Pot calling Mr. Kettle
Former VP Mondale criticizes Cheney
ATHENS, Ga. - Former vice president Walter Mondale on Friday criticized Vice President Dick Cheney's role in the White House, and said former president Jimmy Carter never would have tolerated Cheney's actions.
"I think that Cheney has stepped way over the line," Mondale said.
Given what former President Carter is doing today with his book and his obvious bias against the State of Israel, the question is whether Mr. Mondale supports him now?
And the bigger question is, given the ineffective Presidency of Mr. Carter, should Mr. Mondale be saying anything at all?
Mondale, who was vice president under Carter, made the comments at a three-day conference about Carter's presidency that opened Friday at the University of Georgia.
Mondale 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.
Mondale said that does not serve the president, because he needs facts.
Having just started in local politics, I see similar things.....I'd like to see Mr. Mondale prove these assertions. It seems just so easy to put out words, but no one to keep them accountable for them.
"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."
Academics credit Carter with expanding the role of the vice presidency during his administration.
As vice president, Mondale served as the president's senior adviser. He held an office in the West Wing of the White House, had private meetings with the president and spoke on behalf of the president before influential groups.
Ah yes, the Presidency that gave rise to the phrase "the Misery Index", the same presidency that allowed radical Islam to take over a country (Iran) that is directly attributable to our current set of problems. Huge inflation rates with even higher mortgage rates, the advent of "stagflation". Sure, Mr. Mondale, a great time was had by all.
How come, as Sr. Advisor with such results, you didn't get fired?
(H/T: Twin Cities Pioneer Press)
