Up until Donald Trump, the most nefarious national level villain of the modern era was Richard Nixon. We all know about Watergate, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps even worse than the break-ins and actual criminal activity in support of his political fortunes was the smear campaign that destroyed the 1972 candidacy of Edmund Muskie. With the simple act of a counterfeit letter to the editor, Nixon was able to eliminate this most dangerous potential opponent and clear the way for his easy win over George McGovern..
But all’s fair in love and politics, right? At least no one got killed in any of Nixon’s dirty tricks. Not so with Dick Cheney, who coaxed the naïve George W. Bush, even over the strenuous objections of Bush I, to invade Iraq based on phony intelligence about weapons of mass destruction. The world has still not recovered from the failure of what is now believed to have been a raw grab for control of oil reserves.
So, I’m now going to pose a bit of pure speculation based on my assessment of Cheney’s ability to connive and the current situation with his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming:
All of us in the Trump-hating elites who formerly despised Ms. Cheney, both because of our dark memories of her father and her strict conservatism, are now heralding her as the New Dorothy who might finally slay the Wicked Witch of Mar-a-Lago. We’ve been heartened watching her calm, deliberate presentation of facts at the January 6th Committee hearings and, previously, to her strident anti-Trump denouncements. We are disappointed that these led to her dismissal as the last lucid member of House Republican leadership and, now, to the danger of her losing her seat in Congress. To this latter challenge she appears to be completely oblivious while being laser-focused on saving our democracy–a true heroine in a time when such gallantry is sadly lacking.
But, wait! Is this slight of hand? Is the unscrupulous Dick Cheney the man behind the curtain creating yet another illusion? Is all of this just part of his grand plan to get her into the White House in 2024? Before those thoughts crossed my mind, I actually mentioned to someone that if it came down to Cheney vs. Biden in 2024, I would likely opt for her. When putting the same question to several co-elitists I know, after a bit of thought they agreed.
When you take stock of whose star is currently rising instead of falling in the public’s eye, she doesn’t have a lot of competition. After seeing the first two rounds of Cheney vs. Trump, it seems certain that, even short of his being prosecuted, he will be severely damaged by these hearings, at least among the still-sentient majority of those who overlooked his degenerate nature and incompetence and voted for him last time. And the more she makes Trump melt the more she becomes a potential replacement for him on the Republican ticket.
Think about it! A woman candidate when most women may well be on the Roe warpath, somebody who can get Democrats’ votes because there just aren’t any good Democrat candidates and because she’s craftily lured them to her side with her Trump-slaying crusade. Plus someone who can get a bunch of traditional Republican voters aching for a cure for the sickness with which their party is infected. Then just imagine she has Adam “Not a Cowardly Lion” Kinzinger as her running mate. Slam! Bam! Thank you, ma’am! If Papa Cheney hasn’t leveraged this moment in time, he probably should have
OK, it’s just a thought. Maybe this movie simply ends for Liz with a one-way ride back to Kansas, or wherever. And the only real Oz is the one currently running to be our new PA Senator. But, as I recently shared with a reader, I like to get my original thinking out in public before someone famous comes out with the same idea. That, and $2.25, gets me a tall Americano at Starbucks.
©2022, David B Bucher
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