Of all the cartoon characters from the previous administration I think Cheney is my absolute favorite.  Comical and diabolical all at the same time the man is a walking punch line.  Quick - who stayed stashed away inside a man-sized vault in an undisclosed location for years?  Who looks like “the Penguin” from the 1960’s Batman TV series depicted by the late Burgess Meredith?  Who is the last person you would want to accompany on a hunting trip?  (By the way if you are on a hunting trip with Cheney and someone shouts “duck”, take them literally.  Don’t take for granted that they are necessarily referring to cute, aquatic fowl.)  Now the man who entertained us for those eight years of the Bush administration is back again spouting hard to believe statements and accusations leveled at the current administration on what he figures is his wheel house – national security.  As hard to believe as it is though, I don’t think Cheney is joking in some of the things he says and believes.

Cheney’s efforts to rewrite the legacy of the Bush administration came to a head on the Sunday morning talk shows.  In an interview with ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl aired on Sunday morning he said that water boarding and other “enhanced interrogation” techniques should be used on the “Christmas bomber”, Farouk Abdulmuttalab.  Imagine that, Cheney proposing using methods that he and others in the previous administration should have been prosecuted for green lighting.  Cheney has also implied or straight out stated in numerous interviews that Obama doesn’t understand that America is at war, that America is less safe under President Obama and that Bush deserves credit for winning the war in Iraq (but not the blame for started it on false premises.)  Well this time the administration wasn’t taking it and sent point man VP Joe Biden out on the Sunday morning talk circuit to defend. 

Biden on Meet the Press responding to Cheney:  The President of the United States said in the State of the Union, "We're at war with Al Qaeda." And by the way, we're pursuing that war with a vigor like it's never been seen before. We've eliminated 12 of their top 20 people. We have taken out 100 of their associates. We are making, we've sent them underground. They are in fact not able to do anything remotely like they were in the past. They are on the run. I don't know where Dick Cheney has been. Look, it's one thing, again, to criticize. It's another thing to sort of rewrite history. What is he talking about?

Way to go Joe but I frankly don’t know why Biden or any other official of this administration lends dignity to such claptrap by answering such Cheney.  Now, of course Cheney has the right to put his foot in his mouth and to make a fool of himself just as everyone has.  (God knows I’ve exercised that right myself to the fullest many times.)  But Cheney’s statements and the statements made by a whole rogue’s gallery of former Bushies defies logic.  Daily we are deluged by weird attempts to rewrite the record of the last eight years from the likes of John Yoo, John Bolton et al.  Everyone except the man himself who apparently knows, for the most part, that he has done his damage and should now keep his head down low- G.W. 

But back to the Dick:

·    Dick face the truth the previous administration was a tremendous failure in every respect especially on the subject of national security which is supposed to be a Republican strong suit.
·    Dick fact the truth you are not a hawk but a chicken-hawk who maintained a series of student deferments from 1959 through to 1966 and should not be impugning the patriotism of or devotion this president has to national security.
·    Dick face the truth on your watch a Halliburton subsidiary sold $23 million in equipment to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and the company maintained an office in and sold equipment in Iran. 
·    Dick face the truth while working for Halliburton you lobbied against sanctions on Iran until you joined Bush’s presidential ticket.
·    Dick face the truth you ignored repeated warnings from Sen. Diane Feinstein, chair of the Technology and Terrorism Subcommittee, to restructure US. counterterrorism defense programs.  (Cheney’s then chief of staff “Scooter” Libby said he would.  He never did.)

This is our terrorism expert.  This is the man who impugns the motives and condescendingly talks about Obama’s lack of knowledge about the subject of national security.  This is the man who presided over the handover of military responsibilities over to private contractors.  This is the man who apparently didn’t understand then and now that a part of a nation’s security also lies in its reputation and how it is perceived by and treats other nations and other peoples. 

·    Dick head back to your man-sized vault and let’s hope no one finds the combination this time.
·    Dick head back to the woods with your hunting buddies.
·    Dick head back to a life of obscurity.