HONOLULU, Hawaii (CNN) – Powerful Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) fired back at former Vice President Dick Cheney for slamming President Obama's response to the attempted terror attack in Detroit as too weak.
"That's nonsense," Inouye told CNN. "I think, I hate to say this, but I think the former Vice President lost all of his credibility by the way he's been conducting himself. I would expect a person with the potential of leading this country to be a bit more responsible."
Inouye, who as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee hold sway over all defense and homeland security spending, said Obama handled the incident in a "proper fashion" by not commenting too quickly after the attempted attack on Northwest flight 253.
"Well he could have spoken five minutes after but that wouldn't be responsible, not knowing what the facts were," said Inouye. "Why should you instill fear and scare [people] when something is not justified? So I think he did the right thing."
Cheney released a written statement Wednesday morning charging that Obama was not doing enough to defend the country.
"As I've watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war," Cheney said in the prepared statement. "He seems to think if he has a low key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won't be at war."
Inouye defended Obama's efforts to challenge al-Qaeda, especially in Yemen, though he said he could not go into details because he's received briefings of a "classified nature" in recent weeks.
"I can't tell you what is happening, but I can tell you we take the activities in Yemen very seriously, and we will act accordingly," said Inouye.
From CNN Politics
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Cheney is yesterday's bad news
chaney is a hero....obama is a weak man....has no regards for the usa!
Cheney is 100% accurate. Wishing he was still VP. Obama worries me EVERYDAY!!!!
Didn't care much for Bush and his policies but I must say he is more of a professional and a gentleman. Cheyney is a fake and just showing the rest of the world how divided America is. No wonder they don't respect us. He needs to crawl back into his hole and shut his face.
Cheney's irresponsibility led us to an unnecessary war, no bid contracts, torture, trashing the constitution and the bill of rights, tax cuts that the country could not afford, and two wars with no strategy. Even a right wingnut has to laugh at ineptness of Cheney and Bush.
Does anyone recall what the Dick said when junior waited six days to address the shoe bomber incident?
Inouye's creditability was used up many, many earmarks ago!
did they get Osama yet? it's been a few years....
Would that be like how credible Al Gore was towards the Bush administration OVERSEAS and everywhere?
Would that be like Carter was credible when doing the same OVERSEAS and everywhere, thus breaking the rules of not hammering a sitting President while in office after you LEFT that office?
Bush has been WAY TOO nice to this sitting fraud of a President, but that is why he lost his party the last 3-4 years, he thought by being nice he would get some decent and truthful press from the still gushing and swooning Obama media, but al he got was Olbermann and Madcow and Katie and Bri-bri..........
At what point does SOMEONES FATHER begging the US embassy and CIA to stop his own son become a red flag OBAMBI, this question has nothing to do with Bush, I think you won?
It's appropriate for Obama to give a milquetoast response to a terror attack but Bush was supposed to rush out of a class full of kids with guns blazing. Really, that's what you're going with?
Inouye hits the nail on the head. Cheney's rhetoric is so unbecoming at this point, that it's hard to take him seriously anymore. He just seems like a man who is bitter at everything and everyone for whatever reason.
Was I concerned over the incident when I first heard about it? Sure. Was I glued to my television waiting with bated breath to hear what the president had to say about it? Nah, it really didn't cross my mind at all until this article.
The last similar air incident was during the Bush/Cheney years – The so-called "Shoe Bomber" of 2001. Bush's response to the incident was similar to that of Obama, and it took him twice as long as Obama to issue it. Memories can be selective.
It has to be a waste of time to have to deal with the GOP's non stop lies.
And of course we all know how credible the dumb-a-crats are on the subject of national security.
This administration has exhibited a weakness....it's inability to act deciviely! By this weakness, our country appears weak and vulnerable.
Wow...What was the hawaii congressman getting for his "I love Obama" comment. Obama is soft on terror, palin and simple. He would rather buuly and payoff congress for his control of everything american than protect us.
When in office Cheney protected the U.S. by
1) Suggesting that Dubai should take over US Port authority from the US despite their close ties with Yemen and terrorism(in Feb 2006)
2) Abandoned Tora Bora while Bin Laden was trapped by not sending the requested Brigade
3) Set up a master plan to invade Iraq prior to 9-11, and not even 9-11 and catching the perpetrators got in his way.
4) Ran to the basement of the White House after 9-11 to make sure the bad guys wouldn't get him
5) allowing his cowardice of dodging the draft affect his decisions
6) all of the above
Sadly, everyone knows what the correct answer is...............
Good for him. Chaney should be in jail by now for all the things he has done against this country.
9-11 happen on his watch and all the information to prevent it was available to Bush/Chaney/Rice/Rumsfeld and all they did was find a way to invade Iraq.
I would fight for and beside President Obama any day. He is a real CIC not some want to be Chaney/Bush.
Anything that Senator Inouye says is always to be respected... In this case he is absolutely right.
the guy needs to be confined to a retirement home.
if you read anything about him he a lobbyist's tool/fool.
how about a retirement age for these nasty old men.
Thank you, Sir
I couldn't agree with the senator more.
Cheney has no credibility and is acting like a person who has lost his mind.
Poor little Obama can't defend himself against big bad Cheney..........too bad Cheney knows what he is talking about and Obama is nothing but a bunch of Hot air. Obama is incompetent and has surrounded himself with incompetent people...........Napolitano, Geithner, etc.
Creditability, what creditability ??
THANK YOU SENATOR DANIEL INOUYE, , , Now if only more Democrats can grow a spine and defend the truth.
TRUTH #1: Bush-Cheney freed two Yemeni prisoners that conspired in this Christmas airline terrorist attempts.
TRUTH #2: Bush-Cheney set up current TSA system that failed.
TRUTH #3: S.C. Republican Senator Jim DeMint blocked President Obama's highly qualified TSA appointee.
TRUTH #4: Bush took 6-days (twice as long as Obama) to respond 'weakly' to shoe bomber Richard Reid's failed airline attack.
TRUTH #5: Treasonous Darth Cheney is angry that the Christmas terrorist failed. Cheney is evil.
Cheney's comments are right on point. Obozo is weak on fighting terrorism and our enemies know it!
How can our President call the Christmas bomber a "isolated incident" when there is a litany of evidence that it is directly tied to Al Queda?
Barry is obviously much more concerned with how he is viewed by the Muslim world than protecting our Nation! He's abysmal.
Why can't the democrats face the truth? These people in congress can't face the truth and it is time to get rid of them all.
Dick Cheney is an idiot. He was part of an administration that for eight years botched "the war on terror." Seeing as how Obama inherited the mess from the administration that Cheney pulled the strings on, I think the former vice president should shut the hell up. Cheney was clueless when he was Vice President and privy to information. Being out of the intelligence loop now does not make him any closer to being right.
How does a Senator from Hawaii become known as powerful? This punctuates just how pathetic DC is. What makes this guy credible? DC is full of idiots and I can not wait for next November to arrive so I can see these con men rolled out the door.
Why are all these terrorist attack attempts happening now? Obama went on a apology tour. Shouldn't that make them our friends now?
What I can't understand is why the media is not holding Cheney's feet to the fire. They keep letting him spew this kind of nonsense on the air waves. He and Bush only woke from sleep on 9/12/2001. Where were they before 9/11/2001 when clinton and Richard Clarke warned them about Bin Laden? After which they let his family secretly leave U.S when every one else wan't allowed to fly. This is crazy that he can spew this kind of nonsense and people let him.
What would the dick have President Obama do?
Carpet bomb The Netherlands?
A 5 time draft dodger giving advice about war, now that is ironic.
What Cheney said is true, you can't deny the facts....
"The System Worked"? Sen Inouye really wants to talk about credibility regarding the terrorist threat after that?
Cheney should be in jail for his attack on American security when he outed a CIA operative.
Mr. Cheney is right. obama is a weak loser. And inouye you scumbag go back to Hawaii were you came from.
Sen. Daniel Inouye knows about war. Cheney never served during the Viet Nam War, because he "had other priorities than military service" . President Cheney and his Vice-President Bush even though they led the Nation, could not win the war. The war against Al Queda and the Taliban has lasted longer under their misadministration than World War II did. Cheney should be ashamed, but he has no shame.
Hear Hear Hear. I completely agree with Sen. Daniel Inouye.
We had eight years of shoot-off-the-hip policies that brought us nothing but death and destruction, and national debt.
The policies and how this administration carries itself is in my opinion exactly what we need, and what will once again bring us peace and prosperity.
Cheney is a criminal who not only escaped prison, but who almost solely brought this country to its knees – and that while he made a fortune.
"That's nonsense," Inouye told CNN. "I think, I hate to say this, but I think the former Vice President lost all of his credibility by the way he's been conducting himself. I would expect a person with the potential of leading this country to be a bit more responsible."
Take out "former Vice President" and put in– President Obama- and the above statement would be correct.
Cheney could benefit from more fiber in his diet and a greater appreciation of Mark Twain who said, " It is better to keep one's mouth shut and appear a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
Dick Cheney has been consistent about this concern. If you remember, this is exactly what he was saying several months ago.
To be honest, the American people got what they voted for. Unfortunately. They wanted someone to spend more of our Federal tax dollars at home and wow did they get that! Too bad most of those dollars were for pork projects, payback for votes and propping up his favorite big companies.
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) has been a U.S. Senator since 1963....one more reason for Term Limits.
How ironic this guy firing back since Obummer is on vacation there.
I agree with you sir....Mr.Cheney needs to retire today !
Well Done
It's about time a democratic senator stood up to Cheney and the rest of the republican party.The party of no needs to know whats up in
life.
former vice president cheney has done nothing but slam president obama ever since he took office. any reasonable educated american can see that the president has his hands full and is fully aware of all the critical issues regarding our nation. any one who feels differently is somewhat nieve. i think dick cheney falls into that catagory. if he cant at least support our current president then i think he should just retire into obscurity. all the problems that he tries to blame on obama are problems left behind by his own administration. mr cheney, dont you have anything better to do ?
He's right, it is nonsense. And it's too bad that Cheney has to repeatedly point out the nonsense put out by Obama.
He is 100% correct, when (Cheney) the biggest American terrorist offers advise it is not to be taken seriously.When you go to war and are 100% wrong on your reasons like Cheney you should shut your evil anti American mouth
GOD forgive me but I pray everyday Cheney get a seven year itch for which there is no cure. The whole family is diseased with hatred for Obama and whatever the president attempts to do. Republicans are a disgrace to this country. They would like to see this country in perpetual war. Their answer is to attack Yemen and call for an all out war on every muslim nation for them to be satisfied. Democrats need to push hard against the Republican party and keep up safe from wars. If Republicans want to go to war then let their son's and daugther's be the first ones to sign up but not my kid.
Let's make sure you all understand the rules of the game. Obama can blame the Bush/Cheney administration daily for every challenge he faces. He can go overseas an apologize for the Bush/Cheney policies. He can repeatedly say that now that he is in charge, we'll do the right thing.
But Cheney can never say that Obama is a dope.
It's so funny how Cheney get's under their skin. Obama's got such thin skin, he's our first translucent president.
Go figure.
I defer to Vice President Cheney on this one, after all, he helped keep the country safe for 7 and 1/4 years.
As far as Cheney is concerned, war is merely a dandy excuse for his incessant attempts to limit the freedoms of American citizens.
Cheney is correct, and Obama is treasonous.
What a dick....
Thank you Sen. Inouye! It seems Mr. Cheney wants to pretend that starting two wars,one was started based on his own intelegence sources killing more people than died during 9/11, commiting treason (Valerie Plame), violating the Geneva Convention, is somehow a solid record upon which to stand and critisize the President.
Dick, please take your bipolar meds and relax Mr Obama is in charge and doing pretty well. Note to Dick: America wants to be at peace with the rest of the world. America will defend her interest any time any where, when attacked. Be quiet and you might here about the havoc being waged in Yemen by some unknown force upon the terrorist there. I wonder if Mr Cheney would like to join some of our real american warriors in Yemen?
Cheney's campaigning again – this time he's running for Rush Limbaugh's seat.
Dick Cheney needs to crawl back under the same rock he hid under for 8 years. Who cares what he has to say? It was under his watch that 911 happened. Where was he then? Now if President Obama doesn't torture people to get useless information, he is weak. Disgusting!
I didn't think I would be thankful about anything from the Shrub era but I am very thankful no harm came to Bush, look what we could have had for a pres.
What credibility? Don Imus had Cheney pegged. That's why his foolish comment cost him his job. He said something idiotic about the Rutgers girls and sincerely appologized. Cheney is idiotic.
When our country is at war it is unseemly for a former high government official to attack our commander in chief, especially when our nation has been attacked. What is all to obvious is that Mr. Cheney has lost all sense of judgment about when we should join together as patriots and put partisanship aside.
Congress is the one that needs to review their past votes on a ban of the full body x-ray. This device can be used for the secondary search once you have identified someone of interest. And everyone needs to rethink the security of aircraft, and people's lives, with privacy issues. Which one is more important. Most of the 9/11 commision reccomendations have been held up by civil lawsuits filed by privacy advocacy groups.
Of course Cheney's attack is nonsense. Cheney himself is nonsense, causing him to spew his nonsensical hatred...this man is mentally ill.
Obama is a cancer to this country and to our safety. Cheney is right on the mark, “Close the borders and kill the terrorists.”
And how is this Senator "powerful"? Lol!!! Does he use the force?
Dick Cheney is a war-profiteer and a war criminal all in one. He lied about Valerie Plame and lied about his role in the torture memos. He's done more damage to this country than anyone can imagine. He ought to be in jail.
For the draft dodging Cheney, war must be a way of expressing his manhood. I think that a bottle of Viagra would have been cheaper on tax payers and saved a lot of lives
We should hear from the Dick every so often to remind ourselves that there are cold, unfeeling,amoral pricks in the world,and which political persuasion has embraced the dark side.It isn't GOP RIP, it is more like GOP, Rot in Hell because you've sold your soul to the highest bidder.Die Dick,die and not a quick exit either he! needs to suffer to atone for his industrial grade sins.
It's amazing that the person who spoiled the wind is complaining that the smell is foul! Cheney should be in prison. He is lucky President Obama and Attorney General Holder have not gone after him!
Cheney the war criminal is thinking to start another war he love war so mush until he talks and dream about war have you fought any war? Go in your hole and stay there Cheney
dick cheney is a domestic terrorist. pathetic.
Former President George W Bush took 6 days to respond to the Richard Reid attack... where was Dick Cheney and the GOP's outrage back then?
Once again the selective outrage and hypocrisy are taken to a new level by the GOP.
Powerful Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).........so powerful that we have no clue who he is. Great, he gets to sit on a committee and spend money....that's power to the libs.
Cheney served his country for decades. He was in the House, defense secretary, and Vp.....The man can say whatever he wants.
Chaney is a failure. Where was he on Sept. 10th before 9/11. He and George Bush failed to protect the homeland and allowed the slaughter of thousands of innocent Americans.
He failed in his duty to protect America.
He failed.
Never forget that he failed and never forget to remind him.
Senate Appropriations Chair is ALSO soft on terrorism! Neither seems to accept responsibility to defend America!
Cheney is "nonsense;" the problem is that he was allowed to do a great deal of damage to our nation anyway.
Thank you Senator Inouye. You said it all clearly and concisely. There is nothing else to say about Vice President Cheny.
The remark from Cheney is not only silly and immature, but it truly reflects that he was the wrong vice president
Cheney is filthy, dishonest Scum.
Period.
Dick Cheney has every right to say whatever he wants.
If Democrats don't like it, just ignore him! Good grief, stop whining like little two year olds.
Cheney should just shut up forever. All he does is critize President Obama. He is the one that is "fat" offf the money he got from his Haliberton stock, while sending our young sons & daughters offf to a stupid war to die. The longer the war went on under his administration the more money he made off the blood of our kids. He continues to try & divide Americans. That ever present smirk on his face is his way of letting us know that he's still getting away with it.
DICK Cheney has been "out-of-the-loop" for some quite some time now! ..and by no longer being privy to classified White House security briefings he obviously and certainly is in no position nor has any right to criticize President Obama on the war on al-Qaeda the way he has.
And his conduct IS a disgrace to the office he once erroneously and wrongly held.
Dick Cheney is a coward.
This coming from the WORST PORK SPENDER of taxpayer dollars? Inouye needs to go away, permenantly!
Dick Cheyney is doing nothing but embarassing his party, and I hope he continues it. I utterly agree with Inouye's example of responding ignorantly within five minutes. I hope the Republicans understand that logical critique of Obama's response to this frightening situation in Detroit.
I don't like the Senator's implication that Cheny has the potential to be a leader of this country. That soundbite should not be coming out of a democrat's mouth.
The truth hurts and the democrats just can't handle the truth!
The Republicans are always eager to saddle up and gallop in circles before they know where they're going. I think Cheney is still upset about his mishandling of the war in iraq.
Candy Crowley of CNN,
Are you a paid mouthpiece of the GOP?
You are doing a heck of a job spewing their talking points without any balance from the Democratic party.
It is shameful to watch you this days.
What happens when you jump ahead with out all the facts? "Mission Accomplished."
At a point when you expect Americans to come together to fight terrorism in a bypartisan way, the terrorists and their allies gang up on the POTUS. What a shame!
Inouye is a senile, doddering old fool. Only an Obama kneepadder like Ed Henry would take anything he has to say seriously.
cheney must be nuts
Is this verbal lashing as a good as a slap from a peer? Sounds so.
I am a little concerrned there was a three day laspe...so the question that comes to mind....why is the intelligence so slow going to our President?
I've lived in Hawaii, and it's one screwed up state...thanks in part to your longevity in Congress...so shut your pineapple-hole!
Cheney's an intolerable windbag! A point that Cheney forgot to mentions is that most of those hardcore terrorists in the Guantanamo Bay prisons lawyered up during the Bush-Cheney years (An 8-year term when all of our rights were trampled over.)!
Dick Cheney should be the last person to be spouting off his opinions to the public, given his own poor track record of being super-cosy with the Power Players in the Arabian Peninsular. To this day, although Scooter Libby took the fall, I am convinced that Dick Cheney committed the crime of treason by outing a United States Agent Valerie Plame and placing her in danger because of his own thwarted personal goals in the Middle East. Why does Dick Cheney feel that Americans were any safer during his time in the White House with his side-kick President George Bush? He must remember that it was under his watch that we were attacked with over 3,000 Americans killed on American soil IN ONE DAY.
What Chaney wants is for Obama to bop his head up-and–down while acting big'n- bad saying great Presidential quotes from the past likle, "Bring 'em on,” “Wanted, dead or alive.” “You can run but you cannot hide.” or maybe land on an aircraft carrier and proclaim, “Mission Accomplished.” The only problem is that will never happenb with Obama because he was one of those students who got good grades in school because he always does his homework first.
Cheney wants the terrorists to be successful; in fact he's probably praying for a strike right now.
I am praying for his pacemaker to hiccup for about 30 minutes.
Once again Obama and the democrats show they can't stand the heat. They sure didn't have a problem criticizing Bush and his administration for not "connecting the dots" , as they said, and preventing 911. But when Obama screws up, all they can say is "stop picking on us Mr. Cheney, you don't know anything". Typical double standard by this inept president and his cronies.
And if Cheney honestly has no political ambitions, do the rest of US(A) a favor and shut up!
Dick Cheney: armchair warrior.
Dick got a deferment from Viet Nam himself, but he eagerly sent other people's kids off to war in far away lands.
HEY DICK Cheney, pretend that you are irrelevant! (Oh wait, You ARE!)
<>
TOO FUNNY! Obama didn't waste any time condemning the Cambridge police officer who arrested the Harvard prof without knowing the facts!!!!
when cheney was vice president he was rarely seen or heard except when he went on that tragic hunting trip, all of a sudden he is voicing his opinions against our president. why does he not like the president of the united states? what did the president do to him? can you answer these two questions mr cheney?
Dick Cheney is clearly acting as shill and chief agitator for the GOP, given he has no political capital left to lose. None. Can't we simply agree to ignore the outgassings of the worst Vice President in the history of this country?
Cheney believes wars are won with words; President Obama appears to believe wars are won with deeds. I wonder which has the proper perspective?
Chaney and his Republican nuts are crazy. Did you forget that the United states suffered its worst attack on our own soil , under the leadership of Dick's like Chaney? Did they do one bit to catch the perpetrators of that crime? President Obama has done more and then some. Yeah, for the Democrats!
I applaud Sen. Inouye for facing down the never-ending and unwarranted attempts from Cheney to discredit this administration.
Cheney has indeed lost all credibility in this past year, and it's high time leaders such as Inouye take him to task at every opportunity.
Obama isn't weak, that's why Putin is now trying to extort our missile technology from him in favor for dealing with all this Nuclear crap stirred up in Iran and North Korea. I hope ALL American citizens are awakening to what a disaster this administration and progressive liberals are in general and understand the urgency of a National mission in 2010 and 2012. Next on the Obama list of things to drag the US even lower in the name of votes, Habla Espanol? Sen. Daniel Inouye is one of the largest recipients of pork barrel spending in the Senate. America should be led from the center where her people live with a fiscally responsible government with National security andeconomy as items 1 & 2!
Yes, yes, these Al Qaeda creeps are already making the world crazy and safe. We dont need to BLOW their stories up and tell everyone the sky is falling like the past 8 years.
We need to be calm and be diligent. We can NOT turn into a HITLER-State or North Korea, simply because of a few sick people.
Thank you for remaining calm and poised.
Please remember what Kerry said in 2004 "We choose FREEDOM over FEAR"!!!!
Freedom over Fear...
Freedom over Fear..
Freedom over Fear...
Why is not Dick praise Americans for what they did brave to stop bomber in the airliner? All Dick and Republicans think of themselves want to win something from what? I have seen what Dick said in words are nonsense. He's not President. Go away
About the airport, I AM not sure I want do DIE of cancer. Can we have two choices? A full SCAN or a pat down? I rather strip down to my underwear than go through a ton of radiation blast.
A comment on Richard Reid, the shoe bomber took 6 days from Bush! If the followers of this party is STILL FOOLED, it's the blind leading the blind, and they're as Stupid as Cheney.
What woman would stand there and allow her "heart attack" man to continue to be a treasonous threat to the United States.
Polictics thats all its about America, especially when it comes to the Republican Party if im lying then why since President Obama been in office thats all this party have been doing is trying to tear this Administration down and now since its about terroism thats music to ther ears because wasnt this what the Republicans wanted during the Campaign but it was the Economy and it still is the Economy but thats where they want our focus So be '"Afraid America an terroist is on the lose thats what the Republicans want is for you to be afraid and vote for them because they want us to think they will keep us safe. But in Reality only God can keep us safe. So thats why even in 2010 my vote is still for the Democrats.
Senator Inouye may call Cheney's comments "nonsense", but I
have another word for it, and it is not one for publication.
I truly wonder if C has been examined for any kind of brain tumor or
had a mental competency test. This guy is so far out there his
mean streak seems to be growing. I was afraid of him and his
VP Bush when they were in office, and that fear continues.
Thank you
Cheney needs to shut the heck up
has he forgot that this tit for tat was enlarged
while his no neck behind was hiding and scheming to raid the coffers of
the working class all the while dividing the country?
he is always popping off at the lips applying fear and forcing resentment
he must have forgot about september 11 2001?
He sat there and had metamucil while the rest of us were scared crapless
I wonder what would happen if all the liberals expressed the same outrage at the terrorists that they do towards the former Vice President.
I guess they know that the former VP is civil and will not resort to violence, so liberals feel empowered to respond as the threat is not there.
How ironic.
I would like to commend Sen. Inounye for standing up to the dick.
Who? Powerful? huh?