Oy. Only on FoxNews.
EASTON: Well, I thought this whole -- the two speeches this week were just a high-pitched -- unfortunate high-pitched partisan duel between the two of them.
I know the press focused a lot on -- and has focused a lot on Dick Cheney and his provocative comments that the administration is keeping us less safe. And frankly, I think Cheney should give this president some credit on things like his very difficult decision to not to release the photos of alleged detainee abuse, for example, his flip on military tribunals.
But if you look at the Obama speech, that was equally partisan, and there wasn’t a lot of focus on that. I mean, he talked about this mess that he had inherited. He talked about the administration sort of fitting facts for an ideological agenda.
Why can’t this president give the previous president credit for keeping us safe for seven years? And by the way, we know from the C- SPAN interview that he’s in touch with President Bush. They’ve actually talked since he’s been in office.
But I think it would carry this White House a long way past the problems that Ceci talks about and get the support of somebody like McCain, Senator McCain, or Senator Lindsey Graham , who also supported closing Gitmo and also had concerns about enhanced interrogation techniques.
I think it would buy him a lot of credit or a lot of good will on the other side of the aisle and with centrist Democrats if he gave this -- he gave the Bush administration some credit.
Actually, I think considering the mess that Obama was left (something that is indisputable) and the grief he's been getting, not only from Cheney but the rest of the Party of No, he's been remarkably reticent on blaming the Bush administration for anything.
But I tell you what, Nina, we'll give the Bush administration credit for keeping us safe in the last seven years (although residents in the Gulf Coast might quibble) IF you and your entire FoxNews bobblehead crew admit that they quite stubbornly and fatally did NOT keep us safe for that first year despite warnings that Bin Laden was determined to strike and that we lost 3,100 Americans because of that blindness.
Deal?