Really! If the "main stream media", otherwise known as EBF (Everybody But Fox) was as liberal as the right-wing radio airbags claim, one of them would be creating a pilot for a fall show featuring the former Vice President. It could run behind "I'm a Celebrity. Get Me Out of Here". The concept plays right into the hands of the liberals. As long as Cheney keeps talking, the Democrats will never have to worry about losing another election...ever. Thanks to the ex-VP the GOP will be able to hold it's next convention in the conference room at the Topeka, Kansas Best Western. Consider that in 1992, the year Bill Clinton rode to town, 47% of voters 18 to 29 said they were Republicans. In 2009 that number is 33%. Can these guys throw a party or what?
Every time Cheney opens his sneering mouth, thousands of moderate voters run screaming for the exits. The man virtually oozes smugness. His message is simply a cynical effort to twist the facts and justify his illegal actions during his tenure as de facto President. Lord deliver us from Dick Cheney's protection.
If you're looking for enlightenment in the Republican dialogue, consider Colin Powell, the man Dick Cheney is determined to ostracize from the Party by any means necessary. Apparently, the General committed the ultimate sin by endorsing Barak Obama for President. Rush Limbaugh, the other turd in the Republican punchbowl, called that endorsement purely racial. For the Cheney-Limbaugh tandem to impugned the motives of Colin Powell is laughable. Between the two of them, they have exactly zero days of service to this country.
As the Republicans scurry about attempting to determine who they are, or who they want to be, Cheney and Powell offer a stark contrast both of vision and style. Powell was a lifelong independent. (It doesn't help your military career to be overtly political.) He joined the Republicans in 1995. (Apparently he didn't realize he was black until 2008.) He became the assumptive Secretary of State for George W. Bush in the 2000 campaign although Bush never actually asked him to join the team. None of Bush's gang of handlers liked Powell. He was too difficult to control (read: too honest) Nevertheless it was common knowledge that George W's resume was a touch light on world affairs (he couldn't find Montreal with Mapquest) and the General added some badly needed gravitas.
Powell served the puppet-masters in the Bush White House for four years without once complaining. They sent him to the UN prior to the Iraq invasion to shamefully mislead the world about what we knew. Powell never moaned or broke ranks. He played the good soldier until after the 2004 election in spite of the dismissive treatment he received. Had he spoken up about the lies and treachery of the first Bush term prior to the election, John Kerry might well have been elected President. That, however, was not in Colin Powell's code. In short, Colin Powell's career has been about honor, service and loyalty. The Republicans could do a lot worse.
Then we have Dick Cheney, the Snidely Whiplash of American politics. Too busy to serve in the military, Cheney spent his entire career fighting America's wars from various desks in the Capital. He has been: Chief of Staff (Ford), Representative from Wyoming (Reagan), Secretary of Defense (Bush I) and, of course, Vice President (Bush II). Most of Cheney's time in Washington was unremarkable. As VP however, he became Machiavelli and Rasputin all in one. His deceit and maneuverings as VP, (WMD, Valerie Plame, Enhanced Interrogation) are legend. Tired of being a bridesmaid, Cheney decided that Vice President was close enough to absolute power considering that GWB was such a light weight. His scorched earth Vice Presidency made a mockery of the Constitution and the idea of exporting our values into a punchline.
Given a choice, which of these men appears to exemplify the traits we look for in leaders? Powell has yet to break faith with an administration that excluded him from everything but photo-ops. Cheney ran for Vice President on a bigoted platform opposing homosexual relationships while his lesbian daughter was conceiving her first child. Hypocrisy, anyone?
Granted it's difficult to smell a rose in a field of manure but even the social conservatives must notice that Powell's Republican Party appears more palatable. Debates about guns, abortion and marriage are healthy and demand more than bumper stickers. Be opposed to the closing of Guantanamo for reasons that make sense, not because you heard that Obama wants to free the detainees and relocate them in Austin. Try substance instead of sloganeering. And please God, get Karl Rove the hell out of the party.
But hey, don't listen to me. Nominate the ticket of Palin and Joe the Plumber in 2012. Let Rush, Michael Savage and Glen Beck tell you how to think. Let the Christian Right set your agenda. Just get used to hearing, "Will the Democratic nominee step forward to be sworn in?"
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