# Dick Cheney had a heart transplant. Now he needs a brain transplant. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 14, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161 "2012-07-14T00:46:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/41 "2012-07-15T23:31:34Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > Clinton did try to whack him. That’s what the “aspirin factory” incident was all about. They missed bin Laden by about 25 minutes. They failed and then tried to cover it up by saying that dangerous things were going on in the factory. Although there was a lot of noise made about bombing of an “aspirin factory” they weathered it an it died out. You are right. I hadn’t thought of that. So he didn’t whack him on the hunting trip to prevent an international incident, not for election purposes. Cool. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/42 "2012-07-16T00:08:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > You are right. I hadn’t thought of that. So he didn’t whack him on the hunting trip to prevent an international incident, not for election purposes. Cool. I am not a military expert but this is the way I understand it from my readings. Clinton didn’t have “drone” missiles at the time. There were cruise missiles. The difference is that a drone can reconnoiter for hours over a target gathering information. Then, the operator, who may be in Nebraska, Virginia or anywhere can then order the strike. With a cruise missile the information is programed in. There is the start point and the target. Once launched there is no going back. Obama has been ordering drone missile strikes but not cruise missile strikes for obvious reasons. Clinton ordered a cruise missile strike on the factory believing that bin Laden was there. By the time the missile struck bin Laden had left but the launch was already in process. Maybe the surveillance satellites knew he was gone but they could not abort. I’m not sure. Look, it’s not that the US government was indiscriminately ordering strikes on factories. That strike has a purpose. Under the circumstances, when you miss the first time you get reluctant to order subsequent strikes. That’s my pedestrian take on all of it. Military experts on missile warfare are welcome to step forward and give evidence of why I am FOS but that’s the way I understand it. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/43 "2012-07-16T05:05:25Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Don’t lump in that group. I voted for him and will again. > > Regarding decisions like that affecting elections: > Clinton had the chance to whack Bin Ladin. He was hawking with some royal family, and the drone would of course killed them all. Clinton didn’t do it, ostensibly because of the international implications of killing the royalty, but I wonder if he would have done it if he weren’t up for re-election and would be accused of “wagging the dog”. Not a likely scenario. Any royal family caught harboring, protecting, or socializing with bin Laden after 9/11 would pretty much be enemy combatants themselves, and _fuck_ any government who has a problem with _that_. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/44 "2012-07-16T06:04:47Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I actually blame Cheney and Rove for all the dumbass shit that Bush did, except for the Harriet Meyers thing. That had to be 100% Bush being an idiot. [Alexander Hamilton](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2516/1431/1600/Pat%20Oliphant.gif) would argue otherwise, my son. ---
**Author:** ![what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a5b964/32.png) [@what\_do\_I\_type\_here](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/what_do_I_type_here)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/45 "2012-07-16T09:44:40Z")
Alright already. He’s not vice president anymore. He’s out of your life forever. Cheese and rice, are liberals going to complain about him forever? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/46 "2012-07-16T09:51:23Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Let him speak. > > As someone who hopes that Barack Obama is re-elected in November, i’d be happy to see as much connection as possible during the campaign between Romney and the Bush/Cheney administration. > > Hell, from a conservative perspective, Obama’s foreign policy has probably been the strongest part of his administration. He’s continued with the previous administration’s policies in a whole bunch of important areas, including a whole bunch of areas that he promised to bring to a halt during the campaign. Plenty of liberals and progressives have been most critical of this part of his presidency, and it seems to me that this is one area where he’s actually got plenty of armor against Cheney’s sort of criticisms. > > And he managed to find and kill Bin Laden. Amen, please let Cheney speak. If possible, please get him and W. on a stage with Romney as often as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/47 "2012-07-16T10:24:06Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > The presumptive 2012 Republican presidential nominee called Cheney a “great American leader” – **and didn’t mention former President George W. Bush in a 20-minute speech to a country club reception.** > > The bolded part made me snicker. Are they going to let Dubya on stage during the convention? No? Not even to do that trick where he speaks while Cheney drinks water? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/48 "2012-07-16T11:47:47Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > Not a likely scenario. Any royal family caught harboring, protecting, or socializing with bin Laden after 9/11 would pretty much be enemy combatants themselves, and _fuck_ any government who has a problem with _that_. Clinton’s efforts were before September 11. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/49 "2012-07-16T12:22:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Clinton’s efforts were before September 11. What, they don’t let ex-Presidents order missile strikes? What if they haven’t used all of the five secret murders they’re allowed - do they forfeit those too? Man, being President doesn’t sound as much fun as it used to. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/50 "2012-07-16T12:47:37Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Man, being President doesn’t sound as much fun as it used to. Gotta make hay while the sun shines. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/51 "2012-07-16T13:51:49Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > What a worthless piece of crap. This: > > [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/13/cheney-romney-only-choice-for-handling-foreign-policy-crisis/](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/13/cheney-romney-only-choice-for-handling-foreign-policy-crisis/) > > Yea, you and Bush and your neocon buddies did such a great job of keeping us safe. You couldn’t be bothered to read the security reports before 9/11 because you flunky boss was on vacation for a month, 6 months into the job. You ignored all the intelligence information that was handed to you because, and only because, it came from the previous administration. > > Bush, you and Rumsfeld had binLaden cornered in Tora Bora and let him go because if he had been killed you couldn’t launch your unprovoked, worthless, multi-trillion dollar war in Iraq. Hmmm…big rant about Bush/Cheney, but not a word about how Clinton had bin Laden handed to him on a plate and couldn’t be bothered to do anything about him. Little one-sided there, aren’t we? ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/52 "2012-07-16T14:13:56Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Hmmm…big rant about Bush/Cheney, but not a word about how Clinton had bin Laden handed to him on a plate and couldn’t be bothered to do anything about him. Little one-sided there, aren’t we? Have you even read the fucking thread? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161/53 "2012-07-16T14:15:42Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Hmmm…big rant about Bush/Cheney, but not a word about how Clinton had bin Laden handed to him on a plate and couldn’t be bothered to do anything about him. Little one-sided there, aren’t we? Are you talking about the Sudan thing? I ran across that when trying find a cite on his not whacking Bin Ladin with the hunting party. The only thing I can pull out of my ass is that if he were arrested, there would be a trial where things could go wrong, and cruise missiles are permanent. 🙂 Clinton and or his advisers didn’t want Bin Ladin in jail, they wanted him dead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-cheney-had-a-heart-transplant-now-he-needs-a-brain-transplant/628161.md?page=2)