After former vice president and war criminal Dick Cheney actually had the gall to go on right-wing hate talker Hugh Hewitt's show and accuse President Obama of being the "worst president ever" and wanting to "take America down" over these Iranian nuclear negotiations, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart let him have it for his rank hypocrisy.
After playing back a portion of the interview where Cheney said this:
CHENEY: This is a totally radical regime that is the premiere sponsor of state terrorism in the world, and Obama's about to give them nuclear weapons. It's, I can't think of a more terrible burden to leave the next president than what Obama is creating here.
Stewart responded with a question for Cheney.
STEWART: Really? You can't think of an administration that left a more terrible... think hard... no wait. If I can ask you to think harder. Maybe you need a visual aid. Can you think of an administration? Alright. But that wasn't even the worst thing Cheney had to say.
HEWITT: Is he naive...?
CHENEY: If you had somebody as president who wanted to take America down, who wanted to fundamentally weaken our position in the world and reduce our capacity to influence events, turn our back on our allies and encourage our adversaries, it would look exactly like what Barack Obama's doing.
STEWART: I ah... quack. Is Barack Obama a traitor... waaa, I don't... waaa. I don't know if he's waaa... a traitor, but he does a great impression of a traitor... waaa.
So basically, the Vice President's point appears to be this. Anyone who strengthens the strategic position of Iran, is by definition, working to weaken the United States of America.
So I guess the formulation would be, whoever strengthened Iran more would be the greater threat to America. Using Dick Cheney's own metric as our baseline, can we uncover a greater threat to America than even Barack Obama?
Why yes we can, as Stewart reminded everyone during an installment of what he called, The Jon Stewart Mysteries Presents, The Case of the Iranian Agent!
Stewart proceeded to take Cheney apart for everything from invading Iraq in the first place, to installing the pro-Iranian Nouri al-Maliki, to his time at Halliburton where he was more than willing to do business with Iran. As Stewart rightfully pointed out during his rant, if there was anyone who was trying to "take America down" it's that snake Dick Cheney and the Bush administration who handed them Iraq.
Here's more from Mediaite: Stewart and ‘Balloon Cheney’ Go on Epic Quest to Solve the Mystery of Who Let Iran Get Nukes
:
Using his best detective tropes, Stewart laid out the case that, in fact, it was Cheney in Iraq, with the oil contracts, that allowed Iran to become the regional power: by taking down the Iraqi government, which was keeping the Iranian nuclear program in check, and installing an Iran-friendly prime minister in Nouri al-Maliki, Cheney had allowed Iran’s uranium-enriching centrifuges to multiply by twentyfold by the end of the Bush administration.
And the smoking gun: Stewart uncovered a damning video of Cheney in 1998, when he was a member of Halliburton’s board, complaining that the company could not cut deals with Iran, because of America’s dumb sanctions.
“You, sir, were arguing for the United States to lift sanctions on Iran, so that your company, Halliburton, could get contracts with this radical regime!” Stewart accused the balloon. “Contracts worth millions of dollars! And pardon me if I am impugning your character, but what would you make of a man whose final act in the business world, before joining the American government as Vice President, would be to enter into contracts with the number one state sponsor of terror, just before leaving to become Bush’s running mate?!”
The balloon then floated away, narrowly escaping the law.
[ad]
