Dick Cheney -- The D.C. Madman -- Is About To Crack ... (up?)

[BLUSH]

May 02, 2007

The resolution offered by the gentleman from Ohio reads sensibly. It alleges crimes high and low, misdemeanors galore — all of them representing an effort to mislead the American people and take them into war. It is Dennis Kucinich's articles of impeachment directed at Dick Cheney. The vice president will, of course, deny he's a liar. As long as Kucinich is at it, add that to the articles.

In his articles of impeachment, Kucinich details the many statements Cheney made that turned out to be factually wrong. For instance, he quotes Cheney as saying, "We know they (the Iraqis) have biological and chemical weapons," which of course, they didn't. Still, that was excusable since it was early in the game and little contradictory evidence was being presented. As Condi Rice said Sunday, "When George (Tenet) said 'slam dunk,' everybody understood that he believed that the intelligence was strong. We all believed the intelligence was strong."

But in Cheney's case, the slam-dunking went on and on — way past the point where it was possible anymore to believe him. He continued to insist that Saddam Hussein had high-level contacts with al-Qaida — "the evidence is overwhelming," he once said — while others in the government not only knew that the evidence was not overwhelming but that it hardly existed. It was the same with Cheney's insistence — not just wrong, but irrefutably so — that Iraq had "reconstituted" its nuclear weapons program. The percussive march of these statements is so forceful, one after another after another, that it suggests Cheney wanted war no matter what. If he was lying to himself as well as to the rest of us, that is only a mitigating circumstance — sort of an insanity defense.

In his articles of impeachment, Kucinich alleges that Cheney "purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress" — and that, as the expression goes, is the gravamen of the charge. Kucinich doesn't stand a ghost of a chance of making it stick because Congress is not about to vote impeachment. But no one who reads Kucinich's case against Cheney can fail to conclude that this is a rational, serious accusation. It's possible that each individual charge can be rebutted, but the essence of it is shockingly apparent: We were being manipulated.

Richard Cohen

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION/705020325

[global1]

1. And We Continue To Be Manipulated........nt

[Auntie Bush]

2. We're also being screwed with

a router the size of a double wide, super sized oil rig drill and Cheney has his hands on it as he manually twists it up our/USA collective asses.
Not very ladylike, but true! :blush:

[frogcycle]

3. funny - I just read the thread about whether America would accept an atheist pres

and then this

they are actually related


America does not, in general, believe in reality. "Faith" is drummed into children's heads in sunday school, catechism, etc. as if it were actually a real thing. You have to have it. If you're a quart low, you need to go to confessional. People are trained to make up their minds first (as in, "you must believe") and then to fit their observations to support that belief. Vast numbers of seemingly sentient adults were raised in this fashion, and they end up completely lacking critical thinking skills. Many of them rise to high places. Three prime examples were in the republican debates. Probably another seven as well.

The problem is, those religious beliefs are not limited just to the belief that there is a supernatural being you can mumble words to and fix the unfixable. This perception, or lack of it, takes over the way the person's brain works. My dad used to joke about people: "my mind is made up; don't confuse me with the facts"

So when cheney decided SH had wmd's, he probably BELIEVED much of the distorted, trumped-up "evidence," just like that guy in the U-tube bit insisting that bananas prove the existence of god.

Think about it: if you believe, as I do, that there is NO entity that "speaks to" ANY shamans of ANY religious stripe, that's one hell of a lot of people making shit up and pretending to have the "truth." Cheney did the exact same thing the pope does every day. And Pat Robertson, and Jimmy Swaggert, and Billy Graham...

And the public greedily laps it up. People want clear, simple explanations:

The world is carried on the back of a turtle?
OK, now I understand why it gets light and dark every day and am no longer scared

We need to snuff Saddam Hussein because he's got satan in him?
Sure thing, go for it.

So of course cheney said "the evidence is overwhelming," just as, I suspect, well over half the population of America would say the evidence is overwhelming that god made little green apples. They see things as "evidence" and are overwhelmed. He was not necessarily lying when he said that; he truly does not grasp the meaning of the words.

Back to the OP: Yes, cheney is delusional. He may crack if his heartfelt belief in whatever the hell his world view is finally crumbles. Just as the "the world will end tuesday at 3:12" types eventually get disappointed so many times they go babbling into the night, or maybe shoot up a 7/11 or something.

The underlying, and terrifying, aspect of all this is the whole Armageddan thing. A not-insignificant number of people believe the world will end any minute. They have bet everything on the afterlife. Reality in this life really doesn't matter. Just don't be "left behind."

We think the jihadis who believe they are going to get 80 virgins as soon as they blow themselves up are nuts. Folks, a huge portion of our population is just as nuts.

Edit: this was in NO WAY intended to be a defense of cheney. More just making the point that his madness is not unique - and therein lies the problem.

[undergroundpanther]

9. certainty

Earthlings on Fire David Bowie.

I dont want knowledge
I want certainty

On the street
A man shouts out loud

A wallet drops
And money flies into the midday
Sun

With this sound
With this sound
With this sound mark the ground
Sure I get a little afraid -
Sometimes
Earthlings on fire
Earthlings on fire
Earthlings on fire

In a room a man drops dead
As he hits the floor he sighs
what a morning

With this sound
With this sound
With this sound mark the ground
Sure I get a little afraid -
Sometimes
Earthlings on fire
Earthlings on fire

[Greyhound]

11. The indoctrination from birth into the belief that a supernatural being exists, in spite of

overwhelming evidence to the contrary, sets up the adult mind to accept obvious falsehoods, dependent upon the desire to accept them and the person/institution delivering the lie. Does that correctly sum up your point?

[frogcycle]

12. yeah, pretty much

[Greyhound]

13. Sounds right to me. There is certainly ample evidence to support the hypothesis. n/t

:kick:

[BLUSH]

14. But the president talks directly to God

God instructed the president to invade Iraq. If there's no God, then who is George W. Bush talking to!

:P

[frogcycle]

15. somebody's german shepherd

[BLUSH]

16. I don't think Barney and Beasley are german shepherds

nt

[LiberalFighter]

4. He needs to remember that Cheney made many trips over to the CIA

to work on the intelligence so that it came out his way.

By the way isn't there some connection between him and Haliburton in which Cheney would do anything to provide the maximum financial benefit to Haliburton by any means possible?

I would suggest that Haliburton should be investigated to determine what if anything Cheney was illegally involved.

[BLUSH]

7. Which chairperson covers that area?

nt

[LiberalFighter]

5. The only way the evidence was a slam dunk is if a person with a brain...

the size of a pea just like Condi has. The twit!!

[hvn_nbr_2]

6. First they say we were misled. Then they say we were manipulated.

How long till they start saying the plain, obvious truth, that we were lied to?

[Disturbed]

8. Cheney is not delusional.

He is a liar! He will never back down from his lies. He is following the Nazi script of repeating big lies until they are believed. He will keep lying until he can no longer breathe.

[BLUSH]

17. Cheney Obsessive, Relentless, "Delusional"

Durbin calls Cheney 'delusional'," McClatchy Newspapers:

"To have Vice President Cheney suggest that we have had a series of enormous successes in Iraq is delusional," Durbin said. "I don't understand how he can continue to say those things while the president calls them 'slow failure'."

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/01/cheney_obsessiv.html

[GreenTea]

10. The evil, wicked, demonic..Cheney!

Cheney's thirst for blood and corporate profits...as if it benefits anyone beyond their circle...and if it offered more.... is something I don't want! I KNOW I couldn't live with.