https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png00emptywheelhttps://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.pngemptywheel2007-05-24 14:22:002007-05-24 14:22:00Lurking Dick
MarkC says:
A spy ring sounds completely accurate in the wake of their outsourcing the production of the Niger forgeries, stovepiping intelligence to force a war on false pretences, and undercutting the CIA in such a way that for the first time in my experience I’m thinking of them as the good guys in the picture.
P J Evans says:
begin to think that Bush has no control over his Vice President
As far as I can tell, Bush has never controlled Cheney. It’s been Cheney running the f*cking show since before the 2000 election (remember that he put himself on the ticket).
From that to thinking OVP is a spy ring – easy.
Getting Cheney out of there – there’s the rub. Think messages hand delivered to keep them out of his reach, and you’ll get to my level of paranoia WRT his spying.
Anonymous says:
Once again, the VP follows Condi around to undo her peacemaking. This is no longer a war of the military industrial complex, it is a war of the industrial complex, with Halliburton and their oil drills at the cutting edge, and bombs, guns and aircraft carriers following close behind.
Alos, Bush is really reaching lower every day, Rove’s coached him to threaten all the members of the press corps that Bin Laden is planning to eat their children, sometime next week.
Even Wolfowitz’ sweetie has now dumped him, so the neocons are losers all the way around…
Anonymous says:
JEP
On Wolfie getting dumped.
I came close to doing a post on it, but didnt’ feel like either Madsen or the NY Post are really reliable.
But if I had done a post, I would hearken back to the concerns that, with her insta-security clearance she might be a spy, and suggest that if a spy’s mark was no longer a useful source of information, then she might dump him.
But I didn’t write that post.
Anonymous says:
Well, you sort kinda just wrote that post…
And it is certainly food for serious thought, if she’s really a spy, then she’s awfully close to the top, in terms of her choice of bedfellows…
Anonymous says:
nixon had it wrong:
â€I’m saying that when the vice president does it, that means it’s not illegal.â€
Mimikatz says:
Your title says it. What Cheney is doing in the picture is taking a leak. Pissing all over Bush’s foreign policy, the US’s standing in the world, you name it.
And what is Condoleeza Rice doing to counter him? Sitting next to Willie Mays and Peter Magowan in the front row at the Giants-Houston game last night. No kidding. (Giants won, 9-1, another victory for the Bay Area over Texas. Swept that series, suckers.)
Cheney is such a menace that one is reduced to hoping for sane military leaders and overly compromised civilian leaders in Israel who will refuse/be unable to make their countrymen fodder for Cheney’s Rambo fantasies. And putting our hopes on Admiral Fallon.
Good for Clemons. And intriging point about Riza. She’s known to have been working with Chalabi. Where are his loyalties, other than himself? Iran?
Anonymous says:
Marcy, doesn’t it seem very coincidental that the same time our media is avoiding any serious coverage of Cheney’s latest war games in the Middle East, they are pouncing on recycled information about Iraq’s nuclear progress?
We are really stuck between Iraq and a hard place, and as long as Cheney can operate his shadow government within our federal system, everything else is just one big red-herring-shiny-object.
War is not good for anyone but weapons manufacturers. Since they now control â€the world’s lone superpower†it looks more and more like these wars for profit will continue unabated. Religion, ideology, territory, race, creed, democratic rights and freedom may be the false excuses for war, but it all really comes down to their unchecked, pernicious love of money.
Everything else is just window-dressing. The huge load of armaments we just shipped to Lebanon is what they are all about, not finding peace in that region or any region, for that matter, outside their gated communitiesand remote mansions.
Beneath the delusion of governments, embassies, secretaries, generals and politicians, â€The Lord of War†rules, and we are all suffering for it.
Ishmael says:
JFK didn’t trust the rabid Cold Warriors of his day, in the military or the CIA, and had the strength to stare them down (as well as the Russians) during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Needless to say, W is no Jack Kennedy. (S)elections have consequences.
bmaz says:
EW travels to the land of plausible deniability; my heroes are falling like flies!
greenhouse says:
And that’s why Jack aint here no mo.
Ishmael says:
JEP – while more orders for Lockheed Martin-Raytheon-General Dynamics are always a bonus as far as Bushco is concerned, my take on the Lebanon â€crisis†of the past few days was that it was a pretext for the US to militarize the northern Lebanese border with Syria backed by a â€request†for military assistance from the Lebanese government (quaere whether Hariri would have been so cooperative – oh right, he’s dead isn’t he?) Presumably this is to forestall any Syrian reaction to a new Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in the summer in the south. Seymour Hersh’s contacts seem to be very alarmed about this given the alacrity of the latest leaks.
Ishmael says:
JEP – while more orders for Lockheed Martin-Raytheon-General Dynamics are always a bonus as far as Bushco is concerned, my take on the Lebanon â€crisis†of the past few days was that it was a pretext for the US to militarize the northern Lebanese border with Syria backed by a â€request†for military assistance from the Lebanese government (quaere whether Hariri would have been so cooperative – oh right, he’s dead isn’t he?) Presumably this is to forestall any Syrian reaction to a new Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in the summer in the south. Seymour Hersh’s contacts seem to be very alarmed about this given the alacrity of the latest leaks.
Ishmael says:
EW- re Wolfie’s girlfriend – if only this were true about Shaha being a spy! A good old British sex scandal of the Profumo type may be the only way to stop the madness before it gets out of hand.
dalloway says:
Um, sounds like a coup d’etat. Couldn’t Congress impeach without Bush â€pressing charges?â€
Ishmael says:
Dalloway – the coup has been in progress since the Clinton impeachment in 1998. While we’re on the topic of cloak and dagger stuff, I have always believed that Cheney’s real target in the Plame leak was the Brewster Jennings operation and what it may have discovered, and that Ambassador Wilson was the collateral damage, not Valerie Plame. I defer of course to our brilliant hostess on all matters Plame!
eyesonthestreet says:
EW- off topic, Walton appointed FISA judge over at Think Progress- then what happens with Libbyl?
Dismayed says:
All of these comments are 100% dead on right. I’ll be very suprised if George the sock puppet is able to get President Cheney’s hand out of his ass.
Did you guys notice that Cheney forgot to play VP a couple of weeks ago when he stood on the carrier and issued warning to Iran. I was floored that no one picked up on the audacity.
One other observation. I really do think Cheney thinks of himself as the president. I’ve noticed on interviews that anytime he says â€George Bush is the President of the United States†He always stammers or has to clear his throat. It’s like watching Fonzi try to say â€I was wrong†on Happy Days.
Mimikatz says:
But Bush could nevefr publicly turn on Cheney. He must have compromising photos of Bush as well as half to 3/4 of Congress.
Marie Roget says:
OT- emptywheel, what happens to the Libby sentencing now that Judge Reggie Walton has been appointed a FISA judge effective May 19? Does he still sentence Libby?
desertwind says:
And here I thougt he was just a cute ol’ grampa.
Jodi says:
I think that many are confused about what is going on in the pond, because they only see the ducks floating about on the surface.
There are some real mean snappers under the surface that aren’t apparent. Elsewise the ducks wouldn’t be there.
desertwind says:
PS – Now we know who’s been shopping Iran bluster stuff to Simon Tisdall for his recent Guardian stories.
Sojourner says:
There have been funny comments from time to time about Cheney’s mental status, but I am really having to wonder… Persons with severe heart disease often suffer from major depression, and the drugs he probably has to take don’t help any. Times I have seen the man on television, he looks a little â€unhinged.â€
Is there any way anyone can slip him some fake buttons to play with so he can only think he is bombing Iran? This is getting to be a bit scarier by the day — and we still have to contend with W holding office!
bmaz says:
FISA judges have that assignment in addition to a normal calendar (although a slightly reduced one). Should not affect Libby sentencing whatsoever.
Davis X. Machina says:
There have been funny comments from time to time about Cheney’s mental status, but I am really having to wonder..
Google on â€Cheney pumphead†or â€Cheney pump headâ€
oldtree says:
perhaps this is the fodder that they wish for us to argue about? there is an oil war coming and you can set your watches. to have to argue which of our two countries are more insane shows us how insane we are for allowing them to. we have cheneyusa or bushwausa.
it seems time for a military coup. where are they? they know what is happening and owe allegiance to this country, not the emperor. or has that loyalty been purchased?
Sojourner says:
***Google on â€Cheney pumphead†or â€Cheney pump headâ€***
Davis, that is interesting! I was not aware that anyone had actually begun examining that. Something really is â€off†with the man. It is just downright scary that he has ANY power — and as someone above observed, he considers himself to be the president.
How do we get this country back into some semblance of sanity?
Marie Roget says:
Thanks, bmaz. Answer appreciated.
William Ockham says:
Let’s not take this at face value. I don’t doubt that what Steve Clemons reported is true, but that can’t be the real plan or it never would have leaked. Cheney is engaged in some message sending here and I suspect that Rice and Gates are the targets. The problem with Team Cheney’s obsession with striking Iran is that it is so obviously crazy. I don’t mean crazy in the â€it can’t possibly turn out well for the U.S.†sense because that never stopped this crew. I mean crazy in the â€never gonna happen†sense. The Israeli establishment is many things, but they are not blind. They know that the Iranians won’t be getting much closer to having nuclear weapons before January 2009 (when they know we’ll start pulling out of Iraq). They also know that they are extremely vulnerable to the Iranian allies in Lebanon. In short, pulling the kind of stunt envisioned by Team Cheney is a no-win situation for them. And, make no mistake, a stunt is all it would be.
This fantasy land bellicosity might work to cow Rice, but I don’t see Gates falling for it. I think this is a sign of the increasing irrelevancy of Cheney. He should stick to the cute Grandpa pictures. He’d look almost human if it weren’t for the giant flashing sign that says â€HYPOCRITES†over his and his wife’s head in all those pictures (don’t tell me you can’t see that!).
orionATL says:
everytime i see that picture,
fear and revulsion flash thru my mind.
it’s like a slasher movie; definitely not rational.
in any event,
cheney is running out of time.
these last few months of the bush presidency are cheney’s last chance to make things happen he thinks should happen in the middle east.
(and, for that matter, among federal regulatory agencies).
he may be getting a little desperate – only nineteen months left, at the most.
so little time;
so much left to fuck up.
Ishmael says:
William – I would feel more confident in your assertion if there were not three aircraft carrier battle groups in the Gulf of Tonkin…I mean Persian Gulf, Special Forces in the Iranian hinterland, the authorization of â€non-lethal†black ops in Iran, rushing American arms to Lebanon….. that’s an awful lot of gunpowder to be stuffing into the powder keg with the region getting so hot. Perhaps Cheney is becoming too marginalized to overtly act against Iran, but they certainly seem to be hoping that some lucky spark sets things off to allow for an attack on Iran. Brinksmanship of the most reckless kind.
phred says:
EW — Given the speculation in an earlier thread that Dowd is representing someone other than Monica Goodling and that it may reflect some kind of internecine warfare going on in the WH between Cheney/Addington and the Texans, I am left to wonder why…
It seems to me that pretty much everyone in the WH needs to keep AGAG right where he is to prevent any real investigations of illegal activity in the WH. In which case, I don’t see how anyone over there wins by getting MG to mention her little tete-a-tete with Gonzo in March. But, in light of the news here, I wonder if Cheney sees the administration unraveling and he has moved into an endgame mode. If Rove is thwarting him in any way, Rove probably has more exposure to prosecution (e.g., caging) than Cheney. Is Dowd from the same firm that represented Libby? If so, then he would be representing Cheney’s interests. Might Dowd’s little tip have been part of Cheney’s end-run scheme? With the Texans out of the way, or perhaps tied up with their lawyers, Cheney would be free to manipulate Bush unopposed.
What do you think?
bmaz says:
phred – Neither of Libby’s two lead attorneys, JoeTate nor Ted Wells, is from Akin Gump.
phred says:
Thanks bmaz. So what’s your take then on the Dowd tip to Davis. I really can’t figure out how that could possibly be to either Cheney’s or Rove’s advantage. I’m really puzzled by this…
Ishmael says:
Phred – I see the Dowd tip perhaps as a â€modified limited hangout†of Gonzales, right out of the Watergate playbook – since â€twisting in the wind†seems to have run its course with AGAG as well.
William Ockham says:
Ishmael,
I don’t think there is any contradiction between what you say and what I say, except that you think the Bush administration is actually in control. The current Lebanese situation (as I understand it, I’ve been a bit out of touch lately) is a result of an amazingly stupid black op we outsourced to the Saudis getting out of hand. That sort of blundering makes it harder to pull off an attack against Iran. Although I doubt this administration is ever going to figure this out, the Iranians have been out-maneuvering us since a short time after the Iran-Iraq war (although I’ll never understand how they got sucked into that monumental bit of stupidity but it should be an object lesson to everybody about letting the religious fanatics run foreign policy). Since the â€loyal Bushies†took over in 2001, the Iranians have essentially been in control of our foreign policy, using us to wipe out their enemies. They aren’t about to create a real provocation (and they certainly understand the danger of a Gulf of Tonkin incident). They know that the sort of strike that Team Cheney is contemplating cand be made to work in their favor, consolidating their support at home, making us and/or the Israelis look even more villainous than we already do, and giving them cover for any sort of retaliation they choose. Despite that, they don’t won’t a confrontation now. It would delay their efforts to consolidate power in Iraq.
LabDancer says:
Monsters at the scale of mythological attract nicknames to get us thru the night BC it tends to reduce them to cartoons – that is, they lose credibility as inspiring terror.
Depending on the nickname I’d think it would be much the same with political figures – the more ridiculous yet encapsulating the less credibility. Or the greater the mirth the lesser the myth.
Given his … shall we say â€qualitiesâ€, it’s unlikely that any single nickname for the Unitary Veep would suffice. Big Dick – the Big C – Dickhead & Big Time [the Pretzel’s handle for him], all have tried & missed.
Every time I read or hear his name or think of him [not fondly] or wake up in a cold sweat with his beady eyes behind his snarking beak, I get this neuron burst back to Joseph Heller’s â€Catch 22†& the lead character Yossarian’s prime [& maddenly recurrent] antagonist: Lt. Milo Minderbinder.
Tho entering WWII as a â€mere†mess officer at the US Army Air Corps base Milo’s patriotic zeal leads him to trade US Armed Forces equipment for foodstuffs to provide significant improvements to the general health & morale of the US troops & officers in his â€careâ€. Each trade opens his mind to greater trade opportunities,to the point where Milo’s patriotic motivation turns into reflexive obsession, & his operations overrun what the Pentagon’s logistics can put within his grasp & increasingly into purloining the equipment [& ironically food] issued to the troops for whom his loyalty drove his initial zeal, which he rationalizes into â€profit-sharing†with them.
What follows is adapted from this link, because it seems to me to capture the characteristic mundanity of presentation in both the relentless effervescence in the service of military commerce of the fictional character – – as well as the VeeP Cheney’s relentless refitting of the English language in the service of violent death & social upheaval: :http://www.answers.com/topic/milo-minderbinder
â€His most interesting attributes are his complete but unknowing immorality & his circular logicality in running his Syndicate. Milo’s enterprise becomes known as â€M & M Enterprisesâ€, with the two M’s standing for his initials and the â€&†added to dispel any idea that the enterprise is a one-man operation. Milo travels across the world, mainly through the Mediterranean, trying to buy and sell goods at a profit, primarily through black market channels. Everyone in the squadron has a â€shareâ€, a fact which Milo uses to defend his actions, stating that what is good for the company is good for all. For example, he secretly replaces the emergency lifevests with certificates for shares in M & M, on the assumption that the future person who may need that vest will be instantly compensated for its absence.
Milo even begins contracting missions for the Germans, fighting on both sides in the battle at Orvieto, and bombing the squadron at Pianosa. At one point Milo orders his fleet of aircraft to attack the American base where he lives, killing many American officers and enlisted men. He finally gets court-martialed for treason. However, as M&M Enterprises proves to be incredibly profitable, he hires an expensive lawyer who is able to convince the court that it was capitalism which made America great, and absolve Milo by disclosing the enormous profit he made by dealing with the Germans. Ironically, his company’s phrase, â€What’s good for M&M enterprises is good for the country†mirrors a phrase Mussolini often used; â€What’s good for Fiat is good for Italyâ€, or the similar â€What’s good for General Motors is good for Americaâ€. There are some historical parallels to Milo Minderbinder, most notably Ford Motors, which like Milo avoided getting its factories blown up by exploiting business connections.
In typical Catch-22 satirical fashion, Milo’s business is incredibly profitable, with the single exception of his decision to buy an entire year’s crop of Egyptian cotton, which he cannot afterward unload and tries to dispose of by coating it with chocolate and serving it in the mess hall. Later Yossarian gives Milo the idea of selling the cotton to the government, since â€the business of government is ’business’â€
I think in particular the vest bit resonates of Modern Times.
Anyway, given the link to â€pumphead†from Davis X. Machina, well – now it just seems so obvious: It just MUST be THE GREAT PUMPKIN!
Ishmael says:
William – agreed that the Iranians are acting more rationally than the US, to damn with faint praise! The Bush Administration is definitely not in control of events, but as the debacle in Congress over the last two days made clear to Bush and the rest of the world, he has been given complete control of the military until January 2009 – I can only hope that some generals will draw the line in the way Comey and Ashcroft did before something bad happens.
dotsright says:
Miss Goodling has kept DOJ documents that do not rightfully belong to her. I’m not sure what the legalities are but even she has admitted that they are DOJ property. What is she doing with them other than using them as insurance against DOJ trying to pin all the blame on her. I think the folder that Sampson showed McNulty and the other DOJ official are for the same purpose.
Dowd’s little leak to Davis may just be a reminder to those at DOJ and the White House that Miss Monica could tell plenty if she wanted to.
phred says:
Ishmael — By a â€modified limited hangout†do you mean to suggest that this will nudge him towards resignation with the hope of a modicum of damage control compared to Congress chucking him out on his keister (although I doubt the invertebrates slithering around Congress will go so far)? No matter how AGAG takes his leave of office, the WH will still need to get a replacement confirmed by the hypothetically-Democratic Senate. This still seems to open them up to a proper criminal investigation. I just don’t see how Dowd’s tip helps.
WO, I agree with you completely, the Iranians have been playing us like a marked deck of cards for years. So has Al Qaeda for that matter. And the neocons keep coming back for more…
Anonymous says:
â€I don’t see how anyone over there wins by getting MG to mention her little tete-a-tete with Gonzo in March.â€
MG wins, this manuever was her lawyer’s shot across the bow of the USS Gone-zo, which is already quite low in the water.
Remember, she came from the Ashcroft School of Politics (literally; Regent is where he teaches), she is not one of the Texas gang. But also remember, Goodling has much closer ties to Rove, one of the Texas gangsters. Rove ran Ashcroft’s Senate campaign when he lost to the deadman, so her Rove connection may have started way back then.
And Goodling may also have worked with Rove’s right-hand toadie, Griffin, in the 2000 election cycle. She certainly tweaked his resume to sound better all the time, as the docudumps proved.
So, considering it is literally â€The Texans†who are throwing her under the DOJ scandal bus, it is a wonder she’s constantly protecting Rove; it may well be Rove at the end of her testimony trail. He was surely the unnamed voice at those amnesiatic meetings.
Why does he remain unnamed, by so many others? Surely not affection or loyalty, unless he is truly beguiling like a serpent… So why would they be afraid of Rove. What does the â€inner circle†know that we don’t?
Is there a bodycount somewhere of â€those who crossed Rove?†Or just a long list of political victims, whose careers were trashed because they treated Karl wrong?
Something stinks of intimidation, on too many levels.
egregious says:
If Clemons is worried, I’m worried. He has very high sources.
phred says:
JEP — I guess I’m just slow, but if Maniacal doesn’t have the cash to pay her lawyer, then somebody else is — presumably someone with lots of $ and ties to the Rethug machine. So I don’t believe MG’s lawyer is truly looking out for her interests alone, he is also trying to minimize damage to the machine. MG already went under the bus. She’s a true believer from the get go, so she’s not gonna rat out her powerful former BFFs. So mentioning that meeting does not help MG, it can only hurt AGAG. So how does Rove tossing Gonzo under the bus with her help Rove? I doubt he has ever performed any act which is not self-serving and I just don’t see how Gonzo’s resignation helps Rove.
Anonymous says:
â€A month ago Kagro X and I pointed out that OVP really out to be considered a spy ring. How do you like the sound of that, our VP engaging in â€potentially criminal insubordination†with his little spy ring.â€
I think it is more likely to be a counter-intelligence disinformation campaign. In any case, all the more reason to impeach Cheney first.
Finally, we should all be thinking in terms of â€endgames†here. I don’t think BushCo plans to go quietly into that good night. But Bush, Cheney, Rove and Gonzo may have different end-games going, and each needs the others for at least a portion of their endgame. This is a game of chess, with maybe more than 2 sides.
Bob in HI
Ishmael says:
Phred – by â€MLHOâ€, I mean that they are keeping the focus on AGAG, which suits the purpose of Rove just fine. Not trying to make an insensitive cultural reference, but AGAG is the pinata that just won’t break open, no matter how many times the Democrats hit him blindly with their sticks. They can continue to leak damaging stuff about him to keep the party going and the kids can keep bashing the pinata, because they don’t care about having a functioning AG or Justice Department – quite the opposite! But while everyone keeps swinging at the pinata, no one is attacking Rove or Bush – they have to throw out something to keep the Democrats interested in the pinata.
readerOfTeaLeaves says:
RE: Pumphead.
Cardiac surgeries are dicey business.
A patient’s vital signs are monitored, but the technologies that monitor vital signs can’t identify subtle neurological changes that might occur during surgery. Prolonged anaesthesia (particularly when the patient’s heart is not the pump moving the blood around) is particularly risky. Preliminary studies show effects on cognitive abilities of SOME patients, particularly cardiac patients. Cheney has had multiple cardiac surgeries.
Cheney’s former acquaintance are frequently quoted as saying that they think he’s much changed. That is worth noting. Neurological damage from prolonged surgery (or stroke) can be subtle. One would start with research suggesting that the emotions have altered; that would point toward the limbic system, which is deep in the brain and regulates emotions.
Everyone changes over time, but in most cases it’s simply an aging (and gaining perspective) shift. Think if you’ve ever been to a reunion, or reencountered someone and then said, ’It was just like old times! S/he hasn’t changed a bit!’
Consequently, when there are numerous published comments about how a cardiac patient has ’changed’ (and not in a good way!), then one has to consider the somber possibility of subtle neurological damage.
If this has occurred in Cheney’s case, it may have been the result of PRE-surgical heart problems — heart pumping at odd frequencies, or erratic blood pressure as the heart muscle contracts weakly, then strongly. Consider this impact, over time, on the very fine and tiny capillaries within the body, including areas within the brain.
[It is also possible that Cheney hasn’t really altered all that much, but that he has now revealed himself more fully AND THAT people now see him more realistically. It’s possible.]
There is no evidence that Cheney was whacked on the head, or suffered any other kind of neurological impact. Therefore, the fairly numberous comments about his having ’changed’ is worrying, but would point to cardiac issues, or risks of prolongued anaesthesia. It’s certainly possible that his cardiac problems affected his neurological capacities. (And if Cheney takes Viagra, plus meds for blood pressure there are additional risk factors.)
And, BTW, once the blood vessels lose their elasticity and ’harden’ (as in high blood pressure) they don’t return to their youthful, flexible state. Which significantly increases the risks of subsequent blood clots, and also strokes.
I’m not a doc, and certainly not a neurologist; this is not medical advice (!). However, even a non-doc can recommend a daily walk or two.
To state that â€Cheney is a sick man†is true in several respects.
OT, but it does underscore how heinous it was for Gonzo and Card to insinuate themselves on a post-op Ashcroft, whose vital signs probably still needed to be stabilized (otherwise, they’d have moved him out of ICU).
phred says:
Ishmael — Now I see what you mean. Yep, as long as AGAG stays put he continues to suit everyone’s purpose. So Dowd’s tip was to give Dems another straw, but not yet the one that breaks the camel’s back. Is that it?
Bob in HI — an astute observation that there are multiple sides in this chess match…
One does wonder whether all the attention on Rove and Miers due to the USA scandal may make Cheney inclined to pursue whatever his ends may be, while everyone else is distracted.
Ishmael says:
Phred – yep. Plus, Dowd didn’t have to make a formal, binding proffer in exchange for the immunity deal – he just had to show a little leg to get the Democrats excited. At least it was only â€use†immunity, so Conyers didn’t have to give too much up – there may have already been plenty of evidence to nail MG on Hatch Act violations without her confession – not least the evidence of anyone she interviewed!
kspena says:
Pat Lang, Larry Johnson, Larry Wilkerson, and Mel Goodman have some good reads of Cheney that go ’way back’ in a conversation posted at No Quarter.
daCascadian says:
The overall point of the exercise is to grind the American military machine into worthlessness in the desert so as to allow others to move to the top of the monkey pile w/o actually having to fight their way there â€the old fashioned wayâ€
Ever heard of these people ? Note well the membership
â€For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill†– Sun Tzu
Anonymous says:
Isn’t trying to incite attacks on US forces more than ’criminal subordination’? None dare call it ’treason’, but check out the definition of ’treason’ in the US Constitution…
prostratedragon says:
This fantasy land bellicosity might work to cow Rice, but I don’t see Gates falling for it.
Indeed. He was put in to limit damage, and would never have been chosen for the job if he were that slender a reed, because …
I think this is a sign of the increasing irrelevancy of Cheney.
this seems likely accurate to me. I think of the recent, frantic wanderings of TGP(™LabDancer) as the equivalent of someone banging on a tv set that suddenly won’t transmit images. If this is so, and I dearly hope it is, then those toy buttons have been in place for a while now, and the irritation and bluster a crescendo are taking place because certain things already have not happened on schedule.
And let me take advantage of this interminably â€loading†server to add that even if this is so, that Cheney has somehow been attenuated in place, it is not the best thing, or even a good thing for our democracy, because he still could escape accountability, and because those who are charged with overseeing him could escape having to perform their duties. That would be the President and the Congress.
orionATL says:
friar will (18:49)
my curiosity is aroused.
what WAS that amazingly stupid black op outsourced to the saudi’s?
the kidnappings?
merciless says:
I’m late to the party, but I just read Steve’s post. Somewhere in the middle of the comments section, someone said that an indictment of Karl Rove was imminent.
WTF? Did I miss something? Is someone listening to the voices in their head again?
As for Cheney, an old woman once told me that you don’t really change as you get older. It’s just that, whatever you are, you become more so. Cheney’s always been dangerous; now he’s dangerous and desperate (and sick; that messes with your head too). I don’t know if he can make his plans work, since State, Defense, and the Pentagon are all dead-set against it. He really doesn’t have any power to order anything, hence the cryptic threats against the president.
I haven’t had time to look at this as closely as I’d like, but on first read, it would appear that the fruits of this blindly stupid (I don’t know what else to call it) â€strategy†are on display in Lebanon. The callousness of this approach is beyond appalling.
A spy ring sounds completely accurate in the wake of their outsourcing the production of the Niger forgeries, stovepiping intelligence to force a war on false pretences, and undercutting the CIA in such a way that for the first time in my experience I’m thinking of them as the good guys in the picture.
begin to think that Bush has no control over his Vice President
As far as I can tell, Bush has never controlled Cheney. It’s been Cheney running the f*cking show since before the 2000 election (remember that he put himself on the ticket).
From that to thinking OVP is a spy ring – easy.
Getting Cheney out of there – there’s the rub. Think messages hand delivered to keep them out of his reach, and you’ll get to my level of paranoia WRT his spying.
Once again, the VP follows Condi around to undo her peacemaking. This is no longer a war of the military industrial complex, it is a war of the industrial complex, with Halliburton and their oil drills at the cutting edge, and bombs, guns and aircraft carriers following close behind.
Alos, Bush is really reaching lower every day, Rove’s coached him to threaten all the members of the press corps that Bin Laden is planning to eat their children, sometime next week.
They have a good view of his story over on TPMCafe,http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/may/24/bush_to_reporter, it is even more frightening to think Bush would stoop this low to make us all afraid, just to protect his house of cards from totally collapsing, now that the top floors have fallen.
Even Wolfowitz’ sweetie has now dumped him, so the neocons are losers all the way around…
JEP
On Wolfie getting dumped.
I came close to doing a post on it, but didnt’ feel like either Madsen or the NY Post are really reliable.
But if I had done a post, I would hearken back to the concerns that, with her insta-security clearance she might be a spy, and suggest that if a spy’s mark was no longer a useful source of information, then she might dump him.
But I didn’t write that post.
Well, you sort kinda just wrote that post…
And it is certainly food for serious thought, if she’s really a spy, then she’s awfully close to the top, in terms of her choice of bedfellows…
nixon had it wrong:
â€I’m saying that when the vice president does it, that means it’s not illegal.â€
Your title says it. What Cheney is doing in the picture is taking a leak. Pissing all over Bush’s foreign policy, the US’s standing in the world, you name it.
And what is Condoleeza Rice doing to counter him? Sitting next to Willie Mays and Peter Magowan in the front row at the Giants-Houston game last night. No kidding. (Giants won, 9-1, another victory for the Bay Area over Texas. Swept that series, suckers.)
Cheney is such a menace that one is reduced to hoping for sane military leaders and overly compromised civilian leaders in Israel who will refuse/be unable to make their countrymen fodder for Cheney’s Rambo fantasies. And putting our hopes on Admiral Fallon.
Good for Clemons. And intriging point about Riza. She’s known to have been working with Chalabi. Where are his loyalties, other than himself? Iran?
Marcy, doesn’t it seem very coincidental that the same time our media is avoiding any serious coverage of Cheney’s latest war games in the Middle East, they are pouncing on recycled information about Iraq’s nuclear progress?
We are really stuck between Iraq and a hard place, and as long as Cheney can operate his shadow government within our federal system, everything else is just one big red-herring-shiny-object.
War is not good for anyone but weapons manufacturers. Since they now control â€the world’s lone superpower†it looks more and more like these wars for profit will continue unabated. Religion, ideology, territory, race, creed, democratic rights and freedom may be the false excuses for war, but it all really comes down to their unchecked, pernicious love of money.
Everything else is just window-dressing. The huge load of armaments we just shipped to Lebanon is what they are all about, not finding peace in that region or any region, for that matter, outside their gated communitiesand remote mansions.
Beneath the delusion of governments, embassies, secretaries, generals and politicians, â€The Lord of War†rules, and we are all suffering for it.
JFK didn’t trust the rabid Cold Warriors of his day, in the military or the CIA, and had the strength to stare them down (as well as the Russians) during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Needless to say, W is no Jack Kennedy. (S)elections have consequences.
EW travels to the land of plausible deniability; my heroes are falling like flies!
And that’s why Jack aint here no mo.
JEP – while more orders for Lockheed Martin-Raytheon-General Dynamics are always a bonus as far as Bushco is concerned, my take on the Lebanon â€crisis†of the past few days was that it was a pretext for the US to militarize the northern Lebanese border with Syria backed by a â€request†for military assistance from the Lebanese government (quaere whether Hariri would have been so cooperative – oh right, he’s dead isn’t he?) Presumably this is to forestall any Syrian reaction to a new Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in the summer in the south. Seymour Hersh’s contacts seem to be very alarmed about this given the alacrity of the latest leaks.
JEP – while more orders for Lockheed Martin-Raytheon-General Dynamics are always a bonus as far as Bushco is concerned, my take on the Lebanon â€crisis†of the past few days was that it was a pretext for the US to militarize the northern Lebanese border with Syria backed by a â€request†for military assistance from the Lebanese government (quaere whether Hariri would have been so cooperative – oh right, he’s dead isn’t he?) Presumably this is to forestall any Syrian reaction to a new Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in the summer in the south. Seymour Hersh’s contacts seem to be very alarmed about this given the alacrity of the latest leaks.
EW- re Wolfie’s girlfriend – if only this were true about Shaha being a spy! A good old British sex scandal of the Profumo type may be the only way to stop the madness before it gets out of hand.
Um, sounds like a coup d’etat. Couldn’t Congress impeach without Bush â€pressing charges?â€
Dalloway – the coup has been in progress since the Clinton impeachment in 1998. While we’re on the topic of cloak and dagger stuff, I have always believed that Cheney’s real target in the Plame leak was the Brewster Jennings operation and what it may have discovered, and that Ambassador Wilson was the collateral damage, not Valerie Plame. I defer of course to our brilliant hostess on all matters Plame!
EW- off topic, Walton appointed FISA judge over at Think Progress- then what happens with Libbyl?
All of these comments are 100% dead on right. I’ll be very suprised if George the sock puppet is able to get President Cheney’s hand out of his ass.
Did you guys notice that Cheney forgot to play VP a couple of weeks ago when he stood on the carrier and issued warning to Iran. I was floored that no one picked up on the audacity.
One other observation. I really do think Cheney thinks of himself as the president. I’ve noticed on interviews that anytime he says â€George Bush is the President of the United States†He always stammers or has to clear his throat. It’s like watching Fonzi try to say â€I was wrong†on Happy Days.
But Bush could nevefr publicly turn on Cheney. He must have compromising photos of Bush as well as half to 3/4 of Congress.
OT- emptywheel, what happens to the Libby sentencing now that Judge Reggie Walton has been appointed a FISA judge effective May 19? Does he still sentence Libby?
And here I thougt he was just a cute ol’ grampa.
I think that many are confused about what is going on in the pond, because they only see the ducks floating about on the surface.
There are some real mean snappers under the surface that aren’t apparent. Elsewise the ducks wouldn’t be there.
PS – Now we know who’s been shopping Iran bluster stuff to Simon Tisdall for his recent Guardian stories.
There have been funny comments from time to time about Cheney’s mental status, but I am really having to wonder… Persons with severe heart disease often suffer from major depression, and the drugs he probably has to take don’t help any. Times I have seen the man on television, he looks a little â€unhinged.â€
Is there any way anyone can slip him some fake buttons to play with so he can only think he is bombing Iran? This is getting to be a bit scarier by the day — and we still have to contend with W holding office!
FISA judges have that assignment in addition to a normal calendar (although a slightly reduced one). Should not affect Libby sentencing whatsoever.
There have been funny comments from time to time about Cheney’s mental status, but I am really having to wonder..
Google on â€Cheney pumphead†or â€Cheney pump headâ€
perhaps this is the fodder that they wish for us to argue about?
there is an oil war coming and you can set your watches. to have to argue which of our two countries are more insane shows us how insane we are for allowing them to. we have cheneyusa or bushwausa.
it seems time for a military coup. where are they? they know what is happening and owe allegiance to this country, not the emperor. or has that loyalty been purchased?
***Google on â€Cheney pumphead†or â€Cheney pump headâ€***
Davis, that is interesting! I was not aware that anyone had actually begun examining that. Something really is â€off†with the man. It is just downright scary that he has ANY power — and as someone above observed, he considers himself to be the president.
How do we get this country back into some semblance of sanity?
Thanks, bmaz. Answer appreciated.
Let’s not take this at face value. I don’t doubt that what Steve Clemons reported is true, but that can’t be the real plan or it never would have leaked. Cheney is engaged in some message sending here and I suspect that Rice and Gates are the targets. The problem with Team Cheney’s obsession with striking Iran is that it is so obviously crazy. I don’t mean crazy in the â€it can’t possibly turn out well for the U.S.†sense because that never stopped this crew. I mean crazy in the â€never gonna happen†sense. The Israeli establishment is many things, but they are not blind. They know that the Iranians won’t be getting much closer to having nuclear weapons before January 2009 (when they know we’ll start pulling out of Iraq). They also know that they are extremely vulnerable to the Iranian allies in Lebanon. In short, pulling the kind of stunt envisioned by Team Cheney is a no-win situation for them. And, make no mistake, a stunt is all it would be.
This fantasy land bellicosity might work to cow Rice, but I don’t see Gates falling for it. I think this is a sign of the increasing irrelevancy of Cheney. He should stick to the cute Grandpa pictures. He’d look almost human if it weren’t for the giant flashing sign that says â€HYPOCRITES†over his and his wife’s head in all those pictures (don’t tell me you can’t see that!).
everytime i see that picture,
fear and revulsion flash thru my mind.
it’s like a slasher movie; definitely not rational.
in any event,
cheney is running out of time.
these last few months of the bush presidency are cheney’s last chance to make things happen he thinks should happen in the middle east.
(and, for that matter, among federal regulatory agencies).
he may be getting a little desperate – only nineteen months left, at the most.
so little time;
so much left to fuck up.
William – I would feel more confident in your assertion if there were not three aircraft carrier battle groups in the Gulf of Tonkin…I mean Persian Gulf, Special Forces in the Iranian hinterland, the authorization of â€non-lethal†black ops in Iran, rushing American arms to Lebanon….. that’s an awful lot of gunpowder to be stuffing into the powder keg with the region getting so hot. Perhaps Cheney is becoming too marginalized to overtly act against Iran, but they certainly seem to be hoping that some lucky spark sets things off to allow for an attack on Iran. Brinksmanship of the most reckless kind.
EW — Given the speculation in an earlier thread that Dowd is representing someone other than Monica Goodling and that it may reflect some kind of internecine warfare going on in the WH between Cheney/Addington and the Texans, I am left to wonder why…
It seems to me that pretty much everyone in the WH needs to keep AGAG right where he is to prevent any real investigations of illegal activity in the WH. In which case, I don’t see how anyone over there wins by getting MG to mention her little tete-a-tete with Gonzo in March. But, in light of the news here, I wonder if Cheney sees the administration unraveling and he has moved into an endgame mode. If Rove is thwarting him in any way, Rove probably has more exposure to prosecution (e.g., caging) than Cheney. Is Dowd from the same firm that represented Libby? If so, then he would be representing Cheney’s interests. Might Dowd’s little tip have been part of Cheney’s end-run scheme? With the Texans out of the way, or perhaps tied up with their lawyers, Cheney would be free to manipulate Bush unopposed.
What do you think?
phred – Neither of Libby’s two lead attorneys, JoeTate nor Ted Wells, is from Akin Gump.
Thanks bmaz. So what’s your take then on the Dowd tip to Davis. I really can’t figure out how that could possibly be to either Cheney’s or Rove’s advantage. I’m really puzzled by this…
Phred – I see the Dowd tip perhaps as a â€modified limited hangout†of Gonzales, right out of the Watergate playbook – since â€twisting in the wind†seems to have run its course with AGAG as well.
Ishmael,
I don’t think there is any contradiction between what you say and what I say, except that you think the Bush administration is actually in control. The current Lebanese situation (as I understand it, I’ve been a bit out of touch lately) is a result of an amazingly stupid black op we outsourced to the Saudis getting out of hand. That sort of blundering makes it harder to pull off an attack against Iran. Although I doubt this administration is ever going to figure this out, the Iranians have been out-maneuvering us since a short time after the Iran-Iraq war (although I’ll never understand how they got sucked into that monumental bit of stupidity but it should be an object lesson to everybody about letting the religious fanatics run foreign policy). Since the â€loyal Bushies†took over in 2001, the Iranians have essentially been in control of our foreign policy, using us to wipe out their enemies. They aren’t about to create a real provocation (and they certainly understand the danger of a Gulf of Tonkin incident). They know that the sort of strike that Team Cheney is contemplating cand be made to work in their favor, consolidating their support at home, making us and/or the Israelis look even more villainous than we already do, and giving them cover for any sort of retaliation they choose. Despite that, they don’t won’t a confrontation now. It would delay their efforts to consolidate power in Iraq.
Monsters at the scale of mythological attract nicknames to get us thru the night BC it tends to reduce them to cartoons – that is, they lose credibility as inspiring terror.
Depending on the nickname I’d think it would be much the same with political figures – the more ridiculous yet encapsulating the less credibility. Or the greater the mirth the lesser the myth.
Given his … shall we say â€qualitiesâ€, it’s unlikely that any single nickname for the Unitary Veep would suffice. Big Dick – the Big C – Dickhead & Big Time [the Pretzel’s handle for him], all have tried & missed.
Every time I read or hear his name or think of him [not fondly] or wake up in a cold sweat with his beady eyes behind his snarking beak, I get this neuron burst back to Joseph Heller’s â€Catch 22†& the lead character Yossarian’s prime [& maddenly recurrent] antagonist: Lt. Milo Minderbinder.
Tho entering WWII as a â€mere†mess officer at the US Army Air Corps base Milo’s patriotic zeal leads him to trade US Armed Forces equipment for foodstuffs to provide significant improvements to the general health & morale of the US troops & officers in his â€careâ€. Each trade opens his mind to greater trade opportunities,to the point where Milo’s patriotic motivation turns into reflexive obsession, & his operations overrun what the Pentagon’s logistics can put within his grasp & increasingly into purloining the equipment [& ironically food] issued to the troops for whom his loyalty drove his initial zeal, which he rationalizes into â€profit-sharing†with them.
What follows is adapted from this link, because it seems to me to capture the characteristic mundanity of presentation in both the relentless effervescence in the service of military commerce of the fictional character – – as well as the VeeP Cheney’s relentless refitting of the English language in the service of violent death & social upheaval:
:http://www.answers.com/topic/milo-minderbinder
â€His most interesting attributes are his complete but unknowing immorality & his circular logicality in running his Syndicate. Milo’s enterprise becomes known as â€M & M Enterprisesâ€, with the two M’s standing for his initials and the â€&†added to dispel any idea that the enterprise is a one-man operation. Milo travels across the world, mainly through the Mediterranean, trying to buy and sell goods at a profit, primarily through black market channels. Everyone in the squadron has a â€shareâ€, a fact which Milo uses to defend his actions, stating that what is good for the company is good for all. For example, he secretly replaces the emergency lifevests with certificates for shares in M & M, on the assumption that the future person who may need that vest will be instantly compensated for its absence.
Milo even begins contracting missions for the Germans, fighting on both sides in the battle at Orvieto, and bombing the squadron at Pianosa. At one point Milo orders his fleet of aircraft to attack the American base where he lives, killing many American officers and enlisted men. He finally gets court-martialed for treason. However, as M&M Enterprises proves to be incredibly profitable, he hires an expensive lawyer who is able to convince the court that it was capitalism which made America great, and absolve Milo by disclosing the enormous profit he made by dealing with the Germans. Ironically, his company’s phrase, â€What’s good for M&M enterprises is good for the country†mirrors a phrase Mussolini often used; â€What’s good for Fiat is good for Italyâ€, or the similar â€What’s good for General Motors is good for Americaâ€. There are some historical parallels to Milo Minderbinder, most notably Ford Motors, which like Milo avoided getting its factories blown up by exploiting business connections.
In typical Catch-22 satirical fashion, Milo’s business is incredibly profitable, with the single exception of his decision to buy an entire year’s crop of Egyptian cotton, which he cannot afterward unload and tries to dispose of by coating it with chocolate and serving it in the mess hall. Later Yossarian gives Milo the idea of selling the cotton to the government, since â€the business of government is ’business’â€
I think in particular the vest bit resonates of Modern Times.
Anyway, given the link to â€pumphead†from Davis X. Machina, well – now it just seems so obvious: It just MUST be THE GREAT PUMPKIN!
William – agreed that the Iranians are acting more rationally than the US, to damn with faint praise! The Bush Administration is definitely not in control of events, but as the debacle in Congress over the last two days made clear to Bush and the rest of the world, he has been given complete control of the military until January 2009 – I can only hope that some generals will draw the line in the way Comey and Ashcroft did before something bad happens.
Miss Goodling has kept DOJ documents that do not rightfully belong to her. I’m not sure what the legalities are but even she has admitted that they are DOJ property. What is she doing with them other than using them as insurance against DOJ trying to pin all the blame on her. I think the folder that Sampson showed McNulty and the other DOJ official are for the same purpose.
Dowd’s little leak to Davis may just be a reminder to those at DOJ and the White House that Miss Monica could tell plenty if she wanted to.
Ishmael — By a â€modified limited hangout†do you mean to suggest that this will nudge him towards resignation with the hope of a modicum of damage control compared to Congress chucking him out on his keister (although I doubt the invertebrates slithering around Congress will go so far)? No matter how AGAG takes his leave of office, the WH will still need to get a replacement confirmed by the hypothetically-Democratic Senate. This still seems to open them up to a proper criminal investigation. I just don’t see how Dowd’s tip helps.
WO, I agree with you completely, the Iranians have been playing us like a marked deck of cards for years. So has Al Qaeda for that matter. And the neocons keep coming back for more…
â€I don’t see how anyone over there wins by getting MG to mention her little tete-a-tete with Gonzo in March.â€
MG wins, this manuever was her lawyer’s shot across the bow of the USS Gone-zo, which is already quite low in the water.
Remember, she came from the Ashcroft School of Politics (literally; Regent is where he teaches), she is not one of the Texas gang. But also remember, Goodling has much closer ties to Rove, one of the Texas gangsters. Rove ran Ashcroft’s Senate campaign when he lost to the deadman, so her Rove connection may have started way back then.
And Goodling may also have worked with Rove’s right-hand toadie, Griffin, in the 2000 election cycle. She certainly tweaked his resume to sound better all the time, as the docudumps proved.
So, considering it is literally â€The Texans†who are throwing her under the DOJ scandal bus, it is a wonder she’s constantly protecting Rove; it may well be Rove at the end of her testimony trail. He was surely the unnamed voice at those amnesiatic meetings.
Why does he remain unnamed, by so many others?
Surely not affection or loyalty, unless he is truly beguiling like a serpent…
So why would they be afraid of Rove. What does the â€inner circle†know that we don’t?
Is there a bodycount somewhere of â€those who crossed Rove?†Or just a long list of political victims, whose careers were trashed because they treated Karl wrong?
Something stinks of intimidation, on too many levels.
If Clemons is worried, I’m worried. He has very high sources.
JEP — I guess I’m just slow, but if Maniacal doesn’t have the cash to pay her lawyer, then somebody else is — presumably someone with lots of $ and ties to the Rethug machine. So I don’t believe MG’s lawyer is truly looking out for her interests alone, he is also trying to minimize damage to the machine. MG already went under the bus. She’s a true believer from the get go, so she’s not gonna rat out her powerful former BFFs. So mentioning that meeting does not help MG, it can only hurt AGAG. So how does Rove tossing Gonzo under the bus with her help Rove? I doubt he has ever performed any act which is not self-serving and I just don’t see how Gonzo’s resignation helps Rove.
â€A month ago Kagro X and I pointed out that OVP really out to be considered a spy ring. How do you like the sound of that, our VP engaging in â€potentially criminal insubordination†with his little spy ring.â€
I think it is more likely to be a counter-intelligence disinformation campaign. In any case, all the more reason to impeach Cheney first.
Finally, we should all be thinking in terms of â€endgames†here. I don’t think BushCo plans to go quietly into that good night. But Bush, Cheney, Rove and Gonzo may have different end-games going, and each needs the others for at least a portion of their endgame. This is a game of chess, with maybe more than 2 sides.
Bob in HI
Phred – by â€MLHOâ€, I mean that they are keeping the focus on AGAG, which suits the purpose of Rove just fine. Not trying to make an insensitive cultural reference, but AGAG is the pinata that just won’t break open, no matter how many times the Democrats hit him blindly with their sticks. They can continue to leak damaging stuff about him to keep the party going and the kids can keep bashing the pinata, because they don’t care about having a functioning AG or Justice Department – quite the opposite! But while everyone keeps swinging at the pinata, no one is attacking Rove or Bush – they have to throw out something to keep the Democrats interested in the pinata.
RE: Pumphead.
Cardiac surgeries are dicey business.
A patient’s vital signs are monitored, but the technologies that monitor vital signs can’t identify subtle neurological changes that might occur during surgery. Prolonged anaesthesia (particularly when the patient’s heart is not the pump moving the blood around) is particularly risky. Preliminary studies show effects on cognitive abilities of SOME patients, particularly cardiac patients. Cheney has had multiple cardiac surgeries.
Cheney’s former acquaintance are frequently quoted as saying that they think he’s much changed. That is worth noting. Neurological damage from prolonged surgery (or stroke) can be subtle. One would start with research suggesting that the emotions have altered; that would point toward the limbic system, which is deep in the brain and regulates emotions.
Everyone changes over time, but in most cases it’s simply an aging (and gaining perspective) shift. Think if you’ve ever been to a reunion, or reencountered someone and then said, ’It was just like old times! S/he hasn’t changed a bit!’
Consequently, when there are numerous published comments about how a cardiac patient has ’changed’ (and not in a good way!), then one has to consider the somber possibility of subtle neurological damage.
If this has occurred in Cheney’s case, it may have been the result of PRE-surgical heart problems — heart pumping at odd frequencies, or erratic blood pressure as the heart muscle contracts weakly, then strongly. Consider this impact, over time, on the very fine and tiny capillaries within the body, including areas within the brain.
[It is also possible that Cheney hasn’t really altered all that much, but that he has now revealed himself more fully AND THAT people now see him more realistically. It’s possible.]
There is no evidence that Cheney was whacked on the head, or suffered any other kind of neurological impact. Therefore, the fairly numberous comments about his having ’changed’ is worrying, but would point to cardiac issues, or risks of prolongued anaesthesia.
It’s certainly possible that his cardiac problems affected his neurological capacities. (And if Cheney takes Viagra, plus meds for blood pressure there are additional risk factors.)
And, BTW, once the blood vessels lose their elasticity and ’harden’ (as in high blood pressure) they don’t return to their youthful, flexible state. Which significantly increases the risks of subsequent blood clots, and also strokes.
I’m not a doc, and certainly not a neurologist; this is not medical advice (!). However, even a non-doc can recommend a daily walk or two.
To state that â€Cheney is a sick man†is true in several respects.
OT, but it does underscore how heinous it was for Gonzo and Card to insinuate themselves on a post-op Ashcroft, whose vital signs probably still needed to be stabilized (otherwise, they’d have moved him out of ICU).
Ishmael — Now I see what you mean. Yep, as long as AGAG stays put he continues to suit everyone’s purpose. So Dowd’s tip was to give Dems another straw, but not yet the one that breaks the camel’s back. Is that it?
Bob in HI — an astute observation that there are multiple sides in this chess match…
One does wonder whether all the attention on Rove and Miers due to the USA scandal may make Cheney inclined to pursue whatever his ends may be, while everyone else is distracted.
Phred – yep. Plus, Dowd didn’t have to make a formal, binding proffer in exchange for the immunity deal – he just had to show a little leg to get the Democrats excited. At least it was only â€use†immunity, so Conyers didn’t have to give too much up – there may have already been plenty of evidence to nail MG on Hatch Act violations without her confession – not least the evidence of anyone she interviewed!
Pat Lang, Larry Johnson, Larry Wilkerson, and Mel Goodman have some good reads of Cheney that go ’way back’ in a conversation posted at No Quarter.
The overall point of the exercise is to grind the American military machine into worthlessness in the desert so as to allow others to move to the top of the monkey pile w/o actually having to fight their way there â€the old fashioned wayâ€
Ever heard of these people ? Note well the membership
â€For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill†– Sun Tzu
Isn’t trying to incite attacks on US forces more than ’criminal subordination’? None dare call it ’treason’, but check out the definition of ’treason’ in the US Constitution…
This fantasy land bellicosity might work to cow Rice, but I don’t see Gates falling for it.
Indeed. He was put in to limit damage, and would never have been chosen for the job if he were that slender a reed, because …
I think this is a sign of the increasing irrelevancy of Cheney.
this seems likely accurate to me. I think of the recent, frantic wanderings of TGP(™LabDancer) as the equivalent of someone banging on a tv set that suddenly won’t transmit images. If this is so, and I dearly hope it is, then those toy buttons have been in place for a while now, and the irritation and bluster a crescendo are taking place because certain things already have not happened on schedule.
And let me take advantage of this interminably â€loading†server to add that even if this is so, that Cheney has somehow been attenuated in place, it is not the best thing, or even a good thing for our democracy, because he still could escape accountability, and because those who are charged with overseeing him could escape having to perform their duties. That would be the President and the Congress.
friar will (18:49)
my curiosity is aroused.
what WAS that amazingly stupid black op outsourced to the saudi’s?
the kidnappings?
I’m late to the party, but I just read Steve’s post. Somewhere in the middle of the comments section, someone said that an indictment of Karl Rove was imminent.
WTF? Did I miss something? Is someone listening to the voices in their head again?
As for Cheney, an old woman once told me that you don’t really change as you get older. It’s just that, whatever you are, you become more so. Cheney’s always been dangerous; now he’s dangerous and desperate (and sick; that messes with your head too). I don’t know if he can make his plans work, since State, Defense, and the Pentagon are all dead-set against it. He really doesn’t have any power to order anything, hence the cryptic threats against the president.
orionATL,
This comes from Sy Hersh. You can read it at: http://www.newyorker.com/repor…..fact_hersh
I haven’t had time to look at this as closely as I’d like, but on first read, it would appear that the fruits of this blindly stupid (I don’t know what else to call it) â€strategy†are on display in Lebanon. The callousness of this approach is beyond appalling.
还ä¸é”™å“Ÿ!深圳物æµã€æ·±åœ³ç‰©æµå…¬å¸ï¼Œä¸åž‹æ·±åœ³è´§è¿ 深圳货è¿å…¬å¸ ä¼ä¸šæŠ›ä¸¸æœº ,深圳æ¬è¿ 深圳æ¬è¿å…¬å¸ 深圳æ¬è¿, 深圳åŠè£… 深圳æ¬å®¶å…¬å¸ é£Ÿå ‚æ‰¿åŒ…