Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Dick Cheney and the Terrible Burden

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Republicans are strange people.    They seem to fight the concept of education, at least free, public education, tooth-and-nail, yet they must value the skill of reading because their has-been and hope-to-be politicians crank out books to beat the band.   For example, former Vice President Dick Cheney, the man who almost single-handedly destroyed his boss's presidency through unabashed war-profiteering, is out on the stump promoting a new book - this one co-authored with his failed-politician daughter, Liz.

Dick Cheney, like all book-hucksters, has to make some outrageous comments and stir a few headlines if he hopes to draw people into the bookstores to buy his bound swill.  And to do that, Cheney has two good options:  he can either look to the present and attack President Obama, or he can focus on the future and go after Hillary Clinton.  The Dick has chosen to use this particular book to savage Obama - he can always write another one later to profit off of Hillary.

Cheney, whose current assault on America is entitled  Exceptional:  Why the World Needs a Powerful America, is, of course, as obsessed with the President as the are the morons to whom he is trying to sell his gibberish.  In the book, he refers to Obama as "the worst President we've ever had."  (That's a bit rich, coming from the man who worked directly under the worst President we've ever had!)

Selling books to people who seldom read requires whipping the customer pool into a feeding frenzy.  Cheney is using the newly negotiated framework for a nuclear deal with Iran to that end.  The proposed treaty does not sit well with Israel, Fox News, or the Republican Party - and it is an obvious bogey-man for the Cheneys to wave around and try to exploit.  In trashing the agreement, Dick Cheney said that Obama is leaving the next President with a "terrible burden."

Could that burden be as colossal as leaving the next President - and the country - mired in never-ending wars, Dick?  Did President Obama needlessly sacrifice thousands of American, Iraqi, and Afghani lives for the primary purpose of lining his own pocket with cash?  Did he do that, Dick?

Barack Obama is a man of honor who is pulling out all of the stops to create a peaceful world that his children and grandchildren - as well as yours and mine - can enjoy for years to come.  He stands in stark contrast to you, Dick, who on your best day are little more than a greedy maggot focused on consuming as much of America as you can and denying her bounty to others.

Keep pointing those fingers and selling those books, Dick, but know this:  when it comes to ranking America's vice-presidents, you will be several rungs on the ladder below Aaron Burr.  Maybe your ill-gotten gains from the Middle Eastern wars will keep you warm at night, but your legacy sure as hell won't.  Your most lasting impact on America was to leave her with a "terrible burden," a stain on our national honor that will take years, and perhaps generations, to scrub clean.

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