Vice President Dick Cheney: Convenient Storyteller

Former Vice President Dick Cheney tells great stories. Too bad most of them aren’t true.

Cheney is currently on a book tour promoting his new book In My Time. And as in past years, when Cheney’s mouth is moving controversial, questionable, and inaccurate things come out. This book tour is yet another attempt by Cheney to revise history and pretend that the Bush administration didn’t make deadly mistakes.

Cheney gleefully admits that as a result of the revelations in his book, “there are going to be heads exploding all over Washington.” Well, gee that just makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over.

It’s pretty interesting to watch a man go from talk show to talk show doing interviews where he outright misstates facts, calls torture “legal,” and proudly recounts his atrocious record as vice president as if the viewers have amnesia.

Based on excerpts of the book, the memoir is not short of score settling.

One of the clearest targets in his book is former Secretary of State Colin Powell with whom Cheney served in two separate administrations. Apparently, there is no love lost between the two and Cheney claims that Powell was “openly disdainful of [Bush administration] policies” Cheney claims that he was the one who kicked Powell out of the administration when it is actually common knowledge that Powell had always intended to leave at the end of the first term. Powell rebuts Cheney’s claims in the book by likening it to a “supermarket tabloid.”

The shots don’t stop at Powell, however, Cheney then goes on to bash Powell’s successor, former Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice. Cheney describes Rice as, a “train wreck,” with a “misguided approach,” and “diplomatic failures.” Cheney also recounts a meeting with Rice after they had a disagreement about the Iraq War, with her coming into his office and “tearfully admit[ing] [Cheney] had been right.” Could Cheney be any more condescending?

Cheney also still continues to claim enhanced interrogation torture is “safe, legal, and effective.” Which of course is also, untrue. Torture doesn’t work, it’s illegal, and Cheney’s boastful rants about how successful his torture program was makes me want to vomit. Lawrence Wilkerson former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell says Cheney “fears being tried as a war criminal”.

Cheney’s arrogant interviews really should be viewed as getting out in front of the story and creating the perception that a future prosecution for war crimes is the farthest thing from his mind. Wilkerson goes on to say that, “[Cheney’s] developed an angst and almost a protective cover, and now he fears being tried as a war criminal so he uses such terminology as ‘exploding heads all over Washington’ because that’s the way someone who’s decided he’s not going to be prosecuted acts: boldly, let’s get out in front of everybody, let’s act like we are not concerned and so forth when in fact they are covering up their own fear that somebody will Pinochet him.”

We can only hope.