The Zen of Cheney

I'd like to associate myself with Jason Zengerle's remark that Dick Cheney "could well benefit from a round of media appearances - because, while his views may be crazy and alarmist, his public presentation of them isn't." The odd thing, of course, is that Cheney entered this Administration with a reputation for being anti-charismatic but deeply responsible, but if anything the reverse has proven true: When he's ventured out of the undisclosed location, he's actually been a much more compelling spokesman for the Administration than the President, even as he's been associated with many of its more reckless and tone-deaf policy decisions.

(Though he was against the Harriet Miers nomination: Credit where credit is due.)

Comments

I agree completely. I've always found Bush to be utterly repellent. Cheney, on the other hand, is great at sounding reasonable and conveying gravitas. You have to keep reminding yourself that he's actually a total psycho.

Another one is Rumsfeld. Its hard not to like him on a personal level, based on his press conferences. You have to remind yourself of what it is he's doing.

Posted by Jim W | August 16, 2007 4:17 PM

When was the last time Cheney spoke before an audience that wasn't composed of rich, drunken warmongerers, anyway?

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | August 16, 2007 4:42 PM

My question is: Why do you value and want a better spokesperson for a policy suite that is totally fucked up?

Posted by mickslam | August 16, 2007 7:42 PM

I'm with Yglesias on this. I don't know many people who don't shudder when they hear him speak. He seems to exist in the Uncanny Valley, a simulacrum that's actually too good. Rumsfeld is another case entirely. You need a certain tolerance for arrogance, but that's a trivial barrier comparatively. During the opening months of the Afghan conflict, I was totally a fan of his. My somewhat less rosy current assessment was arrived at empirically. Disliking Cheney, on the other hand, is a visceral reaction - for many of us, at any rate.

Posted by AemJeff | August 16, 2007 9:33 PM

What planet do you live on? Have you seen Cheney's approval numbers? How do you reconcile your opinion with those numbers? Is it just the left wing noise machine?

Posted by Rules | August 16, 2007 10:31 PM

Cheney is very dangerous of himself, but more dangerous for the brazen open cabal of neocons that he is responsible for sticking into the government. Feith. Wolfowitz. The Scooter. Shulsky. The Wurmsers. Elliot Abrams. Richard Perle. The Kagans, who wrote the "surge" plan for the US military. Amazing. Cheney got into bed with them financially in his AEI days, and he is the one who brought them in following Bush's victory in the Supreme Court, and he continues to protect them. He doesn't have any real doctrine of his own, and depends on these pseudo-intellectual Trotskyites for ideas. They and he are nothing but front men for the Israeli Likud and AIPAC. They are creatures of a foreign, alien government, and they have been very successful so far in subverting the American government and its military to their ends. It's called treason. Enough about his "gravitas" and all that fascist crap. With him, it's strictly about bezillions of money and basking in his usurped power. There's nothing particularly admirable about him whatsoever.

Posted by Wyomin' Kid | August 17, 2007 12:20 AM

Cheney is Lex Luthor in a world with no Superman.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | August 17, 2007 12:50 AM

Osama bin Laden is Lex Luthor; Cheney is Simon bar Sinister.

Posted by carl | August 17, 2007 8:47 AM

Cheney is Ernst Blofeld. Rumsfeld is General Buck Turgidson.

Posted by dave | August 17, 2007 9:55 AM

Thomas Ricks, in his fine book FIASCO, actually does speculate, albeit briefly, on the reason for Cheney's personality shift. Perhaps, he opines, Cheney's heart surgeries lie at the root of it. He is why impeaching Bush is the worst possible idea.

Posted by cforeman | August 17, 2007 9:58 AM

If Bush is to be impeached, so must Cheney -- both on merit and to prevent his assuming the presidency.

Posted by cwinter | August 17, 2007 11:58 AM

Yeah, Rick, who speculated last fall, that the Israelis really wanted Hezbollah to win. That's
the secons stupidest thing he's said. For all his faults I prefer Cheney to Scowcroft; handmaiden of the Saudi lobby; business partner with at least
one of the Serbian butchers, the tikriti regime etc. Or Colin Powell and Richard Armitage; whose
real interest lie in the Baku Chamber of Commerce
and the Azerbaijan International oil Company; which requires direct ties to the Aliev dynastic oligarchy.

Posted by narciso | August 17, 2007 12:19 PM

Who the hell cares what this idiot says? When you have two dumbasses like he & Bush in charge of this country all your energy should be devoted to getting rid of them not listening to them. I used to be a Republican but I am voting straight Democrat simply because all the Republicans think just like these two morons. They want to force their religious views on us. They claim to cut taxes and do but our infrastructure is falling apart (bridges, highways, etc), our healthcare is falling apart so they are cutting taxes NOW but they are creating tremendous debts for the very near future after they are gone, our jobs are going away, our education system is out of control, now our housing market is collapsing. They started a war that has lasted longer than World War II where we beat the fanatical Japanese and Nazi militarys in 4 years starting with hardly anything and this bunch can't even secure the road from Baghdad to the airport in going on 5 years.
So, who gives a crap what Cheney thinks?
Retired Major, US Army

Posted by Jim Denton | August 17, 2007 3:11 PM

Could someone (besides a moonbat) please explain what policies, exactly, Cheney has promoted that are "psycho"?

Posted by Mike S. | August 17, 2007 4:07 PM

S Mike, I know you're not particularly well-hinged yourself, but Cheney is the leading advocate for torture in the Bushpig administration. That alone marks him as a wackaloon. He also wants to initiate a war with Iran - yesterday, if not sooner. Since we're already stretched to exhaustion with two other failed/failing wars, and diplomacy is still being tried, and Iran is no imminent threat, that's psycho strike #2.

Let's recall that this is the same Cheney who said the insurgency was "in its last throes," so we know he's bereft of any connection with reality, since every last sane observer knew at the time that he was talking out of his delusional ass.

What more do you need, chuckles?

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | August 17, 2007 8:38 PM

Stoogeboy doesn't give up does he. He was for agressive interrogation; how would you get through
to KSM; specially at a time, when you know someone
will leak out his name; as soon as possible like the Iraq war plans were leaked; as well as cooperating agents like Mohammed Khan. What recognized army does KSM belong to; you could say
Abu Sayyaf with his Phillipine ties, one of the Harakats for his Pakistani background; they are not entitled to the Geneva conventions. On Iran; you'd think he had done that first; instead of Iraq, no. They have been directly involved in attacks on US personel (Tehran)indirectly through
their proxys in Hezbollah (Beirut, Madrid) as well
as other targets; Buenos Aires. They have been responsible for at least 10% of the casualties
in Iraq, a slightly smaller number in Afghanistan. They have aided Al Queda through operation against targets in Saudi Arabia; among
others. They are financing Hamas; which is an existential threat to one of our major allies, and they are moving toward becoming the 2nd Islamic nuclear power. He admits he was wrong with the last throes of the insurgency; however in so far as it referred to their shelter and cooperation with the Anbar sheiks he wasn't wrong.

Posted by narciso | August 17, 2007 11:05 PM

Cheney is unyielding in his belief that western civilization in general and the USA in particular is worth defending from Islamofascism, just as it was worth defending, at great cost, from Nazism and Communism. So-called liberals believe that Islamofascism can be appeased. Whether they believe that out of cowardice, out of self-hatred or out of stupidity I don't know. What I do know is that they are utterly wrong.

What a contrast between Dick Cheney and the leaders of the Democratic party. The latter are the most unpatriotic, unprincipled bunch of politicians with which this nation has ever been afflicted.

Posted by bulbman | August 17, 2007 11:18 PM

It's good to see that the real Freeper crazies are crawling out of the carcass of Bush-love and posting their nonsense about "appeasement" and claiming essential infallibility for Cheney, their Dark Lord. They probably both have part-time jobs sending office supplies to Osama in Pakistan.

Medals of Freedom for everyone! I'll award a second one to narciso once he gets his GED.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | August 18, 2007 12:22 AM

Stoogeboy, you don't know, so don't assume that I frequent Free Republic it's even money that you frequent Marcos "screw um" Kos and Depleted Uranium.(DU) and the portal of that Indonesia oil heiress (The Huffington Post; papa Huffington, made his money in exploration in Indonesia, so when gay son Michael divorced; Arianna got the
shares;) You probably also think Michael Moore's wishing for AQ to have a red state, declaring the insurgents in Iraq to be freedom fighters; et al is stimulating conversation My brother is over in Afghanistan, he was previously in Iraq going after the people like Hamza Rabia, Al Liby, Al Iraqi, et al; who you probably think are office
boys for Al Queda. Matt, you really have to clean this place up

Posted by narciso | August 18, 2007 9:12 PM

narciso, did your parents have any children who lived?

And why did your brother shoot Pat Tillman, anyway? Did he lose a bet with you?

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | August 18, 2007 11:58 PM

Could someone (besides a moonbat) please explain what policies, exactly, Cheney has promoted that are "psycho"?

Still waiting for a non-moonbat to answer...

Posted by Mike S. | August 19, 2007 3:50 PM

S Mike thinks anyone who wants habeas corpus back and is opposed to torture is a "moonbat."

Dick Cheney is his ultimate crush.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | August 19, 2007 4:39 PM

Excuse me, But I thought D. Rumsfeld(sp) 'resigned" "left to spend more time" was "sacked" , was"run outta' town onna' rail"-pick your own modifer here folks-circa December 2006. Did I miss something?

Posted by Ken | August 20, 2007 1:08 AM

PS: where are Bob Kerry and/or Sam Nunn when we need them?

Posted by Ken | August 20, 2007 1:12 AM

Nunn would have been a reliable Bush suckfish in this situation. Kerrey left because he knew he would never be president and because credible stories of his own Vietnam war crime had come to light.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | August 20, 2007 1:42 AM

This vitriol is especially amusing when the effusive praise showered upon Secretary of Defense nominee Cheney by the Democratic leadership is recalled. Like, they voted for him before they voted against him? Is there anything more comical than the wingnut Left?

Posted by Paul Kotik | August 20, 2007 1:46 PM

You're doing a heckuva job, Paulie.

Claiming that "effusive praise showered upon" Cheney 2 decades ago has relevance now is beyond obtuse. You're now qualified to get the #3 job in the Justice Department.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | August 20, 2007 10:22 PM