Dick Cheney raised some eyebrows this week when ABC News’ Martha Raddatz reminded the VP that “two-thirds of Americans say” the Iraq war “is not worth fighting.” In response, Cheney asked, “So?”<\/p>\n
Now, truth be told, I found this amusing, but hardly shocking. For one thing, the fact that Dick Cheney doesn’t much care about public support for the war after five years is a dog-bites-man story. Of course<\/i> he doesn’t care; Cheney never does. For another, in fairness, I think I know what the VP meant: as far as he’s concerned, whether the war enjoys the backing of the nation or not, he’s convinced it’s the right position. And since he’s in authority, and the rest of us aren’t, “So?” seems like the predictable response.<\/p>\n
But instead of just accepting this reality at face value, the White House has decided to spin Cheney’s comments in a rather silly way<\/a>.<\/p>\n Q: The American people are being asked to die and pay for this, and you’re saying they have no say in this war? <\/p>\n PERINO: I didn’t say that, Helen. But, Helen, this President was elected — <\/p>\n Q: Well, what it amounts to is you saying we have no input at all. <\/p>\n PERINO: You had input. The American people have input every four years, and that’s the way our system is set up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If this is the new White House line, it needs a little work. By Bush’s and Perino’s reasoning, Americans vote, and then their leaders act accordingly. Bush beat Kerry, so the war continued.<\/p>\n
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\nIt’s reminscient of the line the president himself took in January 2005, when he argued<\/a> that Americans had endorsed his Iraq policy by virtue of him beating John Kerry. \u201cWe had an accountability moment, and that\u2019s called the 2004 elections,\u201d Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post.<\/p>\n