The Vice-Presidential Debate: Dick Cheney's House of Lies
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
You'd just as soon have Dick Cheney over for a cup of coffee as have the local mortician over for a cup of tea.
But let's face it, tonight's debate pitted the Democratic vice-presidential candidate against the Republican Vice-President, who is really the acting President of the United States. Although as boring as drying wallpaper and as brazen a liar as a ballroom pickpocket, Cheney clearly, once again, proved that junior is just the pedigree puppet whose strings are pulled by Dick.
What you have is an Executive Branch with Cheney as the de facto President and Karl Rove as his chief aide for Domestic Affairs (Rove also holds the key office of Minister of Propaganda). You have Cheney's longtime friend and pheasant shooting buddy, Antonin "the Fixer" Scalia, running the judicial branch. And then there is Tom "The Hammer/Exterminator" DeLay calling the shots in Congress (forget about Frist, he's a short-termer).
Which brings us back to the debate in which the main revelation was that the so-called Vice President of the United States proved, through his fairly coherent and brazen lies, that the titular President, Bush, is a complete nincompoop. Unlike Cheney, Bush can't even lie coherently.
We swear that Cheney became so bored with his own lying toward the end of the debate that he was ready to yawn -- or maybe he just needed to change the batteries on his defibrillator. He even passed up a thirty second rebuttal toward the end, as if to indicate, "why waste my time. I have more important things to do, like wrecking countries and seizing oil wells, stuffing pockets with no-bid contracts and the sort of thing that makes America great." All we know is that by the time Dick got to his closing statement, he looked like Uncle Fester. Even then, he did a better job than the dauphin prince, he of the corrupt Bush blood line.
Maybe the headline for the debate coverage should be, "Cheney Beats Bush."
Meanwhile, Edwards kept his youthful eagerness in check and carried the Kerry/Edwards message down the field. He did what all good debaters do; he memorized what message points he wanted to get across and inserted them wherever he could.
The only major surprise of the evening is that Edwards didn't make more of an issue of Halliburton, but the Kerry polling must have indicated that they had turned the corner and needed to repeat the mantra of competence in fighting terrorism and support for the middle class and poor -- with specific promises detailed. (Not that Halliburton was avoided altogether.)
When Cheney had the temerity to challenge Edwards' short career in Congress, Edwards chided Cheney that "a long resume does not equal good judgment."
We might add, in regards to the Wizard of Oz of the Bush Administration -- Mr. Cheney -- a long resume of lies does not an honest man make.
Give this debate to Edwards for taking on a seasoned liar with aplomb and skill.
It won't change many votes, but it moves the Kerry campaign down the field a few yards.
And wait until the fact checks on Cheney's statements come out. Lordy me, there was hardly an honest word said by the King of Halliburton and no-bid contracts.
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL