Yup, Morford again...this was written a month ago, right after the North Koreans let those two reporters go. I posted this on the mental-health website I..."/>
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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
Dick Cheney rolls in his grave
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 10:00 AM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
Quote:Dick Cheney rolls in his grave Of course, he's not actually dead. He just wishes you were Did you feel that? That sickly sort of rolling wave, that disquieting, genital-shriveling temblor of seething grumpiness that swept through the land and made dogs spasm, trees shudder and giant SUVs spit oil and misfire? You might've missed it. It happened just after Bill Clinton returned from his rather astonishing rescue mission to North Korea, two exhausted, grateful, grinning, tearful young American female journalists in tow, Al Gore standing by with a giant smile and President Obama and much of his administration off in the wings, nodding approvingly, as the entire nation found itself a bit dumbfounded at the calm and rather effortless brand of new, intelligent, humble, hugely effective humanitarian patriotism on display here. The churning, teeth-grinding rumble of disquiet? It was coming, of course, from Dick Cheney. (Author note: From here on out, the phrase "Dick Cheney" shall hereby refer not merely to the former vice-president himself, but also to the sour, clenched worldview he so perfectly encapsulated and still so lovingly represents. Dick Cheney is a lexical wonder. He can be a violent action verb: "Dude I just Dick Cheney'd that squirrel with my F-150." He is a dark intention: "Let's pull a Dick Cheney on that queer kid in the locker room." He is, most of all, a state of being, a mindset, a fixed position of general disgust. "Sorry lady, I can't save you from this burning building. I'm far too Dick Cheney to give a damn." Clear? Excellent. Let's continue). See, I'm guessing Dick Cheney the man/mindset was none too pleased at the recent turn of news events. I imagine Dick to be right now re-watching the various video clips of the North Korea fiasco, scowling deeply at the silly/surreal photos of Clinton seated next to -- and towering over -- little Kim Jong Il, the former a natural statesman and the latter trying like hell not to look like some sort of scruffy hunk of semicomatose lint. Dick is right now hurling his razor-filled oatmeal at the TV screen, wondering just what the hell happened to the true-blooded, trigger-happy, America-as-a-clenched-fist country he worked so hard to devolve and decimate and turn into a giant itchy shotgun. Sending a former president to talk with this pipsqueak terrorist? Giving a nuke-happy dictator a face-saving photo op on the NYT? Dick despises every goddamn liberal hippie second of it. See, what Dick would've done is, Dick would've marched right in to Pyongyang -- or rather, let some unlucky Marines march over there -- with a few nukes, about 50 tons of C4 and a squadron of fighters, and shown that wobbly pipsqueak tyrant the what what. Oh sure, an insane, intractable pseudo war with a destitute, pathetic country like North Korea would've been a disaster in roughly 1,000 ways. Who the hell cares? Dick would've made a fortune. He and his hawk buddies would've never let America look so weak in the eyes of dismal tyrants the world over as Obama and Clinton just did -- no matter how well it worked, no matter that it might lead to renewed talks about shutting down N. Korea's nuke program, no matter that the two reporters are now home safe and happy, and it didn't cost the U.S. hundreds of billions, waste soldiers lives and earn us the hate and disrespect of the planet. Dick wants none of that crap. Former U.N. Ambassador and noted hunk of anger meat John Bolton was quick to parrot the Cheney worldview in a hissing little Op-Ed in the Washington Post, saying the entire rescue reeked of American wimpiness, of dangerous, kowtowing diplomacy, when what we should be doing is saber rattling and making macho threats and maybe bombing a few hundred thousand innocent civilians to death to make some sort of point. Hey, it worked in Iraq! Oh wait. Dick Cheney reminds us of one thing: this is a perfect moment to reflect. It is a moment to pause, take a look around and offer a giant heap of gratitude and a huge dose of awe for just what it is that Barack Obama hath wrought. It is a moment, mainly, to compare governing styles, dominant political attitudes, the directions and worldviews of two very, very different Americas: The one Dick so brutally represented and drove like an ice pick so deeply into the national heart, and the one President Obama is now working to unravel, redirect, heal. The difference is staggering. See, right now the kill-'em-all-and-let-God-sort-'em-out crowd is utterly disgusted that President Obama clearly has zero qualms about taking a notch or five out of bedpost of American machismo bulls--t, about swiping the cancer stick from the mouth of the long dead Marlboro Man and replacing it with something like integrity, calm words of wisdom, tact. To the Cheney metaverse, this is a disgusting and shameful way to do America's business. With the North Korea situation, we didn't come out looking like sweaty, bulbous titans. There was no red-faced screaming, no flag-draped caskets. Most of all, America didn't get to thump its chest. And if America can't thump its chest and pull out the biggest gun and let the world know who's still boss, well, America has no power whatsoever. Who the hell wants to be known for demonstrating peaceful, effective humanitarianism and calm diplomacy, and saving human lives if it makes us look like a bunch of weak-kneed pansies? Where is the glory? Where's the firepower? Image is everything. Strut the plumage. Carry the biggest stick. In Cheneyland, sneering intimidation is not only useful, it's vital. There is nothing else. Or maybe not. Maybe the Obama Way is already turning out to be far more effective, more subtle and intriguing, and much more in America's favor, as tyrannical psychopaths like Kim Jong Il are stupefied into compliance by even the pretense of being taken seriously by the Great Satan, and sane world leaders across the globe finally see a country they can deal with intelligently on pressing matters instead of merely joining them at the gun range to blast stuff to hell. You might say Dick is not pleased. In fact, Dick Cheney -- and the entire hawkish, antagonistic worldview he embodies -- is downright furious at this country's dangerous new direction. Which, in its way, just might be the best news I've heard all year.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 10:28 AM
BYTEMITE
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 10:31 AM
WULFENSTAR
http://youtu.be/VUnGTXRxGHg
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 10:48 AM
DEADLOCKVICTIM
Quote: Cheney is just such a delish target...
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:02 AM
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:21 AM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:29 AM
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 2:44 PM
KWICKO
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 3:41 PM
CHRISISALL
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 4:05 PM
PIRATECAT
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 9:19 AM
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:09 PM
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:18 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Niki2: Chris: I don't have a "hell" to go to, so you'll have to wave to Cheney for me, 'kay? Spit in his eye, while you're there, also for me...
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:22 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: Of course, when he says "Dick Cheney rolls in his grave", I'm assuming he means the one Cheney sleeps in during the day, right?
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:44 PM
Quote:Originally posted by chrisisall: Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: Of course, when he says "Dick Cheney rolls in his grave", I'm assuming he means the one Cheney sleeps in during the day, right? There's a reason why Cheney & Dracula have never been seen together at the same time! The laughing Chrisisall
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:59 PM
Quote:Byte, it's for FUN; if you think he's the carbunkle, surely you enjoy seeing him roasted? It's not about left or right, it's about what a gorram maniac the man is!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 4:09 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: Yeah - because Dracula has standards!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 5:42 PM
FREMDFIRMA
Thursday, September 17, 2009 2:11 AM
Quote: Yes, you're right, this administration doesn't have Cheney. And that may not make any difference.
Thursday, September 17, 2009 8:44 AM
Quote:And something about hearing Bill Clinton coming off an airplane praised as a hero from N. Korea with two female journalists on his arms
Quote:Mark Morford's column appears every Wednesday and Friday on SFGate. Contact him at mmorford@sfgate.com (and he WILL reply, we've exchanged e-mails occasionally and he always does). To get on the notification list for this column, go to http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/newsletter/services/signup (you have to sign up, unfortunately, and then select his column to receive) and remove one article of clothing. To get on Mark's personal mailing list (appearances, books, blogs, yoga and more), go to http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=00147Jgk4c64VOrWuzm0WWl4A%3D%3D and remove three more.
Thursday, September 17, 2009 2:09 PM
Quote:THANK YOU, TOM DELAY You were the Hammer- the most brutal and feared of all Republican leaders- but only your rank incompetence saved us from your revolution. The halls of congress already feel different. Under the old House majority leader, the Rayburn Building had the Kubrickian feel of the Full Metal Jacket barracks – heels audibly clicking, something evil hissing in the background. Now it just feels like a building. I ran into a Democratic staffer friend. “Admit it,” I said. “You’re going to miss Tom DeLay.” He frowned at me. “Taibbi, you ever have a hemorrhoid?” I shrugged. “Sure,” I said. “You miss it?” he asked, then walked away not waiting for my answer. There are some people out there who think that Tom DeLay is too easy a target, that it’s cheap to hit him now, while he’s down. It makes sense on the surface. DeLay is a short guy with a paunch and an ass-crack face who spent most of his pre-congressional life cutting rat bait and growing the state of Texas’ silliest set of sideburns. He was ugly outside and in: His religious conversion came while watching a video-taped James Dobson sermon, which means that the most important moment of his spiritual life occurred as he sat in front of a television. In a hilarious example of petty capitalist parasitism, he bought his pest control company, Albo, in order to feed off the dubious largess of the Alpo dog food company. Like our current president, he’s an ex-drunk (he claims he used to suck down twelve martinis a night) given to preposterous rhetorical excesses (he once compared the Audubon Society to the Klan), making him a sort of cartoon version of a shameless, pig-hearted right-wing hypocrite. He was, moreover, all of these things, always, without ever for a second exhibiting any countermanding positive qualities. Tom DeLay was never handsome, never eloquent, never profound, never engaging and certainly never funny. Chicks did not dig DeLay. There is no secondary career as an adored, turtlenecked, coed-ogling poli-sci professor awaiting him. No bar back home full of tough guys is waiting to serve him up a congratulatory cold one, nobody at NASA will name the next comet after him, and he will not be a candidate for the next commissioner of the NFL. The only people left to honor his name will be a bunch of dingbat Christian dispensationalists with big ears and skyblue suits eager to reward him for his undeniable role in speeding humanity toward the Apocalypse. No, without his hands on the levers of power, DeLay is a total zero, a loser, 200-odd pounds of the world’s purest pussy repellent, and with his resignation, many out there will be tempted to revel in that fact without considering the larger picture. And the larger picture is this: Tom DeLay was the Stalin of the Republican revolution. The difference is we caught him in time. The right-wing revolution started out as all revolutions start out: as a piece of upper-class political theater that used the unwashed masses as a stage prop, a pair of crossed pistols on the wall. It was always absurd, this idea of a savage campaign against “elites” being led by a poofy wordsmith like Rush Limbaugh, a Harvard fatty like Grover Norquist, a dickless academic like Newt Gingrich, and a diaper-dumping oligarch like George W. Bush. They were just another band of mischievous aristocrats who played at being the voice of the common man – these new wingers sold themselves as the champions of the fucked-over little guy, in this case the terminally frustrated boobus Americanus, who for decades had been made to sit idly by while ethnics stole his job, evil liberals mocked his religion and his simple way of life, and media “elitists” shut out his views and sent porn and married queers into his living room via the television set. What made Tom DeLay different is that Tom DeLay was a little guy. He had more in common with Bill Clinton (whom not surprisingly he despised, probably precisely for this reason) than with Gingrich or Norquist or Bush: He came from the dirt of the South, with a drunken reprobate for a father and nothing but white trash in his family tree. Unlike Clinton, however, DeLay was not blessed with personal gifts – looks, brains, charm. Instead of Oxford and Yale, DeLay dropped out of Baylor after being inveigled in a childish campus-vandalism scandal. His pre-politics career as a rat and bug killer was marked by a continual failure that has to be considered shocking in a state so teeming with vermin: An exterminator failing in southeast Texas is like a pimp failing in Bangkok during tourist season. Gingrich and Limbaugh only played at being an American loser; Tom Delay atually was one. In his first big move as congressman, when he took on the sinful National Endowment for Arts, Delay said, “I don’t know of one dollar in this whole budget that feeds anybody or clothes anybody or helps anybody, other than a bunch of rich people in Houston.” That would be absurd coming from a Norquist or a Bush, but DeLay really meant it. In the Russian Revolution, Stalin was the penniless, crude, tongue-tied seminary dropout kept in the movement as a hanger-on by brilliant, swashbuckling oraors and theorists like Trotsky, Lenin and Bukharin, who all cynically pretended at fellowship with their darkish brute ethnic comrade. Stalin knew better, and by the time he solidified his grip on power, it was those same handsome intellectuals who ended up crawling on the floors of Moscow garages with bullets in their livers. The famously vengeful Delay was on the way to remaking his party in the same way, disdaining charismatic talkers like Gingrich and Bob Livingston and replacing their type in the apparatus of Washington – not only in Congress, but in the lobbies and the think tanks, who were often forced to comply with his litmus-test hiring preferences – with his faceless, dependable, snake-mean Christian cronies. What was terrifying about DeLay was that he was the barking voice of that afternoon talk-radio caller given full reign of Washington. He was that same angry lout, not invoked and used by clever academics and con men, but actually in charge: a narrow, selfish, envious, mean-spirited prick who had the whole capital on its knees. What kind of man was he? He only went into national politics in the first place because the federal government had banned a potentially carcinogenic pesticide called Mirex that DeLay had used to kill ants. That was his idea of injustice. He invoked God and counseled a business owner in Saipan to “resist evil,” when the “evil” was a set of worker protections designed to prevent atrocities like forced abortions. He nearly overthrew the government over a blow job. And for all that, DeLay now exits politics with surely only one regret: that he was once described as a “moderate” by The Washington Times. No, I guess I’m not going to miss Tom DeLay either. MATT TAIBBI 28 ROLLING STONE, MAY 4,2006
Thursday, September 17, 2009 2:26 PM
GINOBIFFARONI
Thursday, September 17, 2009 5:22 PM
Friday, September 18, 2009 7:23 AM
Quote:But he's got eight years of the stupidity to undo, and not much time to undo it. More, faster, please.
Friday, September 18, 2009 12:24 PM
Quote:The only people left to honor his name will be a bunch of dingbat Christian dispensationalists with big ears and skyblue suits eager to reward him for his undeniable role in speeding humanity toward the Apocalypse.
Friday, September 18, 2009 1:51 PM
Friday, September 18, 2009 2:48 PM
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