Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Cheney replaced? Dream on

Commentary by Pat Murphy


By PAT MURPHY

Pat Murphy

Peppering his hunting companion with birdshot qualifies Vice President Cheney for the "Oops! Hall of Fame" with others whose gaffes have become gag lines.

Nixon's "I'm not a crook." Al Gore's claim of "inventing" the Internet. Dan Quayle's spelling of "potatoe." Jimmy Carter attacked by an amphibious rabbit. Bush Sr.'s "Read my lips -- no new taxes." Clinton's "I did not have sex with that woman."

But talk, even among Republicans, that Cheney's job might be in jeopardy is rubbish.

Any man who can hoodwink a draft board into deferring him five times from Vietnam War military service because he claimed "other priorities," as Cheney did, won't cave because of media criticisms and comics' jokes.

Like it or not, Cheney is the indispensable heart of the Bush presidency, the muscle, the enforcer of the Republican agenda.

GOP old-timers commonly believe that when a small group of ultraconservatives met and pooled tens of millions of dollars to elect a president, George W. Bush was tapped to be the likeable front man and president-in-name while Dick Cheney would effectively be president-in-fact.

Cheney's original pre-election assignment in 2000 to find a running mate for Bush, then suddenly be "picked" by Bush, was a charade. Cheney was the man all along.

If that sounds far-fetched, look at the two men.

Bush is a man of regrettably scant achievement and depth. He barely got through college, nearly drank himself to death well into his adult years, either failed in business or was handed shares of companies as gifts, never traveled abroad, and as president needs canned speeches to compensate for limited thought and requires invited, politically safe audiences for his appearances.

Cheney, on the other hand, had a string of powerful posts with several presidents, was Defense secretary, commanded an enormous international corporation (Halliburton), stitched together a far-flung, wealthy and influential network of Republican corporate executives and policy wonks, and thus is the brains of the Bush presidency.

Cheney picks strong-willed ideologues for strategic appointments. He engineered the rationale for attacking Iraq, produced the memo calling Geneva Conventions inapplicable in fighting terrorism, masterminded with industry CEOs an energy "policy" that relaxes pollution enforcement and pooh-poohs global warming, operates and lives in unprecedented secrecy, travels without reporters, is high-handed with military brass and intelligence chiefs. He probably ordered the revenge outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Cheney's presence as No. 2 is more feared than the president's commander-in-chief status.

If Cheney leaves office, it's because he decided to, not because anyone dared to push him.




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