On Monday's PoliticsNation show on MSNBC, host Al Sharpton bristled at former Vice President Cheney recently attacking President Obama's "credibility" as the MSNBC host repeated discredited assertions [1] that Cheney had claimed Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks.
Sharpton and MSNBC contributor Patrick Murphy, formerly a Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania, rehashed liberal charges that the former Vice President lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. After a soundbite of Cheney, Sharpton responded:
Really, Dick Cheney. He thinks the President is not credible. Oh, the irony. The same Dick Cheney who told us that Iraq had WMDs, who said that Saddam Hussein had a role in 9/11. That Dick Cheney? That's a funny person to be talking about credibility.
Murphy ranted that Cheney should have the "decency to keep his mouth shut about credibility" as he responded:
Rev, you would think 10 years after Dick Cheney got us into an unnecessary war in Iraq that caused 4,486 Americans their lives and tens of thousands injured and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to be killed, you'd think 10 years later that he'd have the decency to keep his mouth shut about credibility of elected leaders.
A bit later, the former Congressman's anti-Cheney rant continued:
Well, it really gets my Irish up, to be honest with you, Reverend, because here's a guy that basically lied to the American people, that said we have full confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction, that we have full confidence that they're going for a nuclear weapon. It was a shell game, Reverend. He basically said, look, 9/11, look, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, we should focus there. Look, 9/11, there's a connection to 9/11 with Iraq. Both of which were not true.
Murphy defended Obama as he continued:
And, Rev, my problem with this is the same shell game that's going on now because now they're saying, look, the President doesn't have any credibility on the NSA because look at Benghazi, look at the IRS. The President had nothing to do with neither one of those. Every single testimony has shown that, Rev. The testimony of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said the White House didn't make this call. In fact, the President said do whatever is necessary to keep our troops, our people safe.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Monday, June 17, PoliticsNation on MSNBC:
AL SHARPTON: It's time for a reality check for the GOP. What happened on this day 41 years ago was a scandal.
(CLIP OF WATERGATE COVERAGE FROM 1972)
SHARPTON: That President, of course, was Nixon. And those arrests marked the beginnings of the end of his presidency. It came to light that hush money was raised for the burglaries, evidence was destroyed, the President even tried to stop the FBI from investigating the crime. That was a scandal, but the so-called scandals the GOP is ginning up to take down the President, they're not Watergate. Of course, that doesn't stop Republicans from invoking it.
(CLIPS OF SEVERAL REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS MAKING WATERGATE COMPARISONS)
SHARPTON: Here's a news flash for the GOP. It's been shown time and again the President did nothing wrong with the IRS or Benghazi. But now, if you can believe this, the last person who should be talking is out on TV pointing fingers at the President.
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, CLIP #1: I don't pay a lot of attention, frankly, to what Barack Obama says. I find a lot of it in other areas -- for example, IRS, Benghazi -- not credible.
CHENEY CLIP #2: In terms of credibility, I don't think he has credibility.
CHENEY CLIP #3: The problem is, the guy has failed to be forthright and honest and credible on things like Benghazi and the IRS. So he's got no credibility.
SHARPTON: Really, Dick Cheney. He thinks the President is not credible. Oh, the irony. The same Dick Cheney who told us that Iraq had WMDs, who said that Saddam Hussein had a role in 9/11. That Dick Cheney? That's a funny person to be talking about credibility. Joining me now is former Congressman Patrick Murphy, Democrat from Pennsylvania. He's the first Iraq War veteran elected to Congress. ... Dick Cheney thinks the President has no credibility. I mean, is he serious?
FORMER REP. PATRICK MURPHY (D-PA): Rev, you would think 10 years after Dick Cheney got us into an unnecessary war in Iraq that caused 4,486 Americans their lives and tens of thousands injured and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to be killed, you'd think 10 years later that he'd have the decency to keep his mouth shut about credibility of elected leaders.
SHARPTON: Now, you were an Iraq War veteran, so you're one of those that went over at the risk of your lives and certainly those that you served with on Cheney's policy. I mean, how do you feel when you hear this man just stand there and make these kind of, sit there and make these kind of statements.
MURPHY: Well, it really gets my Irish up, to be honest with you, Reverend, because here's a guy that basically lied to the American people, that said we have full confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction, that we have full confidence that they're going for a nuclear weapon. It was a shell game, Reverend. He basically said, look, 9/11, look, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, we should focus there. Look, 9/11, there's a connection to 9/11 with Iraq. Both of which were not true.
And, Rev, my problem with this is the same shell game that's going on now because now they're saying, look, the President doesn't have any credibility on the NSA because look at Benghazi, look at the IRS. The President had nothing to do with neither one of those. Every single testimony has shown that, Rev. The testimony of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said the White House didn't make this call. In fact, the President said do whatever is necessary to keep our troops, our people safe.
SHARPTON: Right.
MURPHY: Wherever they are, including Benghazi. But, Reverend, Panetta testified in it. Secretary Gates testified in it. And Secretary Gates said anyone that says the President didn't protect our troops is cartoonish. That Secretary Gates, who served under George Bush and Barack Obama.
SHARPTON: That's what he said. Now, Cheney also, Congressman, went after Susan Rice. He said she was peddling misinformation. Listen to this.
CHENEY CLIP #1: She appears to have been part of the cover-up.
CHENEY CLIP #2: I just question whether or not somebody whose judgment was so flawed that they took what was apparently very bad information and peddled it as aggressively as she did.
SHARPTON: I mean, she was given information by the CIA. And now she's the peddler of misinformation? I mean, this is about as crazy as you can get.
MURPHY: And it really goes after the character of a truly great public servant, as you know, Rev. Susan Rice is a testament to the American dream. I mean, she worked her way through, I mean, one of the brightest people we have in government, and to attack her service, and she was honest, she was basically given the facts presented to her, she was given to the American people.
And to call her character in question is really, from someone like Dick Cheney, by the way, who had no problem cherry-picking the intelligence when our own intelligence agencies were going forward and saying, hey, we don't know where he got this. This is against what we're telling the commander-in-chief and what we're telling folks, and he's saying something different, he's going off a different sheet of music. I have a real issue with that.
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-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center