Cheney is a goner and here is why. It isn’t because he was negligent and not forthcoming when he shot his hunting partner although that certainly damages him politically. He is damaged goods. He may use a medical excuse as a reason to resign, but here is the real reason Vice President Dick Cheney will resign sooner rather than later. It has to do with the fact that Cheney deliberately authorized the leaking of the name of a covert CIA operative, Valerie Plame Wilson, in a calculated and orchestrated campaign to discredit her husband, Joseph Wilson, who was critical of the Bush administration’s bogus justification for the war in Iraq.
Now Dick Cheney is making another bogus claim. He is claiming he has the power to declassify information and this somehow excuses his authorization to out CIA agent Valerie Plame. Sorry, Mr. Vice President, but this gambit won’t work or maybe a better analogy, this dog won’t hunt!
Yes, you can declassify intelligence information. You have that power, but you do not have the power to risk the life of a CIA agent and/or her contacts. You certainly do not have the right to declassify intelligence information for purely political motives. Weak, weak argument, Mr. Cheney. Shame on you! Resign! Resign immediately! Take your lawyers, guns, and money and go back to your old Wyoming home!