Cheney Stirs the Pot for New Book Promotion

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright September 6, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                         

           Former Vice President Dick Cheney continues to stir the pot, promoting his new memoir, “In My Time” [Simon & Schuster, 2011] giving his version of history as VP in the George W. Bush administration.  After antagonizing former Secretaries of State Colin L. Powell and Condoleezza Rice, Cheney’s latest salvo involved questioning the state of the union had Hillary Rodham Clinton become president in 2008.  Cheney knows that his Party’s extreme right wing despised Hillary and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, far more that President Barack Obama.  Telling Fox News Sunday with Chirs Wallace that he thought the country would different had Hillary become president.  Cheney speculated that things would be different under Hillar.  Calling Hillary “one of the more competent members” of the Obama administration, Cheney raised eyebrows about the motive behind his flattery.

            Cheney’s politics represent the most extreme right wing of the Republican Party, know lining up behind Texas Gov. Rick Perry, much the same way it did around Bush in 2000.  While there’s still a long way to go to the nomination, Perry’s Aug. 13 announcement pulled the rug from underneath GOP frontrunner former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.  Perry now enjoys support of 27% of Republicans primary voters, compared to Romney’s sinking 17%.  Without some major move by Romney, he’s likely to go the same direction he did in 2008, when he was deserted by the Christian right because to his Mormon faith.  Cheney’s sudden love affair with Hillary attempts to galvanize a draft Hillary movement to oppose Obama in the Democratic primaries.  Cheney believes the more dissent among Democrats the better the GOP chances running in the 2012 presidential election.

               Speculating about how things would be different had Hillary become president, Cheney hopes to encourage a competition against Barack.  Recent statements by former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell suggest that there’s no love lost with Cheney.  Cheney, after all, ordered Powell to pitch the White House’s case for war against Saddam Hussein to the U.N. Security Council. Powell’s freely admitted that his U.N. presentation was the worst event of his life.  He attributed the bad intel about Saddam’s alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction to Cheney’s cherry-picked intel.  Instead of going through conventional intel circles like the CIA or foreign intel services, Cheney instead manufactured intel out the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans run by Douglas J. Feith Jr.  Cheney has never admitted that the case for war against Saddam was largely built on fabricated intel.

            When Cheney held secret meetings with oil executives shortly after taking office in 2001, it corroborated former National Security Advisor Counter-terrorism specialist Richard A. Clarke’s view that the war in Iraq was planned from Day 1 of the Bush administration. When the press tried to subpoena transcripts of the meetings, the White House declared executive privilege.  Cheney’s fingerprints were all over planning for the Iraq War.  His retaliatory actions against former covert CIA operative Valerie Plame resulted in the conviction March 6, 2007 by U.S. Atty. Patrick J. Fitzgerald of his Chief of Staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby for outing Plame.  Libby was sentenced to 30 months of jail June 5, 2007, only to have the sentence commuted by former President George W. Bush July 2, 2007.  No one fingered Cheney for approving Libby to out Plame to the late syndicated columnist Bob Novak.

            Cheney’s shenanigans with the Bush administration know no limits, fueling speculation about the inexplicable disappearance of $12 billion sent in palates of $100-bills to re-supply the Bank of Baghdad.  Former Iraq civilian administrator and Ambassador L. Paul Brenner shrugged his shoulders Feb. 6, 2007 before Rep. Henry Waxman’s House Government Reform and Oversight Committee.  Brenner was a former Bush campaign director before awarding “no-bid” contracts in Iraq.  Cheney was just enough removed from the actions to escape culpability.  No one knows to this day the extent of Cheney’s involvement with Brenner surrounding the disappearance of $12 billion in U.S. currency.  Firing salvos at key administration officials prompted Bush to defend Cheney’s actions, explaining his VP’s attacks were simply squabbles among friendly family members.

            Cheney’s prodigious smoke blowing knows no limits with his new memoir, ”In my Time [Simon & Schuster, 2011].”  Taking credit for pushing Powell out of the White House or calling Condi a crybaby goes over the top, painting himself as the White House hero.  If you read Cheney’s version, it’s hard to figure out exactly what role former President Bush played in U.S. domestic and foreign policy.  Speculating what the world would be like on Fox News had Hillary been president breaks new ground in political subterfuge.  Cheney knows that his Party despised Hillary and Bill, preferring anyone else to the Clintons.  Now that Obama’s the latest GOP bull’s eye, Cheney wonders about the U.S. under Hillary.  Getting Hillary to run against Obama in the Democratic primary would certainly raise GOP prospects.  Cheney really wants to get any Democrat out of the White House.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

©1999-2005 Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.
(310) 204-8300
All Rights Reserved.