Dick Cheney and the Crazies

[babylonsister]

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/6/2/133624/6404

Dick Cheney and the Crazies
by Jeff Huber
Sat Jun 02, 2007 at 01:36:24 PM EST
It would be silly if it weren't so deadly serious.

On June 1, in a news conference in Madrid, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured the world that "The President of the United States has made it clear that we are on a course that is a diplomatic course. That policy is supported by all of the members of the cabinet, and by the vice president of the United States."

Helene Cooper of the New York Times tells us that Rice's statements came on the heels of reports that Dick Cheney staffers are saying that Cheney thinks diplomacy with Iran is pointless, and is trying to convince Mr. Bush to bomb it.

According to Cooper, a senior Bush administration official denies there is a deep separation between Rice and Cheney. "But," the official said, "the vice president is not necessarily responsible for every single thing that comes out of the mouth of every single member of his staff."

Uh, huh. Cheney staffers run around leaking things they're not supposed to? That doesn't sound likely to me. Steven C. Clemons of The Washington Note says that one Cheney aide admits "Cheney himself is frustrated with President Bush and believes, much like Richard Perle, that Bush is making a disastrous mistake by aligning himself with the policy course that Condoleezza Rice, Bob Gates, Michael Hayden and McConnell have sculpted."

snip//

All Roads Lead to the Crazies

Journalists like Seymour Hersh and Larisa Alexandrovna have been warning for some time that Dick Cheney's shadow government has been pushing for a strike on Iran for some time.

It looks more each day like a shift in the balance of power within the administration has occurred. With Cheney's firm ally Donald Rumsfeld gone, and with new Secretary of Defense seeming to side with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Cheney's death grip on U.S. foreign policy may have indeed waned. If true, that could be a good thing. But at this point in the Bush II regime, unfortunately, foreign policy is so smothered with Dick Cheney's fingerprints that that it may be impossible to wipe clean.

more...

[Kagemusha]

1. That last paragraph quoted seems sensible and well considered.

Cheney's power may have degraded by a few degrees but it is by no means over that simply. We can only hope - because we're pretty darn helpless here - that this is true and that the trend is not reversed.

[vanlassie]

2. Do we know the context for the chest thumping incident?

I keep thinking it has come down to Bush acting as petulant child vs "Daddy" Cheney.... who else threatens Bush (in his pea sized brain?)

[Canuckistanian]

3. Oh, great

So, the fate of Iraq depends on the judgment of Condoleezza Rice?

Consider me scared out of my wits.

[whistle]

4. Condi is lying!

[illinoisprogressive]

5. bush is too unstable to know what he will do but, in the end he goes with cheney

[DemoTex]

6. Cheney is the only bridge Bu$h has remaining.

Bu$h has burned all the rest. Congress: burned. UN: burned. Iraq Study Group and Poppy's pals: burned. Military leadership: burned. GOP: burned. And the 70% who now oppose his war: burned.

All Bu$h has is Cheney. And his nasty old mommy.