[NYTr] Not a Good Week for Hannibal Cheney
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The Huffington Post - Jan 26, 2007
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-katovsky/not-a-good-week-for-hanni_b_39762.html
Not a Good Week for Hannibal Cheney
by Bill Katovsky
Vice President Dick Cheney and Hannibal Lecter share one thing in
common: their heart rates are reptile-like. Despite being exposed to
stressful situations that would tax any man's ticker, both men keep
cool under pressure.
Give media bonus points to CNN's Wolf Blitzer who blitzkrieged Cheney
from all directions during their recent interview. He was relentless
and tough, bringing up Iraq, Iran, Bush's falling unpopularity, Scooter
Libby's trial, and Mary, his lesbian daughter who's about to become a
mother.
Wolf clamped down hard on what is a red meat issue for social
conservatives: gay pregnancy. At first, Cheney sounded like Grandpa
Walton: "I'm delighted I'm about to have a sixth grandchild." But Wolf
remained being a wolf in wolf's clothing. He continued pressing about
the perceived hypocrisy. Despite his flat, affectless tone, Cheney
balked before snapping, "Frankly, you're out of line with that
question."
At least, Cheney didn't tell Blitzer to "go fuck himself," like he did
when he was confronted by Sen. Patrick Leahy in the Capitol.
Perhaps Cheney is mellowing in his dotage. The worst he could come up
with was "hogwash" in response to Sen. Jim Webb's comment that "the
President took us into the war recklessly."
Unlike his smiling frat boy cheerleader-in-chief, Cheney affects the
no-nonsense manner of a card shark. He doesn't need sunglasses at the
poker table. His gaze is unflinching, cold, calculating. He exudes the
warmth of Pluto.
But, after reading the CNN interview transcript--it contains terrific
dramatic moments, bristling with the energy of a Mamet play--it's
obvious that Cheney is both smart and obdurate. He's not the
tongue-tied dunce that W. is who strings together sentences as if he's
still reading to first graders. (The President's cringe-worthy
performance on 60 Minutes almost seemed like a parody, a Saturday Night
Live skit about a clueless leader.)
On the other hand, Cheney can ably defend the administration's
war-on-terror policies. He sticks to a tight narrative that blends
wishful thinking with blatant disregard of facts on the ground. For
example, he insists that Iraq is a democracy because it had several
elections. But he misses a fundamental point. Democracies work when
there is a functional government and popular civic support that
transcends sectarian fault lines, not when the Shiites are in control
and Moqtada's 60,000 strong militia is making a bloody mess of the
country.
Cheney had similar fallback positions on Al Qaeda and Afghanistan.
America is winning the war--at least in his mind, despite a Taliban
troop surge.
All in all, it's been a hellish week for Cheney. He's had to deal with
Scooter, Nancy, and Wolf. Surely, there must have been a spike in his
blood pressure. Only his doctor would know for sure.
*
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