Biffster’s World

“The things [Ann Coulter] has said over the years, not just about John [Edwards] but about other candidates, lowers the political dialogue at precisely the time we need to raise it,” Edwards said

(via KMGH Denver)

As much as I hate to disagree with Randi Rhodes (mainly because she almost always ends up being proven right), I think she is completely wrong when she refers to Dick Cheney as Darth Vader. Vader was the active hand of the government; he was a visible sign of the Empire’s power. Cheney is more like Palpatine from the prequels, sitting behind the scenes, guiding everything that happens but doing a good job of not being seen. This is apparent from the the washingtonpost.com four-article series on Dick Cheney. As stated in Part Three:

it was Cheney who served as the guardian of conservative orthodoxy on budget and tax matters. He shaped and pushed through Bushs tax cuts, blunting the influence of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, a longtime friend, and of Cabinet rivals he had played a principal role in selecting. He managed to overcome the presidents “compassionate conservative” resistance to multiple breaks for the wealthy. He even orchestrated a decision to let a GOP senator switch parties — giving control of the chamber to Democrats — rather than meet the senators demand for billions of dollars in new spending.On the home front, the vice president is well known for leading a secretive task force on energy policy. But in a town where politicians routinely scurry for credit, Cheney more often kept his role concealed, even from top Bush advisers.

“A lot of it was a black box, and I think designedly so,” said former Bush speechwriter David Frum. “It was like — you know that experiment where you pass a magnet under the table and you see the iron filings on the top of the table move? You know theres a magnet there because of what you see happening, but you never see the magnet.”

That is some seriously scary power. It’s an evil, corrupting influence. Cheney is a very scary man. The idea that he is controlling so much - including the President - and really doesn’t care what others think shows exactly what Cheney is made of. And that’s the scariest though of all.

I registered a new domain to make it easier for y’all to track down this blog. From now on, you can use http://myperfectworld.info instead of the current http://aperfectworld.biffster.org to get here.