The Doomsayer

Maureen Dowd, NYT Op-Ed columnist had an extremely interesting column a few days ago about Dick Cheney. I was glad to discover that I’m not the only one asking serious questions about the former vice-president and just what he's up to these days.

Questions like, just what is it with Dick Cheney, anyway? The man who never talked is now the man who won’t shut up. The man who wouldn’t list his office in the federal jobs directory, who had the vice president’s residence blocked on Google Earth, who went to the Supreme Court to keep from revealing which energy executives helped him write the nation’s energy policy, is now endlessly yelping about how President Obama is holding back documents that should be made public.

Cheney was asked by Bob Schieffer on Sunday how America could torture when it made a mockery of our ideals and Cheney blithely gave an answer that surely would have been labeled treasonous by Rush Limbaugh, if a Democratic ex-vice president had said it about a Republican president. Doomsday Dick said, “Well, then you’d have to say that, in effect, we’re prepared to sacrifice American lives rather than run an intelligent program that would provide us the information we need to protect America.” And this in spite of the testimony from former FBI agent Ali Soufan and former Bush administration State Department official Philip Zelikow, both of whom have voiced serious concerns about Bush administration interrogation policies and just how effective they really were.

Cheney had five deferments himself to get out of going to Vietnam, but he would rather follow a blowhard entertainer who has had three divorces and a drug problem and who also avoided Vietnam, than follow a four-star general who spent his life serving his country.

Even Republicans are complaining. An official with Bush 1 recently said that he was sure that Bush 41 doesn’t appreciate Cheney acting out and that he is giving the whole party a black eye just as Jeb is out there trying to renew the party.
Cheney unleashed is pretty much the same as Cheney underground: He’s batty and he thinks he was the president. Even Bush 41 and 43 have come to see Cheney differently and I don’t think that either of them has any idea what makes Cheney tick.

He has no coherent foreign policy viewpoint. He still doesn’t fathom that his brutish invasion of Iraq unbalanced that part of the world, empowered Iran and was a force multiplier for Muslims who hate America. He left our ports unsecured, our food supply unsafe, the Taliban rising and Osama on the loose. No matter if or when terrorists attack here – and they’re on their own timetable, not a partisan red/blue state timetable – Cheney will be deemed the primary one who made America more vulnerable. He still loves torture, Gitmo and scaring the bejesus out of Americans. He’s still trying to pull the GOP into a black hole of zealotry.

When Cheney was in the first Bush administration, he was odd man out. Bush 41, James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and Colin Powell corralled Cheney’s “Genghis Khan” side, as it was known, and his “rough streak.” Cheney didn’t care for Powell even then.
According to Dowd, with W, “Back Seat” – Cheney’s Secret Service name in the Ford Administration – clambered up front. Then he totaled the car. And no amount of yapping on TV is going to change that when history is written.

Cheney's Innocent??

Everyone is getting ready for the big day now just days away. Everyone is either talking or writing about the horror that was or the hope to be. Maureen Dowd had her usual sharp tongue look in the OpEd section in the NYT this morning have to admit I enjoyed these opening remarks about Cheney in particular.

"In the past week, I’ve twice been close enough to Dick Cheney to kick him in the shins.

I didn’t. It’s probably a federal crime of some sort. But a girl can fantasize. I did, however, assume the Stay-away-from-me-you’ve-got-cooties stance that Jimmy Carter used when posing with Bill Clinton at the presidents’ powwow in the Oval.

The first time was Tuesday, when Cheney left the ceremony where he gave the oath of office to senators. The senators seemed thrilled, especially Joe Biden, who was getting sworn in for just two weeks and was excitedly showing off a family Bible the size of a Buick. But I thought it gave the ceremony a satirical edge to have the lawless Vice presiding over lawmakers swearing to support and defend the Constitution that he soiled and defiled — right in the heart of the legislative branch he worked to diminish."

Cheney does indeed seem to be denying he had anything to do with Dubya's decisions, that he most definitely didn't manipulate him, that it was Bush's administration all the way. At a going away party for Fox's Brit Hume, Cheney, Wolfie and Rummy, all three, were holding court and appeared blissfully unrepentant about the chaos they’ve unleashed on the world. Hey, they weren't the president, it was all Bushie's doings. I wonder if there are really people who believe that?

Asked by People magazine what moments from the last eight years he revisited most often, W. talked passionately about the pitch he threw out at the World Series in 2001: “I never felt that anxious any other time during my presidency, curiously enough.” Yep, sounds about right to me!

I guess the only thing I can hope for at this time is that we can move forward after the 20th, but it isn't going to be easy or as quick as anyone would like. The legacy the Bush/Cheney administration has left us is one that has all but destroyed this country and everything we would like to believe we stand for.

January 20th can't get here too fast for me!