President Obama "is making some choices that will in fact raise the risk to the American people of an attack," former VP Dick Cheney charged today. Appearing relaxed and slimmer on CNN’s State of the Union, Cheney upbraided Obama for revising the Bush administration’s counterterrorism policies, which he called “absolutely essential” to preventing another 9/11-style attack. “They are very much giving up that focus that’s required,” Cheney said.
Bellyaching was at the top o' the morning around the Sunday circuit:
- Cheney expressed frustration over President Bush's refusal to pardon Scooter Libby. "I was clearly not happy that we in effect left Scooter hanging in the wind, which I don't think was appropriate," he said.
- On Fox News Sunday, Barney Frank fumed over the $165 million AIG bonuses. "It is wrong," he said, declaring the payouts an example "of people at the commanding heights of the economy misbehaving, abusing the system."
- Larry Summers agreed on ABC's This Week, calling the bonuses "outrageous." Obama's chief economic adviser also declined to say if the economy has bottomed out and warned that the nation's problems "are not going to get fixed rapidly."
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