- On Friday, the Bush-pal-posing-as-columnist - a.k.a.
Charles Krauthammer - justified Dick Cheney's cursing binge with the same
passion he has justified the Iraq war and Ariel Sharon's policies in Israel.
-
- It took Krauthammer until nearly the end of his column
to reach his thin point that liberals are hypocritical in slamming Cheney
while Al Gore engages in "a breach of civility" by comparing
George W. Bush to Hitler and Stalin.
-
- Memo to Krauthammer: Bush has regularly abused his authority;
presided over the torture of numerous Iraqis and Afghans; has near-total
control of the federal government; repeatedly lies to the American people;
violates the civil rights of his subjects; bullies heads of state as well
as ordinary people; invaded two countries, one of which is at best questionable;
and leads a war which has left thousands of innocent people dead. Hitler
and Stalin never did anything of that nature?
-
- A few questions linger more than a week after Cheney
spat out the f-word at Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont on the Senate floor.
There is plenty of hypocrisy, evasion and denial here.
-
- One little matter lost in all the commotion is Leahy's
accusation that Cheney used his influence to give Halliburton billions
of dollars in business. We now know a word that Cheney can utter, but we
do not know if he is familiar with the words "yes" or "no."
-
- Did Cheney help Halliburton or didn't he? Cheney never
bothered to address that question.
-
- I'm sure it's all coincidence that Cheney headed Halliburton
immediately before he tapped himself as Bush's running mate four years
ago. Coincidence that Halliburton got all this business from the feds.
Coincidence there was no competitive bidding.
-
- Coincidence that Halliburton overcharged us taxpayers.
And coincidence that our leaders never monitored Halliburton's expenses.
-
- It passes the "reasonable person" test that
Cheney used his influence to pass all that business onto Halliburton. How
hard is that to figure that out? Of course, we may not be able to positively
prove that. After all, who of us were in the loop?
-
- Next: Cheney, Bush and their right-wing machine are fond
of talking up their family values and reminding us of what good Christians
they are.
-
- The problem is not that Cheney said the word on the Senate
floor or got caught spouting it. If he is such a good Christian, what was
he doing saying it under any circumstances?
-
- Third, Cheney proved one thing for sure: He can dish
it out, but he can't take it. He is adept at attacking anyone who disagrees
with him, but he cannot respond to legitimate criticisms with straight
answers.
-
- Meanwhile, his right-wing friends and other allies defend
him when he curses, while castigating Democrats and liberals who act improperly
or do something innocent which these idiots stretch into inappropriate
conduct.
-
- Cheney couldn't even offer an apology or gracious regrets
afterwards. As quoted in The Washington Post, he said, "I didn't like
the fact that after he had done so, then he wanted to act like, you know,
everything's peaches and cream. And I informed him of my view of his conduct
in no uncertain terms. And as I say, I felt better afterwards."
-
- "I felt better afterwards."
-
- Hmm. I seem to recall how the morality police regularly
seize on an old hippie-like term: "If it feels good, do it."
What's the difference?
-
- There is good news out of this. You may recall that Leahy
pointed out, "I think he was just having a bad day."
-
- Yeah, he's also having a bad election year. He may well
be convinced that the chances are very real that he'll be out of work next
Jan. 20.
-
- We'll all feel better about that afterwards.
-
- - Bruce S. Ticker is publisher of CRISIS: ISRAEL
-
- Copyright © 1998-2004 Online Journalô. All
rights reserved. http://onlinejournal.com/Commentary/070604Ticker/070604ticker.html
|
