I disagree on both counts, although I admit that it is all a matter of degree.

If Cheney had said, "We believe in fact that Saddam Hussein came from another planet to enslave the human race." Would you still say that I have no basis for saying that his statement was preposterous? Or that the interviewer should say, "Really?"

I am saying that Cheney's statement about nukes falls pretty close to that category. I was certain at the time that it was false. Maybe I got lucky that the facts ultimately supported me, but I don't think it was ever a close call. Nuclear weapons? Preposterous.

I think it is a matter of degree. Your conclusion of "preposterous" is not based upon any shred of fact. There was no investigation that you could possibly cite, at the time, that would support your conclusion of "preposterous". Sure, you may have had an inkling that such a country could never have proceeded on a path to nuclear weapons, but it wouldn't allow you to challenge a sitting vice-president.

I suppose Russert could have commented with "really?" if he was listening to Cheney. That would not have been a definitive challenge...........only a question.

You are incorrect. My conclusion is based on tons of facts. His statement was preposterous at the time he made it. He even admitted several months later that they had no reason to believe that Saddam had reconstituted nuclear weapons. My guess is that he intended to say that they believed that Saddam had reconstituted his nuclear weapons program, but it just came out "nuclear weapons." His zeal got the best of him, I think. Even if he had limited his comment to a supposed nuclear weapons program, Russert still should have followed up.

I think all we can do is agree to disagree about it, because there is not enough time in the day to go back over all that stuff. Not allowed to challenge a vice president? This is America. We are almost duty bound to challenge our leaders.

And BTW, Cheney didn't say that Saddam would have proceeded on a path to nuclear weapons. I imagine Saddam would have done just that if we allowed it. Cheney's statement went way beyond that.That's all I ask. For the point I was trying to make in this thread, it doesn't matter whether Cheney's statement was obviously preposterous at the time he made it. If we are going to have interview shows like "Meet the Press" the interviewers should challenge the guests. Even if Cheney's statement was merely surprising, it warranted a followup question, IMHO.

Care to cite any? Was any investigation performed by the government on this specific topic whereby Russert could have had some data in his pocket? If true, then I agree with you. But, I sense that the "tons of facts" were available after the interview..........not before.


I believe your expectations of Tim Russert are a bit over the top in an interview with the vice-president. If you're going to challenge the vice-president, you had better be absolutely sure of your position. It's very hard to be sure of one's position as a private citizen. It's a certainty that the government knows considerably more. This is the basis for not challenging a sitting vice-president. It can be done, but not in a cavalier manner and certainly not in an interview where the facts are not in the purvey of the interviewer.

Not true. And no, I am not going to take the time to find citations from more than 9 years ago to support my point. Like I said, let's agree to disagree on that point, since it is not really the point of this thread anyway.

I think it would be difficult for you to do so.

OK.............

However, the availability, or not, of such citations either absolves Russert...........or not.

reconstituted nuceular weapons.....sounds like a dirty bomb. Not that much of a stretch imho.

As far as how to tell if Cheney was lying....his lips were moving right?

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