Why was Cheney evil?

[edhopper]

There has been some blog talk lately about why Cheney seemed to become so evil as VP compared to his earlier stints in Government.
Some pointing to a medical problem.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/04/into_the_dark.php

Here's my take on it.

[saltpoint]

1. That's Cheney alright -- post-SlimFast.

Otherwise, it's the same old Dick.

[stubtoe]

2. Was??

He's still evil.

[YOY]

10. and will be until the day he shuffles off his mortal coil

n.t.

[bdamomma]

3. the guy has a vendetta against the government or Dems in particular.

[NeedleCast]

4. Yes, and that's not a term I use lightly

There are some bad people in the world. There are good people who sometimes make mistakes. But I think there are relativly few truly evil people, and I think Cheney is one of them.

[HereSince1628]

5. Cheney's problem is obvious all the way back to Team B exercises in the 70's

He always saw threats larger, more numerous, more immediate than they were. This is why he was so eager to challenge CIA findings about the REAL threat posed by the Russians during the 1970's.

As he dug himself deeper and deeper into his paranoia, he became more and more committed to justifications of acting in the presence of just a 1% likelihood of a risk being realized.

Along the way he became obsessed with locating and even pre-empting that 1% of a risk, to that end he simply rationalized more and more depraved behaviors.

By 2002, his psyche having been deeply wounded by the world trade center attack, a risk he had discounted (oops!), Cheney was neck deep in turning the intelligence agencies to dark-side depravity to make up for his own lack of vigilance.

A link to an article that shows some of the steps along his path from Team B
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/rw/843.html

[UTUSN]

6. He is the perfect flunky, knows ALL of the inner workings from the bottom up and how to subvert them

[timtom]

7. As an avid fan of "Supernatural"

I have my own opinion...

[pocoloco]

8. It's one of those "absolute power" thingies .

[shanti]

16. yessiree

that is it.

[Overseas]

9. His earlier stints in government were also quite evil.

He was always in favor of Trickle Up Economics.

As Sec of Def he pushed privatization of the military then moved on to chair Halliburton and reap the rewards of privatization of the military.

He considered himself above the law. He thinks he's a leader so he and his inner circle make the laws-- they don't have to follow them.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. ...wanted to burgle Sy Hersch...

ad infinitum

[Marr]

11. I think he's paranoid.

If a regular Joe exhibited Cheney's behavior (exaggerating threats, obsession with secrecy, etc., etc.), we'd call him a paranoid weirdo.

Somehow, when you put on a tie, people stop noting these things.

[alfredo]

13. It was a lifestyle choice.

[FSogol]

14. He never got laid in the 60s when everyone else was having fun.

Its why the Freepers drag everything back to Vietnam and the Cold War.

[Bigmack]

15. Stroke explains part of it...

He was always evil, but the extreme paranoia has increased greatly.

Damage to parts of the brain might do that. All that heart stuff might cause lack of oxygen to the brain or a little clot.

Maybe some kind of dementia, too.

Not an excuse... just a possible explanation,

[Echo In Light]

17. Maybe, but he exhibits psyche manifestations that many rightists/authoritarians do

The real problem is, the capitalist system encourages this mentality in many ways. Winner Take All requires cunning, greed, and ignoring one's sense of conscience. There are many who are more aligned with this mindset than what they likely care to acknowledge.

[supernova]

18. He and Rumsfeld were terrible hurt by the treatment of Nixon

They really believed that the impeachment of Nixon was WRONG, WRONG,WRONG! and have harbored long-simmering resentments because of it.

Now, obviously, we did the right thing with Nixon, impeachment and forced resignation, but they didn't see it that way. So a desire to get back in power and continue their plans was pushed to the front burner. And they kept coming back, coming back, until finally they had a free reign to do all the things they could only dream about during the Nixon admin.

Make no mistake, this is the Nixonians once again lashing out.

I'm sure all Cheney's health troubles do cloud his thinking too, but it's the Nixon boy in him that's the driving force. Remember how paranoid Nixon was?

This Nixon legacy needs to be shut now once and for all!

[slackmaster]

19. Evil must exist in order for good to mean something

That, I believe, is Cheney's reason for existing.