Cheney/Palin 2012: Candidates For The Rapture

How could it be possible that anyone in his right mind even mentioned the name Dick Cheney as a potential candidate in 2012? Yet it is happening, not on Fox News, but in Newsweek. As the millenium fears have been transported from 2000 to 2012, the conspiracy theories are in abundance from the ones who believe the Mayan calendar prophecy is going to materialize to the ones like Sarah Palin’s friend who believe that Jesus is about to make a noisy come back, riding a cloud, for judgment day.

In his Newsweek article published on line yesterday, Jon Meacham “explains” why Cheney should run. Meacham build his paper thin argument on a recent Gallup poll on the Republican race for 2012. Mike Huckabee won with Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin tying for second among Republicans who were asked whom they would consider voting for. Dick Cheney was not included in the Gallup poll.

“Cheney covers all the ground these folks do, and then some,” writes Meacham while dreaming of the possibilities. Dick Cheney does cover all the grounds; from starting two wars, one of them based on lies, to driving the global economy at the edge of a cliff, not to forget the criminal neglect in the aftermath of Katrina, torture, spying on Americans, and getting out of the Kyoto protocol.

“In an era of ideological purity within the party, Cheney is among the purest; no one can question his conservative credentials on national security, and his record in the House and as Vice President place him above reproach from the base. He was, it is true, second in command in years of great deficit spending, but his image as an implacable foe of terrorism, and a hardliner on the projection of American power would go a long way toward securing his position within the party as a warrior of the old school,” Jon Meacham keeps rambling on.

Dick Cheney is a “warrior” alright, and a war criminal with a lot of innocent blood on his hands. Dick Cheney would have death and misery on his conscience, if he had one. Sarah Palin would obviously bring some much needed sex appeal to the ticket, and she would also supply the hardcore Christians. A Cheney/ Palin ticket would be a political version of The Beauty & The Beast.

But this is the paragraph where Jon Meacham makes his core dubious argument on why Cheney should run in 2012.

“Because Cheney is a man of conviction, has a record on which he can be judged, and whatever the result, there could be no ambiguity about the will of the people….A Cheney victory would mean that America preferred a vigorous unilateralism to President Obama’s unapologetic multilateralism,” writes Meacham.

Dick Cheney has, indeed, a “record on which he can be judged”, and it is the record of a war criminal deeply disconnected from reality. And of course he should be judged, but not at the poll. He should be put on trial instead.

To read Jon Meacham’s article click here.