Is Cheney Panicking? - Did Cheney believe he could hide all this forever?

[kpete]

21 Apr 2009 11:34 am

Is Cheney Panicking?

The one thing you saw most plainly in the Plame affair is how obsessed Dick Cheney is with public image, the chattering classes and spinning stories that might reflect poorly on him. The act is the elder statesman, authoritatively reviewing the world scene, soberly making judgments, calmly explaining it later to those pesky people who are required to elect you every four years. The reality is a man who lost it on 9/11, leapt immediately to apocalyptic conclusions, and then, as the dust cleared, was unable to go back on the war crimes he had authorized and so dug in ever more deeply to justify them. I don't think anyone begrudges that kind of misjudgment at the beginning, although one would have hoped for calmer heads in a crisis, but the attempt to institutionalize the torture of first resort into an entire program of black sites, torture manuals, Orwellian euphemisms, and legal fantasy was bound, like the institutionalization of Gitmo, to collapse under any successor who actually wanted to return the US to the rule of law and the world of civilized nations.

Did Cheney believe he could hide all this for ever?

Did he believe that hundreds of randomly seized human beings could be consigned to the black hole of Gitmo for ever? And was he really going to launch this kind of appalling attacks on his successors whenever they tried to move past this stuff or be forced, by the law itself and the Geneva Conventions, to investigate and prosecute violations of core human rights?

The ratcheting up of the rhetoric - “I think you have to be very careful. The world outside there — both our friends and our foes –will be quick to advantage of a situation if they think they’re dealing with a weak president or one who’s not going to stand up and aggressively defend America’s interests" - is particularly Weimar. He's lashing out now, and using his surrogates to write chilling op-eds defending all of it. I see this as a sign of weakness, not strength. Obama draws these people out like moths to the flame.

That flame is the truth. Let us see it all.


more at:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/04/is-cheney-panicking.html

[monmouth]

1. And, he wrongly assumed that Dems didn't have a prayer in the election

and that more cartoon repugs would continue the farce....

[DKRC]

18. Or that Clinton would win

Then the Clinton bashing machine would be cranked back up to a '90s level of vitriol to keep her on the defensive.
Either way Cheney wouldn't have had to worry about any of this coming out.

[seemslikeadream]

2. I say panic

[EFerrari]

3. When he refers to other memos, it makes me wonder if

he has some that look bad for the Dem side of the Congressional intelligence delegation. Because there is no evidence that torture stopped anything and lots of evidence that it shut down or clouded the flow of information.

[seemslikeadream]

4. Holder must the do his job and will be remembered in history for doing so

[bleever]

12. Any successes from "enhanced interrogation" would have been trumpeted

from the highest places, and repeated endlessly by the right wing echo chamber.

Instead, all they had were lame, half-assed, aspirational plots by loose affiliations of losers, egged on by planted federal informants.

[barbtries]

16. i personally think he's just

saying that to plant the seed of doubt in people's minds. blowing smoke up the collective ass of the nation if you will.

[glinda]

22. I say panic also. Every time he opens his mouth he appears to be digging a bigger hole.

[aquart]

5. Anything that eats his liver is fine by me.

If we aren't allowed to torture him, let his own mind do it.

Stress isn't good for a man in his condition, I hear.

[driver8]

8. I was thinking the same thing.

That fucker deserves every miserable, painful, stress filled day!

[goforit]

6. Squirm Cheney squirm!!! Wait until we all find out that you orchestrated 911 and

that, you Cheney, are the real Osama Bin Ladin.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

14. I think he is

without the beard

[stubtoe]

20. I was kinda thinking the exact same thing.

He didn't get in over his head, as the author suggests. He CAUSED the whole damn mess.

[dweller]

23. ...

dp

[Uncle Joe]

7. I believe Cheney has all the calm, sober collectivity of Norman Bates.

Cheney will show us he won't even pull the wings off a fly, when people are watching. You see he's not really sadistic or weak, just calm, cool and collected, gentle as a lamb.

Ok American People, now relax and go take a shower, you can feel safe taking Cheney's advice.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[FightingIrish]

9. If only Cheney were indicted and convicted it wouldn't be complete justice

but it would be sweet. I wouldn't mind watching him being interviewed -- in prison coveralls.

[Beetwasher]

10. Cheney Is Writing His Epitaph

Prosecutions are coming.

[Gregorian]

11. Not just Cheney. But Feith, Perle, Hastert, Grossman...

When I heard that Cheney had gone back to the CIA the other day, I had to laugh at the irony. The vp who made history with the most visits to the CIA has to now come crawling back for his own hide.

There may be very little in the way of real journalism in our bigger media newsrooms in America, but this is not 1990, nor even 2000 for that matter. The internet is an extremely important reference and storage tool that has sped up, and improved communications on planet earth. This last administration may very well be the first to see true justice for their bigger crimes.

[eleny]

13. I wonder what he kept in that man sized safe he had in his office

He could have some info that in his mind vindicates the decision to torture. But that doesn't mean he's right. I hope something is released so it can be publicly debated.

[FightingIrish]

15. Spare parts n/t

[Ghost in the Machine]

25. reanimation chamber disguised as a man-sized safe for holding spare parts...

:evilgrin:

[Beam Me Up]

17. If only torture were the worst thing Cheney is hiding.

And I think that is what they are really afraid of -- that any torture investigation might lead to deeper, FAR more unsettling truths. They lied about everything. Everything. Why wouldn't Cheney and Bush face the 9/11 Comission under oath? Why did they only agree to be interviewed together and stipulate that no notes could be taken? What are they hiding about 9/11? This is important because they ALWAYS use 9/11 as the "excuse" for everything else they've done, most especially torture. "Oh, we were trying to prevent another 9/11." Lies, more lies and damned lies.

[Politicalboi]

19. If Cheney has moles

Maybe the memo's will be just what he wants everyone to see. Now when were the memo's created is another story. But it still doesn't make torture ok. I just don't think Cheney would be that careless to leave a paper trail that would make him look guilty.

[stillcool]

21. He's on the tv more now..

than he was his 8 years in office. He's a one-man perception creating machine.

[Kaleko]

24. Cheney isn't a man who lost it on 9/11 and leapt immediately to apocalyptic conclusions.

Everyone who has done their homework knows that Cheney was in charge all along. He's one of the masterminds, and he used known Saudi wannabe martyrs as patsies.

Wake the hell up, Mr. Sullivan. You're intelligent enough to actually get it, fer Chrissakes.