IS IT TOO LATE FOR BUSH TO DUMP CHENEY? WOULD IT EVEN MATTER?

-by Mags

Suddenly, Dick Cheney is everywhere and everywhere he is the public face of the Bush Administration incompetence, hypocrisy and meanness.

In a trip to the Middle East Mr. Cheney escaped injury in a bombing attack that was possibly an attempt on his life, however, some 20 US soldiers were not so lucky as the Dick. They died while the Evil Veep just heard a loud boom.

Tony Snow was not allowed to identify
an anonymous senior administration official, even though Cheney had used the pronoun "I" when speaking about his talks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Just more public silliness.

The Irving "Scooter" Libby trial seems to be just one of Dick's worries. It looks more and more, to me, like Dick Cheney is currently the most expendable member of the Bush "senior Administration officials."

Bush tells Nancy Pelosi to let him know if Cheney says anything mean to her. Curious. There are a couple of spins possible here. One, that Ms. Pelosi needs Bush's protection. Two, that Dick is the villain in the Bush Regime. Either is somewhat laughable.

But, on the more serious side, more and more people are coming out of the woodwork to decry the Cheney involvement in the administration's policies. Jimmy Carter recently pointed out that Dick has gotten virtually nothing right.

With the possibility of an Iran war looming on the horizon, there is a lot going on. Military leaders threaten to resign. Foreign sources are coming forward to make sure Americans know that Iran made real overtures for peace early on in the Bush Administration... to Karl Rove (that is another story). And, Cheney is the known proponent of such an attack. He has been for a long time.

Iran is only one hot spot. We are painfully reminded that Cheney is a man living in his own failed past as Putin rightfully criticizes the US actions and rhetoric as reigniting an arms race. Men like Cheney have always seen demons in doorknobs. Their public words and actions are like self-fulfilling prophecies. Cheney and Rumsfeld, it seems, have never outgrown their old paranoia. Every action they take creates the boogey man they imagine is there.

Yes, it seems Cheney is the villain of the day. He is being exposed bit by bit. Such a drip drip of negative press looks to be a drum beat leading to a predictable resignation of an already very unpopular figure. It has been obvious from the beginning that a purge of Cheney that at the same time tagged him with every possible ill currently besetting the Bush Regime was the best move George W. Bush could make if he had any chance to save his legacy (appearances have always trumped reality for this man and his associates). If I were his advisor, this is certainly what I would recommend.

How he can divest himself of Cheney remains to be seen, but Cheney's history shows that he will do business with the devil for a buck. No one can argue that Cheney has not already made a fortune from his brief tenure as the shadow president. Perhaps that will be enough for him and Lynne and family. Certainly Bush needs him to go peacefully.

If such a fortuitous event does occur, the nation will breathe a sigh of relief. Perhaps George will think himself home free, and it might look to be so for a time. But, the nagging question will return, how could a competent person let such a thing happen? If Cheney did take over policy and run this government into the ground, who allowed that to happen?

It might yet be that Karl Rove will be thrown under the bus as the willing cohort of Cheney in his machinations. Good. I hope that happens too. It might give W a bit of relief as he claims plausible deniability in the conspiracy to ruin America.

And, after the celebrations on the right and the left, and the appointment of Rice as VP and the cooling of war rhetoric and the phasing out of a Presidency, one must still ask, How did this happen? Why did it happen?

In the end, the nation must always come back around and demand Bush accountability. The nation must come to grips with Bush incompetence and Bush criminality. No matter how much George wants it all to go away so he can build his museum in TX, no matter how much the DCer's do not want to address their complicity, no matter how much the country wants to believe that this is just all a big misunderstanding that we can fix with an election, it will all come down to the fact that we cannot collectively dismiss the last 6 years as another less than stellar presidency.

When we are tempted to be gleeful, I suggest that we must be circumspect and we must hold these tyrants to account. It is not enough to see them go. It is not enough that Bush would be impotent. Our redemption as a nation must be accomplished by holding this entire administration to account domestically and globally for their crimes. They must be prosecuted. If America is to send a message that reverberates through the next 200 years of our existence the time is now. I cannot think of a better way to renew our Declaration of Independence or a better way to show the world that we understand what has happened and that it is time to allow us to repair the damage. But, even more that we are not stupid, that we get it, that we will not let it happen again.