Out of all the odious characters in the Bush administration, the man who has always impressed me as one who would not shy away from any word or deed to advance his agenda was Cheney.He epitomizes this administration in many ways.His arrogance is, of course, obvious.He is convinced of his own magnificence as when he makes inane utterances like “Ronald Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter” as though his stating it should end discussion.His arrogance was in full display when he took on the pitiable Joe Lieberman in the vice presidential debates in 2000.He claimed that his wealth was not derived from governement largesse but was a product of his hard work and risk taking in the private sector,i.e. Halliburton.That he thinks others would swallow that nonsense knowing the nature of Halliburton’s business is another instance of his arrogance.
It should come as no surprise that he is a vengeful man intolerant of other people’s opinions.When Ambassador Wilson upset his nice little apple cart of WMD’s in Iraq as a prelude to war, he drew out his sword against the Ambassador and ordered everyone to fall in line.The result is now plainly visible.
That he is a ruthless man bent on accumulating power with his evil twin Rumsfeld has been obvious to any discerning observer.These two men have navigated the revolving door between government and industry with deft skill, accumulationg IOU’s along the way and, in their latest incarnations as Bush’s Rasputins,have arrived at their Nirvana.They have gone on killing sprees in Iraq,intimidation of our supplicant Press at home and very likely created the conditions that led to the disaster in New Orleans.In that context, it was revealing to me that Cheney played a huge part in voting down Martin Luther King’s birthday as a national holiday and also kept up the canard that Nelson Mandela should not be released because he was a Communist.
More than Bush,it is Cheney and his twin Rumsfeld that have subverted our Constitution.Their contempt for democratic processes shines through in every word they speak and every act they undertake.
