The Cheney Factor
The McCain campaign is sensitive to accusations that he would continue the Bush administration’s policies, and is very eager to avoid giving the impression that he would do so, though as best one can tell there aren’t any areas of national policy in which he proposes to implement significantly different policies. But optics-wise, it seems, they’d rather keep Dick Cheney far away from the convention. And not DC far; Azerbaijan far:
Vice President Cheney will travel abroad beginning September 2, 2008. President Bush has asked the Vice President to travel to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Italy for discussions with these key partners on issues of mutual interest. The Vice President will meet with President Aliyev of Azerbaijan, President Saakashvili of Georgia, President Yushchenko of Ukraine, and President Napolitano and Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy, as well as senior officials of their respective governments. In addition to meetings with foreign leaders, the Vice President will attend and address the Ambrosetti forum entitled, “Intelligence on the World, Europe and Italy” in Lake Como, Italy.
Meanwhile, John McCain says that if he’d won the 2000 election, he would have made Dick Cheney vice president and Don Rumsfeld secretary of defense.
37 Responses to “The Cheney Factor”
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August 25th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Cripes. Everybody who thinks that it’s a terrific idea to have Chaney goin’ around making promises to these various furriners, raise your hand.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Yeah. Echoing MattF, I found this much more chilling in terms of what seeds of destruction Cheney would be sowing in that dangerous, unstable part of the world, than I was thinking about the electoral ‘optics’ of getting Cheney the f*** outta here.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Why not just go with “undisclosed location?” It’s almost Terror Alert season anyway.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:47 am
They may be “sensitive” to the Bush connection, but they sure as hell aren’t doing anything to separate themselves from him. It’s almost as if they feel that no matter what John McCain actually does or says, he’ll never receive the type of scrutiny from the press that’ll force most voters to become aware of ties that McCain is planning on maintaining with Bush’s policies. So far, they’ve been right, but as people start to tune in more closely, it’ll be the Democrats job to force the media to reveal who John McCain is in 2008, and why.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Isn’t Darth Cheney speaking on the first night of the Rethuglican convention?
August 25th, 2008 at 10:07 am
One meme I wish would get pushed is that McCain is in the process of being Cheney-ized. Like McCain, the pre-2000 version of Cheney was seen as a moderate grown-up, a responsible and competent voice on foreign affairs, someone who could be trusted to do right by the country. But something changed, to the point that other reasonable GOP opperatives were claiming that the post-2000 guy wasn’t the one that they knew. Now McCain is going through a similar transformation, twisted by proximity to executive power toward something closer to a thuggish GOP hack with dangerous half-baked ideas on national security, rather than the reasonable person we all have in our memory. I’d love to see dems talking about “the new McCain” and dismissing some of his blustery comments with remarks like, “well, that’s something I’d expect to hear from Dick Cheney, but I’m a little surprised to hear it from John McCain.”
August 25th, 2008 at 10:25 am
1,2: These people are morons. It’s not as if they’ll be taking the teachings of a lame duck VP seriously.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Is this payback for Bush library donors?
August 25th, 2008 at 11:56 am
mpowell – It’s not as if they’ll be taking the teachings of a lame duck VP seriously.
But Saakashvili took him very seriously. Talking of which, I thought the current regime in Washington didn’t talk to dictators.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Couldn’t they organize a summit meeting with the lavamen and hollow earth reptoids that live miles underground? Azerbaijan is a little out in the open, people might see him and remember that he’s a Republican…..and so is John McCain. Connecting dots!
thesebastards.blogspot.com
August 25th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Link corrected below:
mpowell – It’s not as if they’ll be taking the teachings of a lame duck VP seriously.
But Saakashvili took him very seriously. Talking of which, I thought the current regime in Washington didn’t talk to dictators.
August 25th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I was wondering what the hell role Italy played in all this until Matthew mentioned Lake Como.
Beautiful area — favorite of European aristocracy. And Cheney has been trying to join that club for ages — although I doubt he will be invited to any pheasant hunts, even with his $10,000 side by side shotgun.
My guess was that his meeting would be held at five star Villa D’Este — and some research showed I was right. See
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/337&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en (search for “Villa D’Este”).
And when the US Taxpayers pick up the tab for your farewell junket — well, that’s priceless.
August 25th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
McCain could STILL pick Cheney as his running mate. The two-term amendment applies only to Presidents.
August 25th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Although there is something hilarious about the wealthy plutocrats of Europe inviting Cheney to Villa d’Este –they must be really worried about keeping those Bentleys and Rolls filled up.
Which may explain why he’s having a little chat with Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine. Always nice to bullshit the cannon fodder before you toss them to the Russian wolves.
Plus the aristos may have decided to add a little polish to Cheney –they felt embarrassed for him because he held this
year’s Bilderberg Meeting at the WESTFIELDS MARRIOTT !!!! — in Chantilly Virginia.
(Did you get an invite, Matthew? )
Compare the Westfields Marriott to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Como#Lakeside_villas
August 25th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Although if you want to distribute the latest Intelligence to the Overlords of the world, Westfields does provide a certain ..er.. convenience. Like the photoshop at Costco.
See http://www.nro.gov/index.html
August 25th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Don’t forget – it’ll be after Labor Day – the season for new marketing for these guys
August 26th, 2008 at 5:18 am
This shows how naive Matt is. He thinks they’re getting Cheney out of the country. Truly pathetic reasoning.
ANY time Cheney leaves the country, the world trembles on the brink of war.
As for “after Labor Day marketing”, may I point out that the Iran blockade bill will come up for a vote when the Congress reconvenes, and the naval warships needed for that task on en route to the Gulf as we type. Not to mention that Bushehr goes on line within the next three months or so, so you can imagine the squealing from the Israelis. We’re heading for a perfect storm for an Iran war on or around the US elections. The Georgian conflict was just a test run to gain McCain some “national security” points before the real thing – Iran.
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