Cheney doesn’t want to be ‘tarred’ with Bush’s war

December 13, 2006

Have you noticed that Dick Cheney’s been pretty quiet lately? He hasn’t been out in public much, reminding us how things in Iraq are going “remarkably well.” This is not to say, however, that the VP’s opinions are a mystery.

Over the weekend, for example, we learned that Cheney supports something called the “80 percent solution” in Iraq, whereby the U.S. would take sides in Iraq’s civil war, backing the Shiite majority and Kurds over the Sunni minority. It’s an incredibly bad idea that would give up on Bush’s vision of a unified Iraqi government, alienate the region’s Sunni governments (including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan), and likely lead to an ugly massacre of 20% of Iraq’s population. Cheney, apparently, believes it’s worth it.

And in an unexpected turn of events, according to U.S. News, Cheney has decided it’s now best to distance himself from the war he helped instigate.

Washington insiders are buzzing over the fact that the vice president has been publicly silent and mostly out of sight since the Iraq Study Group issued its long-awaited report last week. White House insiders say Cheney is playing an inside game, advising President Bush privately not to change course too much in Iraq, not to withdraw U.S. troops anytime soon, and not to talk directly with the hard-line regimes in Iran and Syria about the situation. […]

“I think we’ll see less of him than ever,” says the associate. “Iraq is now Bush’s baby, and Cheney doesn’t want to be tarred with it in the eyes of historians.”

Granted, U.S. News quoted a “former associate who worked closely with Cheney for years,” not someone who currently works in the VP’s office. But if the comment accurately reflects Cheney’s thinking, and the VP actually wants to distance himself from Bush’s policy, it might be the most ridiculous development to date.

It’s almost as if Cheney has been pouring gasoline everywhere, handed Bush a box of matches, and encouraged him to play around. Then, once the fire grew out of control, Cheney wants to slink away before he’s spotted with the empty gas can.

As ThinkProgress noted, it’s a little late in the game for Cheney to start worrying about his legacy.

Regardless of the actions Cheney takes in the future, history will not forget that he has been at the center of the administration’s most egregious attempts to both sell the war (“we believe [Saddam] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons“) and falsely report the situation on the ground (“I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency”).

Cheney crafted the policy, pushed the intelligence, and helped sell the war to the public. He doesn’t want to be tarred with the war in the eyes of historians? It’s way too late for that.

Maybe we can convince him that the only way to truly distance himself is to resign in protest.

Then the biggest objection to impeaching Bush is removed.

Look, I’d take Vice-President-and-then-President Rice for two years — bad as it might be in some respects, it would be yards better than what we have now…..

  • “A lame duck around Cheney might do well to remember how Cheney treats lame quail. ” -Kali

    Considering Dickless’ history, I’d rather be a lame quail than a hunting pal–better odds.

    Humor aside, Cheney’s a little too late to avoid this tarbaby. When he said, “Last throes,” I didn’t think he realized that he was talking about his reputation, his power and his dream of an uber office of the President.

  • Some of us expressed concern over what would happen if Bush/Cheney were backed into a corner by a Democratic party takeover of Congress. I think we’re beginning to find out, and it’s looking reallt bad. We haven’t pegged the shitstorm meter yet, but when that happens no one will be around to record it.

  • Who’s this “former associate who worked closely” with Dick, and thinks the latter’s image is pristine enough to be tarred by Bush?

    I think U.S News has been talking to Scooter Libby.

  • I don’t know how this “80%” theory fits in with Saudi Arabia. Juan Cole has a post today on the Saudis’ threat to back the Sunni insurgents if the US backs out of Iraq, and some rich Saudis are allegedly doing so right now. Hard to imagine, but Cole also suggests Saudi Arabia and Israel may form an alliance. Was Cheney over there setting up a wider war between Sunnis and Shiites? In that case, the US would be supporting Shia along with Iran against Saudi Arabia and Israel? It just doesn’t make sense. The only sense it makes is that the war profiteers would be making more tons of money than they are now.

  • Cheney can from Iraq faster than the speed of light, but there is no way he can distance himself from it enough to be left out of the history books discussion on this clusterf***. He has been acknowledged as one of the most powerful veeps in history and he was put on the tick supposedly for his gravitas as well as his foreign policy/defense knowledge (because junior was so weak). While I have no doubt Bush is driving a lot of the war, Cheney is just as much of a moving force (if not more).

  • Cheney’s 80% solution was a big f*ck -you to the Saudis for the dressing down he got in Rydah. Just a guess.

  • The truly horrifying thing about the whole effing mess now is that Bush is searching for a ‘solution’ that fits with his plans to whitewash his legacy; something that cannot be claimed as a Democratic Solution or Baker Solution–eliminate everything else and your left with one thing — the Shinseki Solution.

    Increase troop strength by 250-300 thousand. It’ll come out of his mouth–but like everything else connected to this war–it’s a solution made up in fantasyland.

    And we are back to a No Plan plan. Who will be the last man/woman to die for the neocon wet dream?

  • I think Dick Cheney and Halliburton own the Iraq war, and there is no way for him to distance himself from the fiasco. Cheney is even less popular than Bush, so he know he should shut-up, collect his millions, and go to Hell.

  • He can wear himself out looking for a crack wide enough to hide his big fat ass but it won’t do him any good when the subpoenas start to fly. He’ll either have to refuse, which puts him back in the limelight or go along and try to unload the blame on his Drunken Cheerleader puppet.

    As Jim Kramer says: Pigs get slaughtered. I look forward to hearing Vice President Pork squeal.

  • Naschkatze (#9) raises an interesting point. Assuming that Cheney is not terminally stupid (I do have doubts) and is merely something of a psychopath, the absurdity of his 80% solution is additionally disturbing. Is there some other agenda with the oil corporations? Will some dark secret group profit with the collapse of the Middle East? Paranoia strikes deep, but as we’ve learned that with this guy, it’s not a bad idea to be very careful.

    9

  • I have a running bet with myself that within a year after leaving office (in 2009, or by resignation or impeachment, but not by death), Cheney will be named to the Halliburton Board of Directors and be granted a signing bonus of not less then ten million dollars.

    I’ve believed this for the last two years.

    Any takers.

  • “Cheney doesn’t want to be tarred with it in the eyes of historians.”

    Is anyone stupid enough to believe that Historians won’t know that this is as much Cheney’s war and Cheney’s failure as it is anyone’s?

    “God, let that futhermucking pissant die of a fatal heart attack, soon.” – Tom Cleaver

    I’m not sure the Cyborg has a heart to fail anymore. I think he’s in more danger of a “hunting accident”.

    “Maybe we can convince him that the only way to truly distance himself is to resign in protest.” – zmulls

    Now there’s a great idea 😉

    Don’t delude yourself Dick. You’re to blame and Boy George II is getting ready to take that blame out on you. Don’t bet on those stock options being there if he gets really pissed. You have better bet that box you have strapped to his back has an explosive component to hide your crimes.

  • Would be nice if David Addington, Cheney’s VP counsel, was rendered terminally unemployable in this town as a result of this fiasco due to extreme stupidity.

  • #17

    I have a running bet with myself that within a year after leaving office (in 2009, or by resignation or impeachment, but not by death), Cheney will be named to the Halliburton Board of Directors and be granted a signing bonus of not less then ten million dollars.

    I’ve believed this for the last two years.

    Any takers.

    – zmulls
    He’s been receiving bonuses from Halliburton since the war began! I think he’ll rejoin them, as you say, because he won’t be punished for breaking the law, deceiving the American people (as well as the rest of the world), and profiting from the whole enterprise.

    Another “Go f**k yourself,” from the Dick.

  • Naschkatze and jay, great points. The way things seem to be playing out makes no sense. The only way our policy works out for anyone’s benefit is if this is all some grand scheme to look as if we’re siding with the Shia to unite the rest of the Sunni Middle East against them and bring Isreal into an alliance with the Sunnis using the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” gambit. a mostly united Middle East alongside Isreal could then bring a form of peace to the region by reducing Arab – Israeli tensions and marginalizing Iranian Shiite power.

    But I don’t think the Bushites are that smart, or skilled at the diplomacy required to pull this off, for it to be part of their plan. It’s more like Cheney is using the same infamous line he used on Pat Leahy to tell the rest of the world to go f*%k itself.

  • Please please please, God, let that futhermucking pissant die of a fatal heart attack, soon.

    I really have the feeling that Cheney is gonna “PULL A KEN LAY” on January 21st 2009……

  • I knew lots of rats were jumping off the sinking ship lately, but – damn!

    Cheney is giving up on Bush?

    Damn!

  • Dick Cheney is quite the mathematician in his spare time – wasn’t it he who pushed that 1% or 2% doctrine, whereby if there was even that much chance a terrorist threat was real, the United states must react with the crushing juggernaut onslaught dictated by the real threat? Similarly, I’m pretty sure he could be heard holding forth on the subject of nuclear fuel, and how it was impossible to tell the difference between that intended to power a reactor, and that intended for the payload of a nuclear bomb. True enough, provided you can’t tell the difference between less than 10% and more than 80%.

    I never realized The Dick was so well-rounded, intellectually speaking. it makes me like him even more.

  • Dick supports the 80% solution now because it’s his one last chance to keep the oil and the bases and the soldiers right where they are. That’s what it’s been all about from the beginning and he couldn’t care less about consequences. Never did.

  • I think you are all missing the point on why Dick is laying low. Did you forget that his gay daughter just got impregnated?? Can’t have Dick out and about on the Sunday morning talk show, maybe having to answer questions about it.
    Plus, why alienate the 17% of this admin’s remaining supporters by reminding them that Cheney is aiding and abetting a sinner?

  • “Did you forget that his gay daughter just got impregnated?” – Gridlock

    And the father is not known. I get this sick image in my brain of Dick Cheney trying to engineer his family into the Bush royal succession.

    Does cocaine injure genetic material?

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