Dick Cheney "Deeply Disappointed" in GOP Leadership

Post Reply New Topic

Cheney, thankfully, never got to sit in the big chair in the White House, so we'll never really know what sort of President he might have been.
Cheney was an actual conservative Republican, where as Trump admittedly is a wanna-be strongman who had convinced the GOP, from rank-and-file to party leadership, that sanity is overrated.

We know he is a war hawk and supports LGBT rights, but not much else.

Doubtlessly, Cheney would have been an opponent of LGBT rights had his daughter never come out of the closet.

We have a conservative former prime minister Tony Abbott who was so anti-LGBTQI he managed to persuade his gay sister to canvass for him.

That's like getting a fish to lure other fish to the fisherman!

Like a fish pimpin for sharks

Dox47 has a point, Cheney was pretty terrifying when he had power.

It is easy to forget some of the past when the only thing he is speaking about in public is something we agree with him on.

Political leaders have often redeemed themselves at various levels once out of office, and out of direct power, and - perhaps - wondering more about how history will remember them, than directly dealing with the temptations of tremendous power. Hard to say how sincere it usually is; did time teach them perspective, or is it all about the memory of history?

Whatever influence Cheney may have at this point in his life, and whatever his reason is. I still am pleased he is using it to speak in defense of Democracy.

There is also the leeway one can give for personal growth. Romney, Cheney and Bush were evil selfish bastards in their heyday but over time personal experiences (for Bush hurricane Katrina, for Cheney it was shooting one of his staff, for Romney it was the shock there was somebody (Trump) who was more of a selfish egotistic bastard then he was).

So they may be sincere when they critique things like the Trump years or the current GOP leadership. (refer to the Road to damascus Acts 9:1-19 and how even the worst can lead themselves on the road to redemption). Ironically it was a republican Andrew Carnegie who said judge a man by his actions. I'm willing to believe everyone is capable of personal growth, But first they have to acknowledge the evil that they created (Bush, Cheney and others in some way paved the way for the current GOP leadership).

Well, in this case he does have a daughter in the thick of it, and though unlike others in this thread I've never claimed to be a mind-reader, that sure seems like the obvious motivation. I'm sure Trump taking shots at the Bush II administration and the GOP establishment at large over the years also helped, people who don't understand the Republican electorate often fail to realize that a large part of what was so electrifying about 2015/2016 Trump was that he was saying things about other Republicans that generally weren't said in public, not just that he said crazy things about the Democrats.

I don't recall anyone calling Bush or Trump the Anti-Christ, or questioning if either was actually an American, or affiliated with an unpopular religion. It was Obama who many conservatives questioned his true birth place (it wouldn't matter if he was actually born in Kenya, as his mother is American), just as he was falsely accused of being a Muslim (which shouldn't matter, as the constitution says there shall be no religious test to hold office), or even a member of some Muslim terrorist group. Religiously conservative evangelicals often sincerely believed Obama was the Anti-Christ - - and no, it wasn't just name calling, they had convinced themselves he was going to usher in the End Times. I even recall one short term WP member starting a thread to promote the insane notion how Obama was actually the nemesis of Christ.

Who could forget that Trump himself catalyzed Obama falsehoods. Can you imagine voting for a presidential candidate who claimed the opposition leader was an reptiloid alien born in Zeta Reticuli. Trump and his son were literally making similar and absurd claims against Obama and Clinton.

Indeed. While Trump may not have invented the "fake birth certificate - born in Kenya" BS, he certainly promoted it more so than anyone else.

Not to mention pizzagate. Unbelievably he still retweeted the pizzagate nonsense in 2020 some 4 years after Hillary Clinton lost.

How do people keep a straight face saying they voted for a man who has the credibility of a crazy dude who lives in a basement and wears tin foil hats???

Because he gives them the go ahead to be as anti-intellectual and credulous as they want to be. They want to be able to own people who are educated and who keep up with current events, know history and believe in science. They like that Trump has given them permission to just be stupid.
And yes, I know I'll get attacked for calling them stupid.

Don't forget that almost half of college educated white Americans were duped not once..,but twice to vote for him. That's why I said it must be hard for some of these so called "smart people" to keep a straight face when they are cornered and asked to justify voting to sink their own country. My own experience in Australia is that conservative voters don't like to debate why they like conservative politics because their reasons boil down to selfishness and self-centredness.

Goes to show you that education doesn't always equate intelligence. Besides, I suspect most of those Trump voter's degrees are in business.