Cheney: Obama Probably Not Reading His Intelligence Reports

Cheney: Obama Probably Not Reading His Intelligence Reports (RealClearPolitics)

HUGH HEWITT, HOST: Now in a much overlooked interview in January, David Remnick of the New Yorker sat down with President Obama, and President Obama said to him that, he was talking about ISIS. “The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think it’s accurate, is this is a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms. That doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,” Obama said, according to Remnick, resorting to an uncharacteristically flip analogy. “I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.” Do you think he gets it, yet?

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: Well, the only thing I can conclude is he’s probably not reading his intelligence, or we’ve got a bigger problem in terms of the quality of the intelligence he is receiving. I mean, to suggest that this is the jayvee, they’ve gone much farther than al Qaeda had, not in terms of a direct attack upon the United States, but al Qaeda was hiding out in caves in Afghanistan. And they did mount a significant attack against the United States. No question about it. But to suggest that these guys are just involved in local conflicts, I can’t believe he’s listening to the briefings that I would expect he’s received from the intelligence community and can come out with a statement like that. It shows the depth of his, I guess is, his lack of knowledge, shall we say.