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Cheney blasts Reid’s ‘defeatism’ |
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By Klaus Marre
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Posted: 04/24/07 02:59 PM [ET] |
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Vice President Dick Cheney Tuesday said he was troubled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) “defeatism” when it comes to the Iraq war. “Some Democratic leaders seem to believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good politics,” Cheney said in a rare public comment on Capitol Hill. “Senator Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election.” Cheney, who often attends the weekly lunch of Senate Republicans but rarely makes a statement or answers questions, said he “felt so strongly about what Senator Reid said in the last couple of days” that he wanted to “make a statement that I think needs to be made.” The vice president called it “cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage. Leaders should make decisions based on the security interests of our country, not on the interests of their political party.” Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) defended Reid and lashed out at Cheney in response to the vice president’s comment. “Dick Cheney’s attacks on Harry Reid are as disturbing as they are disingenuous,” Kerry said. “He is the American Idol of outlandish claims. No one has been more wrong about Iraq from day one than Vice President Cheney. |
