Mondale said. “If I had done as vice president what this vice president has done, Carter would have thrown me out of there,” Mondale said. “I don’t think he could have tolerated a vice president over there pressuring and pushing other agencies, ordering up different reports than they wanted to send us. I don’t think he would have stood for it.”

So did “Dead Eye” Dick step up and defend himself personally. Oh no, he hides behind the skirts of Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney:

Twice elected to serve with President Bush, the vice president is committed to protecting Americans from those who wish to do us harm.

This is the best Ms. McBride had to offer? Cheney is truly a coward when he has to hide behind the skirts of someone with so little to say. I’m not quite sure why Walter Mondale chose today to go off on this White House. It’s not that this was way over due – but plainly to speaking Walter Mondale: what took you so long?

Update: David Shuster watches the jury selection process in the Scooter Libby trial as to whether he committed perjury and obstruction of justice:

Vice President Cheney’s testimony and role in the CIA leak investigation is going to be far more intriguing than previously thought. There were two clues yesterday. (1) A Libby lawyer, for the second time in this process, asked a potential juror how they will view Vice President Cheney if his testimony is “contradicted” by another witness. (2) Late yesterday, Patrick Fitzgerald asked a juror who expressed admiration for the office of the vice president whether that potential juror would have any problems if counsel (Fitzgerald) conducted an aggressive cross examination of the vice president?

In other words, will the jurors watch the Vice President and think to themselves – is this jerk lying under oath just like he lies in every other venue of public life? Yes – the Libby perjury trial may turn on whether the Vice President is a serial liar. OK, I can’t serve as I have made up my mind on this score years ago.