“The only value of power is the effect, the efficacy of its use,” Mr. Biden said. “And all the power Cheney had did not result in effective outcomes.”
What gets lost sometimes in all the joy one feels knowing W will soon be referred to as former President Bush, is that far more importantly, Dick Cheney will no longer have any influence on the policies of the government of the United States. In so many ways that is a much more significant change in the political landscape.
with the euphoria of the final days, hours in fact, of BushCo™ finally at hand, l’d like to pose the same question that came up last night at our local fac:
can you name one, just one, positive thing that’s happened during the last eight years?
no one could come up with a single example…it can only be hoped that we have reached the nadir, and that the arc of the future will be a significant upswing.
60 hrs and counting.
I met my fiancee and she rocks.
Oh, and as Tweety said: Bush made Obama’s election that much more possible by being so fucking horrid.
Agreed. Our only positive is that Dubya was so bad, it made Obama possible.
Sir Bob Geldof was being interviewed as he was collaborating with Bush on a project concerning Africa. He made it very clear that he was 100% with Americans who were disgusted over things like the Iraq War, but he conceded that Bush’s policies for Africa were completely cool.
Media Matters reports that a newsreader overstated this, and that no, Bush hasn’t been “brilliant” at helping Africa, but they agreed that that’s one item that should be in the “plus” column.
I wonder what countries are going to file war crimes charges against Bush and Cheney once their terms are up.
something i spotted on a bus in feb 2006:
a fitting farewell, i think.
cold comfort
Kind of gives “free at last” new meaning. 😉
I’m not convinced that Dick Cheney will gove up the power and influence he’s held over the past 8 years as easily as you think.
I think he’s smart enough he’ll have already laid the groundwork to exert his influence on Government policy through private-sector connections.
also, remember that we now have Private Military Contractors situated inside our very country…Contractors with Skills similar to what is seen in the Military’s Special Forces units. If the President takes the nation in directions Cheney does not want to see it go, I honestly believe he’ll cash in some ‘chips’ and we’ll see a commando-assault on wherever the Executive happens to be, and all in the Constitutional line of Succession had better have EXCELLENT security around them….
There is a whole mountain-range of potential coming into DC now for effecting real, useful, helpful Change that the Republicans/Conservatives do NOT want to see, and the right leverage at the right time may turn the whole works in an entirely different direction than is presently planned.
Richard Cheney still claims that Saddam Hussein was involved with Al Qaeda. The only connection that Iraqi records substantiated was the same sort given to agents of the Pakistani nuclear arms designer/proliferator A.Q. Khan, an Iraqi refusal. By that standard Cheney might accuse anybody of being involved with a telephone solicitor or panhandler they turn down. If Cheney is relying on undocumented statements made under torture than he is lying to himself before passing the lie onto us.