Letters to the Editor
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Well, He's Honest
No, neither Dick nor Bush gives a toss what we, the taxpayers, think. Hasn't this war been about them from the very beginning? It certainly hasn't been about making our nation more secure because that has clearly failed.
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Will someone please remind this psychopath
that public officials are in the employ of the PEOPLE, and therefore, the opinion and will of the public DOES matter?
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Okay then, fine
Dick Cheney doesn't care what the American public thinks. Great. He's not running for anything anyway, right? From this point on, what needs to happen is every time John McCain gets in front of reporters, he needs to be asked this very straightforward, yes or no question:
"Dick Cheney doesn't care what the American public thinks. Do you?"
Cheney was man enough to answer honestly--for once--so John "Straight-talk Express" McCain should have no problem answering it either. If he says "no," we'll see how well that works for him in November. Good luck, John.
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Why
After over seven years of the Cheney administration, why is another affirmation that he cares not what the American people think a headline?
The only time anyone in this administration cared what we thought was when they were figuring out which states' voting aparatus to tamper with.
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PS
I couldn't help but be reminded of the inimitable Barry, played by Jack Black, in High Fidelity:
"Since when did this shop become a fascist regime?"
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There's a difference
There's a difference between being guided by polls and caring what people think. Cheney and some others can't see it. Even the president is a representative, and he has to take popular opinion into account, even though it shouldn't be the only factor in a decision. To just not care about public opinion suggests he doesn't care about his policies' effects on the public either.
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Cheney is Right
Leaders should NOT be swayed by the opinions of their people IF they are tyrants or despots. If however they are the leaders of a representative DEMOCRACY then the leaders should care what people think.
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He'd look good in a noose
If hanging was good enough for Saddam Hussein, it's good enough for Cheney.
War crimes, usurping the Constitution, his involvement in allowing 9/11/01 to take place... it's difficult to say just which crime Cheney ought to be hung for.
You ought to hang by the neck until dead, Dick, that's what the American people think.
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Not sure why Cheney needs a pacemaker...
since he evidently has no heart.
The truth is that leaders should not always be SWAYED by what the public thinks, but they should CARE, and from that dismissive "So?" accompanied by the crooked little smile it is abundantly clear that Cheney does not.
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Not about the polls
A few posters have rightly stated that leadership is not about following the dictates of opinion polls. I don't think any intelligent citizen is looking for leadership by opinion polling. When an issue is so divisive that it splits the electorate - or in this case puts a solid majority in opposition -- however, it demands that our leaders justify their positioning with honest and rational evidence of why they are backing a policy or event that runs counter to the collective sensibilities of half or more than half of Americans. As others have pointed out, this is not exactly news, as Cheney and Bush have repeatedly shown through their lies, misdirections and failure to supply the country with an honest assessment of their actions that they don't give one iota about the sentiment of the American public. Again, as others have pointed out, Cheney's stated contempt for justifying the administration's unpopular policies and practices is perhaps the only measure of honesty that we will ever get out of this administration. We should treasure the moment.
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Cheney's feelings are
As surprising as hearing the fact that the earth is round.
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"Public Servant"
This latest bit of Cheney patriarchal heavy handedness once again raises questions for me concerning the notion of a "Public Servant".
How can one be a servant and a master (leader) at the same time?
Are we like children whose parents serve us by taking care of us (because we do not know how to), and also hold dominion over us (because we are not yet capable of making sound decisions)?
Is the only difference between the roles of our parents vs our leaders is that we get to choose our leaders on a regulated basis?
Do we ever grow up and become adults or is the best we can hope for is remaining children in the Republic model?
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Duh
This is news? Dude, he made that clear before re-election. SOme people are just getting the memo, I see. Ya'll late.
Cheney and Bush never DID care. They think they can manipulate and bullshit people into believing anything they want. They call is the Post Modern Presidency. Welcome to relativism.
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Cheney
From an AP article linked here at Salon:
Cheney said he plans to "do everything I can to help" Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting.
Asked if he would campaign for McCain, Cheney replied: "I don't have any idea at this stage."
Is that because he's not sure that his campaigning would be regarded as a "help" to Sen. McCain? :-)
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Cheney's a Dick
We know this. It just means that his constituency isn't the American people per se, or at least the two-thirds opposed to the war. He's answering only to the contractors, the oil lobby, and the one-third of Americans who think he's hunky-fucking-dory. It's like the Cornelius Vanderbilt "The public be damned! I'm accountable to my shareholders." perspective that drives the GOP.
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Things are getting better
Five years ago, Dick Cheney personally hacked my leg off with a chainsaw. I was at the mall, in the parking lot, walking past a van. Someone tapped me on the shoulder; I turned, took a face full of some chemical gas. The next thing I know, I'm waking up in the abattoir.
Dick Cheney stood there in a butcher's apron, the chainsaw held casually in one hand, dangling down at his side. He announced his intention to hack my leg off; he showed me a dotted line he'd drawn on my leg, mid thigh. I begged him to reconsider. I begged him not to cut my leg off, that I needed it. He just smirked; he seemed amused at my belief that I had a say in the matter. For decades, he said, he'd wanted to saw someone's leg off, but had never been able to pull the plan off. Public opinion had thwarted him time and again; no more! The days of kowtowing to the weak whims of the polls were over.
Five years later, I admit, there are times when I still resent what Cheney did. Still, if I'm objective about the whole event, I must concede that — compared to the moment he revved up the chainsaw, held it aloft for me to see, to watch, as he ever so slowly brought it down on my leg, that first splash of blood, the blade inching deeper — that things are getting better. My situation is much better than it was at that moment.
The night terrors have become banal through frequent repetition; Oh! and the phantom pains have almost completely stopped. That is a HUGE improvement right there.