Cheney: A Few Reminders of Why His Death is Good Riddance

Trust the Democrats to Mourn Him.

For a quick sampling of the evil Richard B. Cheney injected into the American political system, it is only necessary to review the fawning obsequies posted within hours of his death by Bill Clinton and Kamala Harris. Neither of them had the slightest problem with eulogizing a man who dragged the country into a disastrous and illegal war that killed thousands of young Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, shredded civil liberties, fostered torture, and did as much as anyone to pave the way for Donald Trump’s assumption of authoritarian executive powers. A “saddened” Harris spoke of a “devoted public servant…who, with a strong sense of dedication, gave so much of his life to the country he loved.” Clinton hailed Cheney’s “dedication to our country and his unwavering sense of duty.”

Back in 1980, Jerry Ford’s counselor Robert Hartmann, got it right. In his White House memoir Palace Politics, the former newspaperman described Ford’s chief of staff thus: “A serious student of political power,” he “derived both his employment and his enjoyment from it. Whenever his private ideology was exposed, he appeared somewhat to the right of Ford, Rumsfeld, or, for that matter, Genghis Khan.” Cheney’s most distinguishing feature, wrote Hartmann, “were snake-cold eyes, like a Cheyenne gambler’s.”

Once a Flunky