Dick Cheney: A chicken hawk out of the coop

TO THE INEVITABILITY of death and taxes, shall we make it an even gloomier threesome by adding Dick Cheney?  In my own naivete about despotic rulers I had talked myself into believing that a humiliating public approval rating would slip Cheney into a safe vista out West to spend his leisure hours admiring his hunting rifles.  But Cheney is obviously a student of English  King Charles II who found a way to restore his throne after his most  despised royal father was sent to the block to have his head severed.

And isn't that where we are with Cheney and his handful of allies, including his daughter Liz? He's been making the rounds as the GOP's Hood Ornament of the Month warning talk show audiences that we should be terrified  by President Obama's neighborly attitude toward terrorists.  Let me get this straight:  a fellow who obtained multiple deferments from military service because, as he put it, he had "other priorities,"  now is proud to warn us that we are less safe than when George Bush was a heartbeat away from the presidency.  His cut-and-run  is an unchallenged fact that should be highlighted with an asterisk by his name every time he rises before a hawkish  conservative group to declare his version of caveman masculinity.

A second unchallenged fact, at least  by coherent individuals:  9/11 did not occur on Obama's watch, did it?  It happened when George was whatever he was in the White House. And it happened after a memo arrived  on Condi  Rice's desk (in August prior to the attack!)warning  that it could happen and was somehow lost in the White House list of things to do that day.

Cheney and Liz also are trying to deflect the burden of the torture memos - an issue that  will not go away no matter the perps' attempt to run  out the clock.  So what is their game here with  Liz Cheney, with her "superior" credentials on international security, attacking Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's chief of staff,   for being an also-ran, adding" "Nobody talking about this in the press has any real knowledge."  Obviously, that includes her.

The best review of the Cheney cha-cha on waterboarding, however, came from Jesse the Wrestler - former Minnesota governor Ventura.  Appearing on a TV show, he said:

     "You give me a waterboard, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."

Note to the Cheney gang:  Jesse is not  a person you would want to confront up close.  Your fantasy world might be less secure.