Cheney stonewalls

You know, "Stonewall" Jackson, the Confederate General, is regarded as a near-saint in the South. And whether you believe it's good or bad to revere Confederate heroes, it's kind of sad that his name has taken on this negative connotation as a verb, becoming most famous in the Nixon administration response to allegations of corruption and undermining the Constitution.

Today we have a sad echo of that period as the Bush administration tries to put a good face on the mess -- "Mess o'Potamia," as The Daily Show has it -- it has made of Iraq. Yesterday it was Cheney saying the administration -- oh, why hide behind that phrase "the administration" anymore, it's become all too clear it's basically him -- saying he has achieved "enormous successes" in Iraq.

Cheney rejected the gloomy portrayal of Iraq that has become commonly accepted even among Bush supporters. "There's problems" in Iraq, he said, but it is not a "terrible situation."

Here's a transcript. At least he didn't say the insurgency is in its last throes.

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel blasted fellow Republicans in a hearing on the Senate resolution to oppose the troop "surge." Remarkably, he pretty much blew up in the committee hearing, shaking his finger at fellow senators. This transcript is from an extensive quotation of his remarks broadcast on the Countdown show last night:

This is not a defeatist resolution. This is not a cut-and-run resolution. We are not talking about cutting off funds, not supporting the troops.

This is a very real, responsible addressing of the most divisive issue in this country since Vietnam. Yes, sure, it's tough, absolutely. And I think all 100 senators ought to be on the line on this. What do you believe? What are you willing to support? What do you think? Why were you elected? If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business.

But is it any tougher us having to take a tough vote, express ourselves, and have the courage to step up, than what we‘re asking our young men and women to do? I don't think so. I don't know how many United States senators believe we have a coherent strategy in Iraq. I don't think we‘ve ever have a coherent strategy. In fact, I would even challenge the administration today to show us the plan that the president talked about the other night.

There is no plan. And my dear friend Dick Lugar talks about coherence of strategy. There is no strategy. This is a Ping-Pong game with American lives. These young men and women that we put in Anbar Province, in Iraq, in Baghdad, are not beans. They're real lives.

And we better be damn sure we know what we're doing, all of us, before we put 22,000 more Americans into that grinder. We better be as sure as you can be. And I want every one of you, every one of us, 100 senators, to look in that camera, and you tell your people back home what you think. Don't hide anymore. None of us.

That is the essence of our responsibility. And if we're not willing to do it, we're not worthy to be sitting right here. We fail our country. If we don't debate this, if we don't debate this, we are not worthy of our country. We fail our country.