The Wonderful Dick Cheney Bus-and-Truck Tour

What can I say, I'm glad that Dick Cheney is attacking Barack Obama. And I hope he keeps it up. You go, Dick.

Though I hear liberal commentators - and even some conservative ones - criticize the former Republican Vice President, I am not among them. All I need to jumpstart my day is hear a report that begins, "Former Vice President Dick Cheney said today that President Barack Obama..." Fill in the blank, it doesn't matter. I can't get enough.

Mind you, what he's saying is utterly reprehensible. Sometimes, I have to fight to keep my head from exploding. But I can deal with "utterly reprehensible," keeping it separate in its own dark, craven nook. And it's easy, mostly because I'm thrilled every time Dick Cheney chooses to hit the road, open his mouth and crank out his Greatest Hits.

"Former Vice President Dick Cheney said today that President Barack Obama..."

God love him.

Of course, much as I myself love it, I don't have a clue why any Republican would think Dick Cheney talking is a good thing. Yet so many encourage him. Don't they grasp that America heard these very same debates for six years, understands ALL the points, and have thrown the Republican arguments out, along with the Republicans. Don't they understand that Dick Cheney has like a 9% "approval" rating, and just-elected President Barack Obama has a 65% approval rating. To think that four months into the new, wildly-popular administration, Americans are going to say, "Y'know, I never thought of it that way. Dick Cheney is right! I like Dick Cheney and don't like Barack Obama," is the height of breathtaking lunacy.

(If I was a Republican, I think my first thought would be: "So, you hid in a bunker for seven years, kept near silent when you had elective authority and a bully pulpit...and now that you're out of office, a private citizen and hated...NOW you've decided to talk?? And THIS is what you want to talk about??! The very things that got you hated and us thrown out of office??? This??!!!" But that's just me. And I'm not a Republican.)

But as much as I don't understand any Republican supporting Dick Cheney finally talking - and having his daughter going around cravenly calling the newly-elected President of the United States "un-American" - I still love it. I love it so very much because it confirms rock-solid to the American public why they voted for Barack Obama and Democrats in the first place. It confirms to people why they now identify themselves as Democrats by 53-36%, when only seven years ago it was 41-41%. It repeats all the arguments the American public heard, and reminds them of the decisions they made. It nails down their position, puts gift-wrapping on it, and ties a ribbon on top.

How could it not? It isn't just Dick Cheney defending a war the American public rejected years ago, but he's gotten so out of control that his only recourse in defending it is to actually acknowledge and bizarrely defend using torture. Torture!

It makes your skin crawl, but I mean that in a good way. You just want to hug him for creating a Black Hole for this version of the Republican Party.

Yes, Dick Cheney is utterly reprehensible for twisting reality more than corkscrew pasta - but that's largely a given. When your starting point is lying a nation into war, the next step can only be off the precipice. Such people have to lie because they have to keep coming up with new lies and new realities to justify the old ones. Ultimately it defines them.

Lying a nation into war begets lying that America will be greeted as liberators, which begets lying that you never said America will be greeted as liberators - while the tape of you saying it runs. (Lying to protect the lie is like the famous scene in the movie, "Jumbo," when Jimmy Durante is sneaking the massive elephant out of the circus, and he's stopped by a security guard. "Where are you going with that elephant?," the guard asks. And Durante, standing in front of the enormous pachyderm, answers with angelic innocence, "What elephant?") In the end, that's why outing a CIA agent whose husband exposed your initial lie is the only natural culmination to expect from Dick Cheney.

But Dick Cheney is mostly utterly reprehensible because former Vice Presidents and former Presidents don't attack the incoming administration as soon as they leave office. It's not that it's "impolite" or "bad form." It's that it's dangerous. It sends imbalanced mixed-messages to the nation and the world. Elections are passionate affairs, but one of the glories of America - that Americans always pride themselves on - is the smooth transition of power. But an outgoing administration continuing to fight battles with the new one breaks that smooth transition. It's not disagreement, it keeps the election going and creates imbalance, risking fissure. Even George W. Bush understands that. But Dick Cheney shows he doesn't understand the first thing about America. Confirming what he has to show for the past eight years.

The more Dick Cheney talks, though, the more demonstrably foolish and therefore less-dangerous he becomes.

"Former Vice President Dick Cheney said today that President Barack Obama..."

He can keep the 16 words that his administration lied America into war with. Me, I'll take these 11 even up.

Comments

[marleneca]

Although George W. Bush was not a very good president, I appreciate him now for gallantly and graciously staying out of the controversy and not criticizing his successor. Which is quite a contrast to his vice president.

[K.J. Dwyer - Huffpost Blogger]

The image of Dick Cheney parading his criminality as faux patriotism is probably the single most sickening display by any politician in the history of this country. He makes Joe McCarthy look like Mary Sunshine.

When viewed in conjunction with the unreleased (but explicitly described) photos at Abu Gharib, it is hard to imagine anything less than Nuremburg-type trials to address what are nothing short of War Crimes.

If the U.S. does not go this route, it will lose what little international credibility it has left.

The world is watching. It's time to clean house and take firm measures to punish the actors (that includes Mr. Cheney) and prevent a reptetition of such acts in the future.

Anyone who seeks to avert this route, regardless of their reason, is frankly un-American, complicit in torture and will help to assure that the next great American atrocity will be exponentially worse.

[DrBuzz]

Wonderful article, Robert (as usual).

It occurred to me just this morning that in the 60's and 70's, there were a considerable number of people who believed so strongly in their convictions that they were willing to go to prison. They were Conscientious Objectors -- people who were willing to put their well-being aside to support their faith. Their faith broke the laws of this country (arguably, misguided laws). Their faith put them at odds with many, including Chicken Hawks of their time (very prescient of the ilk of Cheney), who branded them as cowards. And convinced by the foundation of their religious or ethical faith, made the decision to go to prison in support of that faith.

Cheney and his minions would have us believe that they did what they did -- in support of this great country -- saved "hundreds of thousands of lives." That is sheer faith. What they did was conduct torture in support of their faith. Torture is against domestic and international law. Fact (one is entitled to their opinion, but not entitled one's own facts). You cannot torture even once and claim innocence. And if Cheney and his minions were TRUE men of faith, they would now put themselves before the bar of law. If they did what they did for consciencious reason, they must live with the consequences of having broken the law. Anything less is cowardice. But then again, we know about Cheney and "other priorities" in the 60's, don't we?

[triplec]

Seriously.­.

Dick Cheney for president!! Thank god we finally found a republican leader to come out with the truth.. He is the first to tell us the truth.. Obama is going to ruin this country with his insane budget deficit spending.

[marignymitch]

I'll have what you're having.

[Rooster54]

Yeah, right. We certainly didn't have any deficit spending under Bush/Cheney, did we ? By the way, wasn't it Cheney who famously said "deficits don't matter" ? And Cheney has been caught in one lie right after another.

[chriss0114]

YESSSSS!!!!! Cheney / Palin 2012!!!! Madness plus Dumbness--two mints in ONE!

A sure win for the O in 2012!!!!

Insane budget deficit spending for the last eight years with war spending OFF budget so it didn't look as bad and NOW the war spending IS included in the budget where it should be! RESPONSIBLE, HONEST budgeting!

Massive stimulus spending needed which precluded a fall into a 1929 like collapse into a DEPRESSION!

[DrBuzz]

Hey Robert, lookie -- you've heard from the Silent Majority..­. uh, check that....

So, Monsieur Triplec, what is the color of the sky on yours and Cheney's planet?

[jimbeaux1961]

Seriously.­..Are you insane? Seriously.­..

[LawrenceOfAcademia]

Interesting ad hominem attack on Cheney, but it does nothing to rebut what he said in his speech about the War on Terror, as it used to be called.

As for "Torture!" -- it didn't happen.
Three guys were waterboarded, one of whom was responsible for some of the worst terror attacks the world has seen.
But "Torture!" is a myth tha6t Democrats love to pull out, no matter how false the charge may be.

[FlyingDutchman]

I see, so waterboarding, which is defined as torture by the civilized world, is not torture. And torture , which is not really torture, is ok, as long as its only applied numerous times to the bad guys. Dick Cheney serve ya the kool-aid, did he?

[CanisLatrans]

So, when a Japanese General was executed after WW2 for waterboarding American prisoners-of-war, that was just a little misunderstanding? Congratulations, Lawrence, now you too can stand tall and proud as a reminder that the GOP now represents everything that we fought to stop from 1941-1945.

Dick Cheney is a great man for exactly all the reasons expounded upon in this article: every time he talks he reminds us all just to what repugnant depths the Republican Party has sunk to. When the Republicans can embrace a 5-deferment coward on national security issues while pushing out a real warrior like Colin Powell, all without blinking an eye at their own hypocrisy, it lays bare to all just how bankrupt they've become ethically and ideologically.

[alenaspoppa]

Okay, here's a full rebuttal of Cheney's speech:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-alexander/whats-not-said-is-more-im_b_207151.html

and here's another:
http://www.slate.com/id/2218762/

and another:
http://mediamatters.org/research/200905210037

and another:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aF2IBw3gSLOg

Your screen name is utter bs, because no true academic could support the argument you've raised here.

Torture is a myth? What? I have to admire Republicans for doggedly sticking to their story regardless of the facts that contradict them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/26/olbermann-mancow-intervie_n_207963.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/20/playboy-journo-bets-he-ca_n_189280.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/20/mccain-on-mohammed-waterb_n_189028.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/29/waterboarding-of-cias-fir_n_180412.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/12/jesse-ventura-coleman-a-h_n_202629.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-begala/yes-inational-reviewi-we_b_191153.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-danzig/fbi-interrogator-waterboa_b_203095.html

You actually have to be willfully ignorant to continue down this line of "reasoning­."

[chriss0114]

what is this "only three guys" myth?

many were waterboarded and many more were tortured in many other ways

[luckynewman13]

Three guys? So the confirmed 12 who were confirmed dead following torture sessions were? What?

[laketahoeblue]

I am in complete agreement with Elisberg's overall views on this. But even though Cheney's favorability ratings have been in the gutter, they have risen appreciably since he has gotten on his soap box to bash Obama any chance he gets. Still deplorably low, but better than when he left office in January. Of course,, Cheney's just activating the wingnut base, but I imagine that's the only group he cares about anyway.

Wondering if he's prepping for a run at the White House in '12.