Dick Cheney isn't going anywhere. The permanent campaign continues. Politically it's great news for Democrats, who can enjoy using Mr. 20 Percent as the embodiment of today's GOP when they're not busy sending out mailers on Rush Limbaugh. Talk about a dynamic duo. When Cheney wasn't attacking Colin Powell this weekend and whispering sweet nothings about Rush, he managed to also argue that neglecting to torture people will result in the deaths of innocent Americans, signed up for Congressional testimony about the administration's torture policies and offered that Bush personally "signed off on" the torture program. Sullivan, of course, goes nuts:
And as history slowly accepts that this man disgraced his office more profoundly than any before him, as it sinks in that this man did not merely make mistakes, as all flawed politicians do, but committed war crimes, with pre-meditation and elaborate subterfuge, he slowly realizes what's happening to him. He can feel it. And so he resists the way he always resists - by lashing out, attacking, smearing, snearing, and grabbing every inch of the limelight he can. Those of us who want him to face real accountability should, of course, welcome all this. Cheney does not seem to understand that he is incriminating himself further with every interview, every time he adjusts his story, every time he moves from torture as a "no-brainer" to a "last resort", every time he assaults yet another person who knows too much about him and what he did. I don't disagree, though there's one bit we need to keep in mind. This is also wicked smart politics for Cheney. Yeah, he's lashing out. But you better believe it's calculated as hell. And you can bet GOP staffers are bunkered down right now trying to figure out how to get Dick Cheney off the airwaves because they know he's not doing the party any favors. 2010 isn't that far off. But Cheney could care less about his party. He isn't running for office anytime soon and has criminal charges to fend off. There's no better way of doing that than keeping the torture debate politically charged, even to the point of going after a Bush administration insider like Powell. Sullivan asks, what character does this reveal? It's that of a desperate thug who will say and do anything, coerce and pressure anyone, to not merely escape the judgment of history but foremost the business end of this country's judicial system. It's every rat for himself at this point. Watch them scurry.
