Anyone who is already on Facebook (most of the free world, it seems) has seen the Tell Dick Cheney to shut up posts by some liberal organization. I forget which one. It doesn't matter for these purposes.
My initial reaction was to agree. His party lost the oval office. He should be gracious and permit the new administration some time to do what it promised, even if he disagrees with the policy choices. There are plenty of other conservative commentators already on the attack and Dick Cheney has enough Halliburton cash to make it clear that he isn't doing this for money.
I suppose he is exceptionally good at raising money from the party's most faithful adherents (now limited to about 20% of the population) because he tells them what they want to hear. I'm beginning to think that we should encourage him to keep talking. If he wants to remain the face (or at least a prominent face) of the party, the Republican Party will delay the inevitable changes it must make to become a truly national party that can persuade a majority of independents to vote for them. I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that most independents didn't think former Vice-President Cheney did a very good job over the last 8 years. If he remains a constant reminder of the Bush Administration and its policies, Obama gets a second term, appoints two or three more justices to the Supreme Court and maybe even strikes a deal to get decent health care to all Americans. That's not such a bad deal. After all, you can turn the channel when he's on television or radio.
Let's not forget Lynne Cheney. I don't agree with her politics, but she is no dummy. She must be thrilled that she no longer has to dumb down her vocabulary when dining with her husband's ex-boss or politely listen to what amounted to hate speech about same-sex couples. I am disappointed that she couldn't use what little power she had to help men and women like her daughter but that was either her decision or one made for her by a 35 year old West Wing guy who told her to keep her mouth shut. If I'm right, that must have been pretty hard to swallow for a PhD who was already worried about her husband's health. It's not a fair comparison, I realize, but if someone told my mother to shut up about sexual orientation discrimination, she'd have frozen a smile on her face, lowered her voice to a near whisper and politely told whomever it was that he wasn't half the man her son and his partner are and to go f--- himself. That would make for great television drama but I'm a realist.
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4 comments:
I remember my very first thought when I saw that more than several friends joined that 'Tell Cheney to Shut Up' page. For about 5 seconds I was looking for where to click to join the group.
I agree with what you are saying. As much as I cringe hearing Cheney speak and yell at the tv screen, he probably is a good fundraiser and mobilizer for the very people he hates. But that wasn't why I stopped myself from becoming a fan of that group.
Ironically, Cheney is exactly the sort of guy who loves a good 'make X person shut the hell up' group. In fact, a lot of academics had to shut the hell up after 9/11 when they even hinted at criticizing the Bush/Cheney administration.
I love living in a country that I can hate Cheney's guts, and if he knew me, he would hate mine - and we both have the ability and power to speak our minds. If Cheney and his goons had their way, he would have silenced my voice. I will not be one of his goons. If rights were so easy, the whole world would enjoy them. The First Amendment must be exercised precisely when we really don't want to enforce it.
Well said. I don't rule out the possibility that someone will persuade me to take some other action based on Cheney's statements, but that will only happen if I am convinced that he is doing immediate, dangerous harm to others. There are narrow limits on rights protected by the First Amendment (you can't yell "fire" in a crowded movie house unless it's really on fire) by Mr. Cheney is too smart to do anything akin to that.
The best way for a progressive agenda to move forward is to let Cheney, Palin, Limbaugh, et al, speak as often and as loud as they can.
Were we separated at birth?
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