Bill's Notes

I was unaware that Cheney is a stroke victim. I'm simply saying that I get the same impression when I look in those cold reptilian eyes as when I once beheld Barry Goldwater sitting on the Senate floor back in the mid-80s, surrounded by buzzing sycophants and courtiers. He sat slouched in his chair, oblivious to them, the very picture of jaded, corrupt, Inside the Beltway political power. I watch him from the gallery for a while and was overwhelmed by the contrast between the media picture and the man I could see with my own eyes. With Cheney, even the media can't erase those eyes. Here is a man I would not trust if he were the last man on earth. He is practically an archetype of the corrupt, wealthy, cynical and brutal Inside the Beltway operator. Every bit as repellent as Hillary.

And, of course, there is the fact that one must increasingly summon more and more reserves of will power to believe anything he says. The man who assured us there was absolutely no doubt that Iraq was bristling with WMDs, who uses Libby as a fall guy, and who seriously tries to palm of waterboarding as "dunking" is not somebody I would buy a used car from. I get a worse vibe from him than I got from Nixon. Nixon was at least pitiable. Cheney strikes me as Nixon without the charm.