I haven't bought it yet, but I bet there is a deleted scene from the newly released Star Wars DVD where, when Luke Skywalker unmasks Darth Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi, Anakin is played by Dick Cheney. I bet George Lucas originally had an unrepentant Vader, one who, even in his last breath, cursed his son for overthrowing the Empire, and who better than our Vice President to snarl in his dying moments.
I have to give it to Cheney, though, he is more impressive than Bush, and doesn't suffer from the President's goofy looks, Cheney just relies on that one disgruntled look that looks like he really, really needs to go the bathroom, but he's too uptight to just let go. Aside from resembling Anakin Skywalker (and Darth Vader with his dark clothes), Cheney is, for me, the incarnation of The Man -- that much lamented villain, thwarting rockers since the 1950s. He is the stern father you dread meeting.
Maybe all of this, along with his involvement with Halliburton, compounds why I just can't trust the man. Many dismiss Bush as the blundering figurehead, but even in the days after the vice-presidential debate Cheney was referred to by many columnists and bloggers as the "man behind the curtain," a republican Wizard of Oz.
The one thing neither Cheney nor Bush (nor Condoleezza Rice nor anyone else) can abracadabra into a pot of gold, though, are the results of American weapons inspectors in Iraq finding nothing in the way of WMDs. No chemical weapons. No nuclear weapons. Maybe a petri dish of bacteria collected from Saddam's toilet, but that's it. The report finally deflated the apocalyptic visions of weapons stockpiles offered as justification for the war, which many never believed in the first place.
During the vice-presidential debate, Cheney subtly tried to re-justify the war with new terms, new reasons not offered a year ago at the United Nations and not offered to the American public.
This is not about politics. It's not about who should or should not be elected in November. It's about misleading the American public and the world. It's about manipulating the overwhelming sympathy showered on the United States after 9/11 for our own selfish ends. It's about fulfilling the stereotype many hold for us around the globe as a temperamental giant that acts and asks questions later.
For the next town hall meeting, I think they should keep the Republicans, Democrats and undecided voters out, and instead fill it with the families of those that have been killed or wounded in Iraq. I want to see Cheney and Bush answer that audience's questions about why their loved ones suffered for smoke and mirrors.
