Posted on 05/11/2009 3:08:09 PM PDT by SmithL
There's something about former Vice President Dick Cheney that's been struggling to get out like a rare bald eagle chick ready to hatch. After listening to his remarks this weekend about Rush Limbaugh (loves him) and Colin Powell (doesn't), and his jut-jawed "I don't regret anything" moment on CBS, I know what it is:
Mr. Cheney is now replacing Richard Nixon in the national political and cultural consciousness as the Gorgeous George of our era, the guy whose very existence makes some people furious and who brings to the surface all those intense and complex emotions about power and the people who wield it. And, like Mr. Nixon, the former Bush Veep can't help himself and won't ever stop reopening the wounds.
Forget Rush Limbaugh, dissed by Barack Obama at the one-big-happy-family White House Correspondents' Dinner. Mr. Limbaugh is just a voice, albeit successfully shrill and hugely popular. He's irritating or entertaining, depending on your politics. But he's no Nixon, whose image alone could trigger spasms in the national psyche.
Rush is often called bad but rarely evil.
This Cheney role comes just in time for those of us who were reminded by "Frost/Nixon" just how much we missed the original. As knotty as the man was himself, he could somehow make everything else seem clearer. Life without him appeared colorless, less darkly symphonic. While he was around, kicked after a defeat or voted in by a landslide, he provided psychological hand-holds in a post-1950s world where there was always mysterious and dangerous trouble lurking somewhere. He gave a face to your fears, whether you feared him or worried about the things he feared.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I get the distinct impression that's exactly what he's doing. That's the the leftward presstitutes are going back into attack mode.
Cheney for president in 2012!
Phil (the author) is full of it
The press accuses us of “hate speech”. There is a common psywar technique called “accuse them of what we do, but more so.”
The rage by the lefty press started with Nixon, progressed rapidly through Reagan and Bush I and came to a full head with Bush II.
And they wonder why we cancel newspaper subscriptions.
PS-I was surprised to learn that Bronstein was still kicking. I figured Stone would have sucked the blood out of him before she cast him aside.
As you say the portrait of this man is unrecognizable from that they had 9 - 10 years ago.
Say what?
Are we talking about the same Nixon who instituted wage and price freezes?
Are we talking about the same Nixon who broke the international freeze on China? (Who, oh, by the way, essentially own most of the US debt)
Are we talking about the same Nixon who created the EPA? (You know, the agency that has deigned that CO2 is pollution (WTF?)
Are we talking about the same Nixon who signed the 55 mph speed limit law?
Are we talking about the same Nixon who toyed with the idea of universal health care, who created SSI, and who tried to create a direct payment welfare scheme called the "Family Assistance Program?"
If you think that Nixon was a conservative even in the same league as Cheney, you may wish to review this piece from the Nixon Era Center at Mtn State University. He sounds more like a liberal dem than a conservative.
Nixon did a few things right, his plan allowed some local control on school busing (rather than 100% court mandate). He did support Israel during the 1973 war. He did do fairly well on Vietnam, especially considering he was cleaning up the mess left by LBJ. But a conservative? Sorry.
In terms of being a conservative, Nixon wasn't worthy to shine Cheney's shoes. I realize that this wasn't the author's intent, but this comparison doesn't even come close to flying.
Clymer is a journalist..apparently who writes well with a good reputation. I am not privy to what he wrote or did not write about Cheney, but it doesn’t matter. The former VP can handle himself and does it well. Most who attack him do it from a distance because his presence is enough to put them at bay.
Would America be so lucky!!!!! It won’t happen, because he is finished and has said so. His health is not good, and it taps his strength all the time. His outstanding wife, Lynn, and their family are all positive to anything he does with quiet affirmation. What more could one want??
I understand all of the reasons he wouldn’t/couldn’t/won’t. I also understand that the country is dying and there’s no one in sight who is anywhere close to Cheney’s caliber who can fight to stop it. He’s a born leader of men and his country needs him... and I think he knows it.
I know what the odds are (nil, so they say). But these are extraordinary times.
You think President Nixon was slime because he wouldn't play fair with Communists!? Nixon responded to the greatest threat of his time. The Socialist Salami slices attempted to destroy America in 1972. The seeds sown then have bloomed into the hideous mess we have now. President Nixon was a prophet who attempted to deflect our slide down the slippery slope of Socialism.
I'm reading a bit between the lines here.
A month or so back, Bronstein wrote an article on how it was time to stop bashing Bush. Consider his audience: the Chronicle is a very liberal paper for a very liberal audience. The way I see it, Bronstein is trying to cautiously advance some ideas for consideration.
For your consideration: Mr. Cheney.
And after having offered that, Mr. Bronstein ducks back into the shadows.
He’s Nixon in the sense that the newsmedia hates him and would try to blow up his faults and diminish his achievements. It isn’t going to work in VP Cheney’s case.
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