Everything in this article was known before November 2000, so how come we didn't see anything pulled together so completely back when it might have done some good. The media, mainstream and alternative, portrayed Cheney as a moderating influence on Bush -- not a radicalizing one. Of course, that was because he has a lesbian daughter, so his personal experience made him less homophobic...and that one moderating trait was allowed to translate into a false belief that he would be moderate on other matters as well. Sure, the alternative media did a good job of revealing his innate corruption, but that's not the same sort of danger to the country as megalomaniacal power hunger.

I don't think Sidney Blumenthal is saying that Dick Cheney is an "evil genius". Ruthless ideologue is more like it. And one who has historically been wrong about just about everything.

I agree that the media dropped the ball on Cheney, but let's face it--they dropped the ball on George W. Bush, and, in fact, the entire Republican agenda. Or worse--they were in on the con from the start.

Now that the poll numbers reflect a reality they can't ignore, the press is suddenly "discovering" just how radical and incompetent these people are.

Why and how the press allowed this to happen is a real story--and it's something to bear in mind before you go blaming specific "liberal" pundits and politicians: until recently, anyone who questioned this cabal got their heads handed to them by the media--time and again. Just ask Marty Meehan.

I have observed Dick Cheney's behavior for years. I have always been baffled by how an obviously intelligent person can be so consistently wrong on nearly everything he believes and practices. Reading this article by Blumenthal began to create a "light bulb" moment for me. Although I am a practicing psychologist, I never thought to look at Cheney as a patient. This article moved me to do just that and it suddenly became clear what the problem is with Dick Cheney. He suffers from psychosis. There are five symptoms of psychosis. The symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, and flat affect (DSM-IV). The presence of one supports a diagnosis of psychosis. Dick Cheney is clearly delusional. A delusion is "a firmly held belief that is false." " Common experiences for these people include thinking they are President of the United States or that they are being persecuted or chased by the CIA" (webmd.com). What a relief it is for me to have this insight. I no longer have to make sense of what he says and I no longer have to be angry with him. I can now feel the concern for his welfare that I feel for any of my patients that suffer from the same condition. As this thinking becomes more clear in my mind, I can see that it may be a condition suffered by both George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld! Of course W is President but he still subbornly clings to beliefs that are obviously false and his speech is freqently disorganized.

Editor:

Sydney Blumenthal's article "The Long March of Dick Cheney" is fascinating in its forthright description of a monolith. I'm surprised Cheney's ticker can stand the strain of his scheming. But power is dogged until it is crushed.

I remember Cheney repeating when the sale to grab Iraq was taking place,"We KNOW they have them (WMD). He made this statement(s) with the believability he could convince, without any proof at all! Others had to come up with some sort of plausible story, but our guy, Cheney, only had to state it.

I knew their story on Iraq was false. There were certain other factors that didn't square with this idea. I find it difficult to believe in all the officials that purported to accept this bilge water.

Our present government becomes more vile with each passing day. Isn't it time to indict these evil doers?

Lucretia Helmly

Having been born and raised in Wyoming and devastated by the 2000 election, and all that has followed since, I have always looked at Cheney and wondered how someone from my state could be such a player and one of the really bad guys. There is some sort of identification among Wyomingites since we are in such a minority. Reading the article by Blumenthal deepens that feeling of wonder and confusion. How can someone from my home state be among those so flatly and blatently determined to undermine our democracy? How can they be so righteously claiming to stand on the constitution but willfully throwing in the trash can the things that have made this experiment in government and country such a great one? I just don't get it, but I really appreciate Blumenthal for outlining the track record and pattern of sinister ideologic power-mongering that helps to illuminate the praradox of the Bush administration. We are being led, literally, by madmen.

What is Dick Cheney really doing, setting up shadow intelligence gathering operations, and secret CIA prisons? When the military is made a partner in the government, you must work ceaselessly to keep the dogs of war in their place. Bush has taken the role of military dictator, like Musaraff in Pakistan, where the elections are free, and none dare question his leadership. This was the coda that sealed the election results in 2004. George Will said of George Bush senior, during the 92' election, that 'He wants to be commander in chief of a few New England states'. Bush has probably repudiated about 5% of what his father stood for, to put one myth to rest. The Bush legacy is a preference for military matters, at the expense of a domestic agenda. Iraq followed the first Gulf War, and Katrina was a very predictable unveiling of the second Bush's failed domestic policy. Cheney is the guy who makes it happen for the president, and when Bush falls, it all falls that way.

The Long March is a brilliant article, one I'll be saving for reference and one that I wish each and every American would read (especially, perhaps, those inclined to affix meaningless yellow ribbons to the bumpers of their SUVs as a reaction to the mess we're in.}

One criticism: Where in the macabre political bio of Dick Cheney is the reference to his pre-Veep membership in JINSA, that Israel-first think tank and fomenter of global, scorched-earth war? I won't hide the implication of my question: were Cheney's manipulations of the truth designed, in part, to support the interests of Israeli security. Is that why we're in Iraq?