dr strangelove - dick cheney

November 9, 2003 1:59 PM

the second most powerful man in the world, is the world a more or less safe place with this man (some would argue) in charge?
posted by specialk420 (31 comments total)

less
posted by wsg at 2:40 PM on November 9, 2003

less
posted by PrinceValium at 2:56 PM on November 9, 2003

OK, move along people there's nothing (new) to see here.
posted by daveg at 3:01 PM on November 9, 2003

less? LESS???!!! i've learned enough here to know that the world is already on a path of most definite destruction because of bush alone. now you're telling me it could be worse!?!!!! what's the point of living? *blows brains out*
posted by poopy at 3:20 PM on November 9, 2003

Oh the melodrama.

I survived the Clinton years; you'll live thru the Bush administration.
posted by konolia at 3:22 PM on November 9, 2003

/sarcasm
posted by poopy at 3:32 PM on November 9, 2003

I thought this a worthwhile post, specialk420. There have been many, many posts analysing Bush but I don't recall many about Cheney. Which would be fine if Bush were the only one at the controls.
posted by orange swan at 3:44 PM on November 9, 2003

Dick Cheney, Commander in Chief
posted by homunculus at 4:14 PM on November 9, 2003

I'd say it's a far cry to call Cheney the second most powerful man in the world. I'll grant you that Bush might be the most powerful, but the Vice President has very little actual power unless he's plotting the president's assassination. (Or unless he holds massive sway over the president's actions, which you could claim I suppose, but I don't get the impression that Cheney is talking Bush into anything he wouldn't have done himself.)
posted by Wingy at 4:15 PM on November 9, 2003

What? Microsoft and NBC are in cohoots with one another? Wow! That IS linkworthy! I'm so much in the awe over here. (/sarcasm)
posted by ZachsMind at 4:18 PM on November 9, 2003

Hell, I thought you were talking about Bill Gates. Anyway, when I vote against Bush next year, I'm also voting against Cheney, who ought not to own any shares of Halliburton stock right now if he had a picogram of scruples in his entire body.
posted by alumshubby at 4:54 PM on November 9, 2003

Im not aligned with any particular party :

but I was wondering what Clinton had to do with the 'internet/ecommerice (ka)boom'?
posted by Satapher at 5:13 PM on November 9, 2003

I survived the Clinton years; you'll live thru the Bush administration. - konolia

Yeah, I probably will -- unlike 392 Americans (and untold Iraqis) who have died so far in Cheney's unnecessary war. Or don't you care about that, as long as Bush is banning abortions?
posted by nicwolff at 5:29 PM on November 9, 2003

as long as there are plenty of dead carcasses to go around.
posted by poopy at 5:47 PM on November 9, 2003

i thought yours was one of them.
posted by quonsar at 5:50 PM on November 9, 2003

Advantage: nicwolff
posted by squirrel at 6:02 PM on November 9, 2003

Come on now - wouldn't you rather have a secret dictator pulling the strings from the center of a Vast Web of Conspiracy and Influence than a government that's as as truly out-of-control and stupidly destructive as it seems?

Hah. I thought so. Pray, pray I tell you that there really is a Star Chamber and a Global Cabal. Because if there's not, well, game over man.
posted by freebird at 6:48 PM on November 9, 2003

2nd most powerful or not, he's got groupies.
posted by y2karl at 6:53 PM on November 9, 2003

Oo, what Freebird said!

Since when is the Vice President of the US "the second most powerful man in the world"? That would be true only if the heads of state of China, India, Russia, England, and France were all women.

I prefer John Nance Garner's description of the Vice Presidency as "not worth a bucket of warm spit".

Even though I think Cheney is creepy and opportunistic, I think this whole "Cheney as PUPPETMASTER!!1!" business is worthy of the tinfoil hat brigade.
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:54 PM on November 9, 2003

Sidhedevil - I'm reminded of GW Bush's earnest question to the Brazilian president during Bush's spring 2002 trip to Brazil - "You have blacks here too?"

("The German magazine, "Der Spiegel" reports that during last week's European summit, Mr. Bush asked Brazil's president, "Do you have blacks, too?" "Der Spiegel" says National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice had to quickly explain that Brazil probably has a larger black population than the U.S., and perhaps the largest black population outside of Africa." - via Atrios)

Given this singular ignorance of the world outside of the US and Texas (think of Chauncey Gardner from "Being There") it is highly appropriate to ask: who IS advising GW Bush on world affairs? If this amounts to a conspiratorial leaning in your opinion, well........err.....ummm.....

Cheney's may not be the only voice whispering in GW's ear, but it would be silly to claim that his was not (at least) one of the major influences on the Boy King.

Meanwhile, I thought the linked article was fairly sympathetic to Cheney.
posted by troutfishing at 8:30 PM on November 9, 2003

Snopes calls the veracity of that der spiegel story "undetermined."
posted by shoos at 10:07 PM on November 9, 2003

Wait, troutfishing, are you assuming that it's true?
posted by shoos at 10:08 PM on November 9, 2003

"It's very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change America." —George W. Bush, Dakar, Senegal, July 8, 2003
posted by psmealey at 10:27 PM on November 9, 2003

Now, I think and hope, that he didn't actually mean what this implies, but I think it's conceivable that some version of the Brazil phrase was uttered.

Does this mean that we again misunderestimate (sic) him? Do similar verbal missteps, these Bushisms, indicate that he really is not intellectually strong enough to formulate policy on his own, and that he is merely an empty vessel, or a conduit for those around him who direct him? Maybe, maybe not. But you have to admit, between Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and a few others in the Administration, there are some pretty strong voices on the far right who advocate for the sort of military adventurism and nation "building" that directly contradicts the platform he ran on in 2000.

Is Cheney the puppet master? I don't know, but like troutfishing, I think he has a strong influence on policy... and given his background (Halliburton, Defense Sec'y during Bush I), he wields a lot more influence than I personally am comfortable with. Perhaps a better question for the the tin-foil hat crowd: is Cheney still alive after 15 heart attacks? Or is he being trotted out in some kind of high tech "Weekend at Bernie's" charade to appear at these fund-raisers and keep the gravy train rolling? :-)
posted by psmealey at 10:48 PM on November 9, 2003

Yeah, I know. I couldn't stand that unparalleled prosperity either

Oh, you mean the Reagan years. Or were you around for the 80's?
posted by konolia at 4:53 AM on November 10, 2003

Less.

If the Raygun years were unparalled prosperity then konolia is a lesbian atheist liberal card carrying member of the ACLU.
posted by nofundy at 5:58 AM on November 10, 2003

i'm wondering how many people on the other side actually think dick doesn't vet (if not originate) virtually every decision (that matters to him) that comes out of the whitehouse? i mean ... come on.

anyone remember that retreat he went on with george w. to help him decide who his vice presidential candidate should be?
posted by specialk420 at 8:23 AM on November 10, 2003

Oh, you mean the Reagan years. Or were you around for the 80's?

That's like saying "I'm rich because I've maxed out my credit cards."
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:55 PM on November 10, 2003

On another tack, if Clinton had had 9/11 on his watch, I suspect he wouldn't have such a great record on the economy. That little incident shook up a lot of things-the airline industry for starters.

But frankly I think it is a little simplistic to blame/praise presidents for something as complex as an economy.

Speaking of the economy-I understand things are perking up a bit.
posted by konolia at 2:09 PM on November 10, 2003

If the Raygun years were unparalled prosperity then konolia is a lesbian atheist liberal card carrying member of the ACLU.

If you'd suffered thru Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford like I did you'd be kissing Reagan AND Dubya on the lips right now. I bet a lot of you are too young to remember double digit inflation. Reagan was the president that conquered that after at least three previous administrations had failed. Most of us didn't even think it could be done.

And you don't have to be Lebanese to understand that.
posted by konolia at 2:14 PM on November 10, 2003

Speaking of the economy-I understand things are perking up a bit.

I keep hearing that. Every few weeks, for months now.
posted by Mars Saxman at 5:37 PM on November 10, 2003