An Obama Kiss for Cousin Cheney

On 60 Minutes tonight, the President takes note of the assertion by his long-lost relative Dick Cheney that the Obama Administration's refusal to torture raises the risk for another 9/11 attack on America.

"How many terrorists," Obama asks, "have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney? It hasn't made us safer. What it has been is a great advertisement for anti-American sentiment."

In answer to a question about released Guantanamo detainees who have reportedly returned to terrorism, the President acknowledges, "There is no doubt that we have not done a particularly effective job in sorting through who are truly dangerous individuals...to make sure [they] are not a threat to us" but calls the Bush policy of long incarcerations with no trials "unsustainable."

As unusual as it is for a president and former vice-president to engage in public argument, at least this one is all in the family, but Obama may want to engage his own genealogist to double-check on the lineage.

Chiding Cheney

This White House isn't going to be dumbstruck by Republican media attacks. Asked about the former VP's CNN performance yesterday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters today, “I guess Rush Limbaugh was busy so they trotted out the next most popular member of the Republican cabal.”

Gibbs was responding to Cheney's charge that President Obama is making choices that "raise the risk to the American people of another attack" like 9/11.

Asked whether he wasn't being a little rough on a former Vice President, Gibbs didn't back down.

"I hope," he said, "my sarcasm didn’t mask the seriousness of my answer. For seven-plus years, the very perpetrators that the vice president says he’s concerned about weren’t brought to justice.”

Gibbs may not be as easy on the eyes as Dana Perino, but he's a lot feistier.