Within the past week, Vice President Dick "Darth" Cheney has said he has no idea why his popularity is so low. Furthermore, he implied he didn't care, as he feels polls are irrelevant and that he will be redeemed by history, just as Gerald Ford was regarding Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon. He's not reading the same history books I am. The books I read imply there's no parallel. Ford's pardon of Nixon was to save the nation from the torture of a trial. Cheney, by admitting he approved waterboarding, approved of torture. Ford's act, by letting us put Watergate behind us, made the nation feel more secure. Cheney's acts, no matter how much he denies their effects, have put the nation more at risk. US waterboarding of Islamic terror "suspects" is one of the best recruiting tools Al Qaida ever had.
First Lady Laura Bush asserted that her husband has not been a failure as President of the United States. She's not reading the same history books I am. Despite what Mr. and Mrs. Bush both seem to think, there is no way history will call him "another Harry Truman." For Truman, "the buck stop[ped] here." Dubya has spent most of the past 4 weeks trying to convince people none of the bad things that happened during his administration are either his fault OR his responsibility. Further, Truman knew HE was the Commander-In-Chief, and he fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur's butt when MacArthur wouldn't obey Truman's orders. Had Dubya been in office during the Korean War, however, he'd have agreed to whatever MacArthur wanted--and nuked China. Then where would any of us have been?
Candidate for the GOP National Committee chairmanship Chip Saltsman (as part of his nomination presentation, I think) sent GOP members a CD with his "parody" of Puff, the Magic Dragon, which Saltsman called Barack, the Magic Negro. He's not reading the same history books I am. He's not even remembering the same past 40 years of history I do. His kind of offensive race-baiting went out back in the 1960s, but he is oblivious to that. He's mad that other GOP members aren't defending him and his crap.
I am astonished that Saltsman thought he could ever get away with such a disgusting and offensive thing. I am astonished that Laura Bush seems to have abrogated her ability to think for herself. I am amazed at Cheney's arrogance and utter lack of logic.
What they all have in common, however, is this: they are all breathtakingly out of touch with reality. Only one question remains: are they really that dumb and deluded, or are they that calculating and calloused that they just don't care? [In Cheney's case, at least, I vote for "don't care." See my earlier post on what we should call the Dubya era. As I noted there, when asked about the number of American, let alone Iraqi, lives lost in pursuit of this folly called the Iraq War, all Cheney said was "So?"--Ed]
Intelligent evil is worse than mere stupidity or ignorance, even if the person remaining ignorant made a conscious decision to do so. Those who choose to do evil are always more culpable than the merely inept. The biggest mistake made by those who deliberately do evil is that they believe that what's in their own best interests is exactly the same as what's best for the whole country--even after palpable demonstration (such as the current economic meltdown) that they are wrong.
A soupçon of French Revolution, anyone? In 1789, ninety-seven percent of France's population had no more than 1/3 of the votes in the national government, lived for the most part in grinding poverty, and was expected to carry 99% of the costs of government on its back. The aristocracy and the clergy (the first and second estates, you may recall) held 2/3 of the votes, and thus always made sure THEY were not taxed . . . and shamelessly flaunted their luxurious living conditions in front of the poor. Marie Antoinette never said "Let them eat cake," but that myth has such traction because it is in essence true. Mel Brooks wasn't far wrong when, in History of the World, Part I, he had the French king say "These are my people! I love them! Pull!" as he (playing said king) used the peasantry as skeet-shooting targets.
One tangible example of the Dubya administration's arrogance is its insistence on ramming through as much of its agenda (by every underhanded regulation and executive order and staffing decision it can) in these waning days of its power. Who cares that the present administration was totally repudiated by the November election returns? As one Dubya staffer said, "We're in charge until 11:59 on January 20, and we are going to run the government right until that last minute." People who believe that--and worse, who aren't ashamed to say it out loud--care not for the welfare or the desires of the nation as a whole. They care only for their own use of power.
It is the height of blind arrogance. Then again, why am I complaining? The more dumb things the Republicans do, the less likely they are to regain any meaningful grip on power . . . and that may well be a very good thing for the country as a whole.
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