How Cheney Got His SNEER: The Curse of Dick Cheney

[Octafish]

This profile spells out exactly why Cheney has no soul...



The Curse of Dick Cheney

The veep's career has been marred by one disaster after another

By T.D. ALLMAN

Should George W. Bush win this election, it will give him the distinction of being the first occupant of the White House to have survived naming Dick Cheney to a post in his administration. The Cheney jinx first manifested itself at the presidential level back in 1969, when Richard Nixon appointed him to his first job in the executive branch. It surfaced again in 1975, when Gerald Ford made Cheney his chief of staff and then -- with Cheney's help -- lost the 1976 election. George H.W. Bush, having named Cheney secretary of defense, was defeated for re-election in 1992. The ever-canny Ronald Reagan was the only Republican president since Eisenhower who managed to serve two full terms. He is also the only one not to have appointed Dick Cheney to office.

This pattern of misplaced confidence in Cheney, followed by disastrous results, runs throughout his life -- from his days as a dropout at Yale to the geopolitical chaos he has helped create in Baghdad. Once you get to know his history, the cycle becomes clear: First, Cheney impresses someone rich or powerful, who causes unearned wealth and power to be conferred on him. Then, when things go wrong, he blames others and moves on to a new situation even more advantageous to himself.

"Cheney's manner and authority of voice far outstrip his true abilities," says Chas Freeman, who served under Bush's father as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. "It was clear from the start that Bush required adult supervision -- but it turns out Cheney has even worse instincts. He does not understand that when you act recklessly, your mistakes will come back and bite you on the ass."

Cheney's record of mistakes begins in 1959, when Tom Stroock, a Republican politician-businessman in Casper, Wyoming, got Cheney, then a senior at Natrona County High School, a scholarship to Yale. "Dick was the all-American boy, in the top ten percent of his class," Stroock says. "He seemed a natural." But instead of triumphing, Cheney failed. "He spent his time partying with guys who loved football but weren't varsity quality," recalls Stephen Billings, an Episcopalian minister who roomed with him during Cheney's freshman (and only full) year at Yale. "His idea was, you didn't need to master the material," says his other roommate, Jacob Plotkin. "He passed one psych course without attending class or studying, and he was proud of that. But there are some things you can't bluff, and Dick reached a point where you couldn't recover."

CONTINUED MUST READ...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story?id=6450422&rnd=1094908105173&has-player=true

[gulliver]

1. That's my impression of Cheney too.

His thinking is substandard and cracked, but his cooly delivered, emotion-laden rhetoric and his "hard-bitten, responsible, intelligent, white old man" costume carry his water for him.

Thanks for pointing out the article!

[Octafish]

4. You're welcome! Happy to spread the word: Cheney's a total F-up.

Sneer must've invented the slogan:

"Never complain. Never explain."

I wonder who ended up cleaning up all of HIS messes as a kid?

As an adult, I imagine it's...



Then the question becomes: "What kind of woman would marry a man with no empathy?"

[theHandpuppet]

2. Did you know the name "Cheney" is Old French?

I suppose having a French name and all, Sneering Dick should offer to change it. I have a few suggestions.... ;)

[Octafish]

5. Hey! You reminded me of what my 7-year-old son said...

Listening to CNN with me one day, he heard Sneer's name mentioned. My boy said:

"Does that mean he likes to keep people in chains?"

LOL. From the mouths of babes...

Of course, I said, "Yes, son."

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Four-peat.

[Octafish]

8. Why change horsemen?

New York Times: FBI Painting Ugly Picture of Israeli Espionage in US

By Eric Margolis
Thursday, September 09 2004 @ 12:47 PM EDT

"The current investigation is one indication of growing concerns that U.S. national security and foreign policy have been gravely compromised .."

The dots in Washington are connecting. It's not a pretty sight.

Last week the results of a controversial two-year FBI investigation were leaked to the media.

The story is potentially a huge scandal and may indicate a furious power struggle between neocon supporters of Israel's far right Likud Party, who dominated the Pentagon and National Security Council, and the CIA and the state department.

The FBI is focusing on the Pentagon's policy department, a mini state department within defence that plays a key role in U.S. Mideast policy. It is headed by a neocon activist, defence undersecretary Douglas Feith, who has longtime links to Likud.

CONTINUED...

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20040909124714460

[AmerDem]

6. I read that article this past week

It very good and gave so much info that I wasn't aware of!

[Octafish]

9. I think his goal is to end the world.

Cheney and his ilk are so sick, even Brent Scowcroft finds them dangerous. From Rolling Stone:

EXCERPT...

Appointed to another powerful position, Cheney promptly went about screwing it up. He pushed to turn many military duties over to private companies and began moving "defense intellectuals" with no military experience into key posts at the Pentagon. Most notable among them was Paul Wolfowitz, who later masterminded much of the disastrous strategy that George W. Bush has pursued in Iraq. In 1992, as undersecretary of defense, Wolfowitz turned out a forty-page report titled "Defense Planning Guidance," arguing that historic allies should be demoted to the status of U.S. satellites, and that the modernization of India and China should be treated as a threat, as should the democratization of Russia. "We must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role," the report declared. It was nothing less than a blueprint for worldwide domination, and Cheney loved it. He maneuvered to have the president adopt it as doctrine, but the elder Bush, recognizing that the proposals were not only foolish but dangerous, immediately rejected them.

By the end of the first Bush administration, others had come to the conclusion that Cheney and his followers were dangerous. "They were referred to collectively as the crazies," recalls Ray McGovern, a CIA professional who interpreted intelligence for presidents going back to Kennedy. Around the same time, McGovern remembers, Secretary of State James Baker and National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft counseled the elder President Bush, "Keep these guys at arm's length."

CONTINUED...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story?id=6450422&rnd=1094908105173&has-player=true

Gee. One'd think the press would report on this, the End of the World Thing.

[A_Possum]

7. All of these guys have failed again and again

Look at Bush, fer pete's sake.

WHY does anyone believe they are competent to run a country when they screwed up everything they touched? And they'ved spent the last 4 years screwed US up!

[Octafish]

10. That's why we've got to fight them here and there...

We must fight them everywhere. These turds of the BFEE are on the point of destroying the world -- through military action, environmental degradation, economic theft, and medical neglect. Funny how so few see it.

A big ditty on the subject from las' year:


BFEE Final Solution: Environmental Degradation

Through their enablers, the Bush Organized Crime Family, the Fourth Reich plans to implement their Final Solution. It will not come through a militaristic or police-state holocaust, but through the subtle and “natural” means of environmental degradation.

Consider the planet is quickly becoming uninhabitable. The oceans are dying, fishing stocks are 90-percent depleted. Arable farmlands are depleted through urbanization and over-use. The planet’s rainforests are being destroyed. Clean water is becoming a rarity for the majority of the earth’s people. Global Warming only makes things worse, meaning disaster unimagined awaits. And all this is happening within OUR lifetimes.

This is no joke. We must ask ourselves “Why?” would the modern neo-conservative hold the socio-economic perspective of Darwinism? The answer: To rid them of their enemies: Political, Social, and Military. And save the earth’s dwindling life-support capabilities for themselves.

Just like George Herbert Walker Bush and his Dim Son — Hitler, Tojo, and Mussolini wanted Total and Absolute Power. Consider how the fascist leaders in World War 2 worked to destroy their enemies. They applied the day's manpower, science and technology through direct violence and were opposed and defeated by a united humanity.

As wars declared and undeclared haven’t worked for fascism, it seems today's Fourth Reich is trying something new. This approach is a governmental policy of sustained environmental degradation.

Their environmental destruction plan works across cultural and physical borders of the third-, second-, and first-worlds. And like the frog in slowly boiling water, most people will not notice until it is too late to do something about it.

So, one all-too-soon day, the earth won’t be able to sustain humanity. And the vast majority will die out. Being a fascistic model, not everbody will suffer. The GOP-NAZI-Secret Government and Ruling Elite will find security in their sancturaries in Paraguay or the Swiss Alps and in their underground and secret facilities around the world.

The unfortunate Outsiders — the world’s Untermenschen and the “unwashed masses" and the intellectuals and Liberals and those who are True Democrats who believe that “All men are created equal” — they will be left to fend for themselves for the diminishing scraps of water, food and air. In the process, the neo-fascists hope the survivors manage to take each other’s lives.

Only after the mass of humanity is gone will the BFEE-NAZI-GOP-CIA-MI-Complex-Mafia Super Elite emerge from their secure luxury survival condominiums and secret redoubts in Paraguay and Switzerland to re-inhabit the earth, like modern Adamants and Evabrauns. They’ll join in ruling the earth their brethren, the cockroaches. May they all choke along the way.

— Octafish

Original Thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3444

[Stephanie]

11. Cheney's a fraud

I'll never understand how Cheney got where he is. Even Bush managed to finish Yale, but Cheney flunked out. I wonder how many people know that? Do they know about DUI's?

[Octafish]

12. Nor the five "I had other priorities" deferments.

Sneer's a crook, just like his sock-puppet.

BTW: You haven't been to Cali lately, have you? This reminded me of one of the braver DUers I know...

'Cheney is a Corporate Crook' 

Hecklers Surprise Cheney at Commonwealth Club

San Jose Mercury News 7aug02

During a speech today at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Vice President Dick Cheney was asked about his relationship with Halliburton Co. and was heckled about his business dealings.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating accounting practices of Halliburton Co. while Cheney led the oil firm.

Asked about Halliburton during a question and answer period after the speech, Cheney said, ``I have great affection and respect for Halliburton. It's a fine company.'' He refused to comment further, saying he did not want to be accused of trying to influence an SEC investigation.

SNIP...

The Halliburton issue also arose during his speech, when several protesters who slipped into the hall disrupted his remarks about the economy and the war on terrorism. Hecklers interrupted his speech Wednesday, shouting ``Cheney is a corporate crook.''

SNIP...

Cheney stopped and stood silently for several seconds as the women chanted. As Secret Service agents led protesters from the room, Cheney said ``Thank you,'' laughing slightly, and resumed his speech.

CONTINUED...

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2002/Cheney-Corporate-Crook7aug02.htm

[irancontra]

13. he shoulda taught Shrubya

how to ride like an OG.

[Octafish]

14. Bush rides like he presides.

Horribly.

"More on Bush's Mental Illness

http://binarycircumstance.typepad.com/bc_blog/2004/08/more_on_george_.html

BTW: A hearty welcome to DI, irancontra! Love the moniker and look forward to reading your stuff!

[irancontra]

15. thank ya Octafish

actually I've been reading DU for ages, but I just started posting recently... this is by far THE best place to vent & get info.

[emc]

16. Its simple---

Dick got his sneer drinking out of toilet bowels----but his wife flushed one day when his head was in the bowel and thats how the sneer----his lips got sucked down the drain---

[Octafish]

18. That's getting forwarded to Aaron Brown and the CNN news team.

It's much more accurate than 90-percent of the stuff they air, which is to say it's 100-percent more accurate than what Fox Noise Nutwork runs. If these organs weren't part of Corporate McPravda, they'd report stuff like this:

Cheney: Vote for Bush or Die

September 08, 2004

In a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, Vice President Dick Cheney told the audience with a stone-faced sneer that it was "absolutely essential" that on November 2nd voters "make the right choice. Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating." To paraphrase: "if you don’t vote to reelect George Bush and Dick Cheney, you and your family will die a horrible death at the hands of terrorists as John Kerry looks on while lobbing the occasional spitball."

Vice President Dick Cheney has been comically described as a cyborg, vampire, puppet master and an all around freak. I simply consider him an opportunist devoid of a moral backbone. During the Republican National Convention, this man continued to mislead the American public by tying the invasion of Iraq to the attacks on America on September 11th. His tactic as evidenced above is to scare Americans into reelecting what can arguably be seen the worst administration in the history of this nation.

George Bush and Dick Cheney thrive on their Nation of Fear. They issue Orange and Red alerts on a whim in order to maintain a sense of fear in the minds of each voter. Instead of talking about jobs, health care or national debt which they have completely ignored for nearly four years, this administration diverts the attention of the media and populace by their missions in Iraq and saber-rattling against Iran and others.

If Bush were to be reelected there is a good chance that war will be waged against Iran and Syria. Do you honestly believe that this will stop global terrorism or crack open the hornet's nest? Look at the results in Iraq thus far. What has been accomplished aside from turning Saddam's former country into a land ruled by Muslim extremists? One has to wonder which is worse, one crazy man or 5,000 of them.

CONTINUED...

http://www.washingtondispatch.com/spectrum/archives/000556.html

[frank frankly]

17. Octafish's posts are the best.

always full of great links!

Octafish, after Kerry wins, it will be a party for everyone except the BFEE!

and on 9/11, shouldn't we make sure to REMEMBER IRAN-CONTRA. (that's a bumper sticker I've got on my car!)

:party:

[Octafish]

19. You're a pal, Frank. A reeeeeeal pal!

First: We Win. Then we Party.
Then we get a real Attorney General
who isn't named "John Ashcroft."

[Octafish]

20. Wow! A nicer version of the same photo...

... although, once a Sneer, always a Sneer.