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Cheney ‘The Chicken-Hearted’
Today, the biggest boost for
ex-vice president Richard Cheney would be an attack on America from any terrorist
group, but most especially if it were an attack mounted by Muslim extremists.
Mr. Cheney is relentless in his chilling warnings of how near is the danger,
and he has dared to say President Barack Obama is making America vulnerable by
stopping the torture of prisoners.
If an attack occurs, Richard Cheney
will claim a pyrrhic victory.
What a terrible irony, and what a
perfect reflection of the man! A former top American official who in the face
of a threat when he was in office cast off all national principles, which over
history hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, sailors and airmen fought
to uphold and sustain, and countless thousands have died to protect.
Mr. Cheney isn’t a hard-boiled
realist; he is a chicken-heart. A man who discards principles and values as
soon as he is threatened; it’s a good thing he ducked military service during
the Vietnam War, since he is clearly not a man to be next to in combat.
With Cheney’s oft-stated scenario, any
attack on America requires a black-and-white war, with no room for honorable
victory and a return to peace with former adversaries. His is an Imperial view,
whereby every tactic conceivable is used with the single aim of absolute
submission from all others, enemies real or perceived and allies as well. There
would never be de-escalation, and consequently there would never be an end to
conflict. This is the world view of a cowardly bully. This is the future Cheney
would give Americans and call it patriotism.
To achieve that goal he is speaking
out, again nurturing the seeds of hatred and fear while undercutting the
policies of the current American administration. He also is smart enough, and
clever enough, to know that terrorists don’t want President Obama’s moderate,
peacekeeping attempts to take hold. That would push their own perpetual war off
the table and marginalize them. Cheney and terrorists, ironically, seem to be
on the same political path of never-ending war. This is endless fear for
political gain.
But now, not very surprisingly, Cheney
and Rush Limbaugh are aligned publicly, following the ex-Veep’s recent
endorsement of the rabid radio hate monger. Given that unholy alliance, it
seems reasonable to assume that Cheney hopes his goals can be furthered by the
cult following Limbaugh has attained through his vicious broadcast commentaries.
Perhaps Richard Cheney hopes to become the predominant force in the new
Republican Party through Limbaugh, using him as a mouthpiece, but he has a
problem: Rush Limbaugh has already proclaimed himself the titular head, the spokesman
of the GOP.
Mr. Cheney is now aligned with a
radical as treacherous as himself, which might be humorous if it weren’t so
dangerous to America democracy.
Great headway has been made in
creating a Republican Party that reflects imperial if not fascistic values, and
Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh can take much credit for the final lowering of the
Grand Old Party into history’s dismal swamp of poisonous totalitarian values.
Broken and corrupting in the
pseudo-intellectual mud of that swamp are the remnants of Imperial Rome, the
Spanish Inquisition, Japanese Imperialism, German Fascism, and Russian
Communism, plus so many other lesser offshoots, but hardly less vicious
political movements, such as Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, Serbian attempts at
Bosnian Muslim genocide, and the mass murder of many hundreds of thousands
Tutsi’s and moderate Hutu’s by Hutu tribesmen in Rwanda, plus many, many more
of humanity’s fear and power driven hate crimes.
It is interesting to recall that in
the nightmarish genocide in Rwanda, the Hutu masses were roused to violent,
machete wielding hatred though use of the radio system by Hutu politicians
whose only interest was in assuming totalitarian political power.
The GOP has for decades played on
the edge of that swamp, what with the House of Representatives Un-American
Activities Committee, HUAC, and the Republican’s long-playing history of
McCarthyism, but now it seems that Mr. Cheney and Mr. Limbaugh are attempting to
drag a not very unwilling GOP into the deep and ugly depths of that most dismal
swamp.
It is increasingly clear that the
shredding of the Constitution in the administration of George W. Bush was
pushed most forcefully by Richard Cheney, and now the former vice-president is
doing more than trying to justify the unjustifiable; he is trying to assert
that the current administration’s attempt to restore American values and
concepts is putting the nation at risk. And in the process he is trying to
remake the Republican Party into his, and Rush Limbaugh’s Imperial image of the
United States, creating in effect an American ‘all or nothing’ war party, which
of course automatically invites reaction from nation-states and others who
either look for a reason to blame and hate America, or who will not allow
themselves to be subjugated by such policies.
How the powerful and hateful
dominance of Rush Limbaugh has already become established in Republican ranks
was made crystal clear recently when Michael Steele, the currently proclaimed head of the GOP, spoke
dismissively of Limbaugh and within a day was forced to publicly apologize.
Given Cheney’s apparent goals, he has certainly picked the right cohort. Between
the two of them, they are publicly skirting sedition while leading one of
America’s great political parties into the dustbin of history.
Such is to be expected from cowardly bullies, especially when they somehow
gain power and leverage. Cheney the Chicken-Hearted and Limbaugh the Lying Loudmouth
are perfectly attuned for the advancement of a new GOP that will bear little
resemblance to its own history.
WF/MB
June,
2009
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