Cheney Trouble

When the democrats re-take control of the House and Senate in the early hours of 2007 (Oh please! Oh please! Oh please!), they're going to find themselves in the same predicament that a previous generation of dems got bogged down in way back in 1973. By the late summer of that year, if you'll remember, it was "perfectly clear" that Richard M. Nixon was up to his ears in impeachable offences. The so-called "Watergate Affair" had all but destroyed his second term. His former Attorney General, John Mitchell, not to mention key aids, Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, were out of power and on their way to the slammer. So what was the big deal? All they had to do was impeach the hideous bastard, right? No problem!

Problem....

Nixon's number two man was the guy who put the "vice" in the vice-presidency; The most corrupt VP since New York machine politician and Tammany Hall veteran, Chester Allen Arthur, served in that same capacity under President Garfield ninety-two years earlier - A contemptible political hack by the name of Spiro T. Agnew - "Ted", to his friends. The very idea of removing Dick Nixon from power and replacing him with someone as thoroughly disgusting as Agnew was as disturbing a thought as....well.... removing George W. Bush from power and replacing him with someone as thoroughly disgusting as Dick Cheney. A very depressing scenario any way you slice it.

Then in October a miracle of fate intervened. Poor old Spiro was busted for accepting bribes while governor of Maryland and as vice-president. He promptly submitted his resignation and, within a matter of days was replaced by a far more palatable, moderate republican congressman from Michigan named, Gerald R. Ford (Yes, folks! There used to be such a thing as a "moderate republican"). From that moment on, Nixon's presidency was toast and jelly. Ten months later, on August 9, 1974, the Trickster was sent a'packin' off to San Clemente for a bitter and well-deserved exile. Gerry Ford was now the president of the United States.

I'm not revealing any state secrets here when I say that there is a mountain of evidence - not just circumstantial evidence - but hard, clear, tangible, in-you-face proof that Dick Cheney needs to be removed from power and hauled off in an ox cart to Leavenworth Prison. His crimes as far as getting the United States involved in the obscenity that is now being committed against the children of Iraq is but the tip of a very nasty iceberg. Don't expect him to have the essential decency of an Agnew and resign....I can't believe I just wrote that last sentence....Trust me, that's not going to happen. The man is utterly without scruples. In fact, I believe he is sociopathic. He must be forcibly removed by an act of congress.

The first piece of business when the 110th congress convenes in January should be the impeachment and prosecution of Richard Cheney for his crimes against the people of the United States and the people of Iraq. The chances that Bush will replace him with a moderate is all but nonexistent - but on this point you may be absolutely certain: The replacement, whoever he or she may be, won't be one tenth as reckless and stupid as the village idiot from Crawford, Texas. Trust me.

Isn't it funny? When looking back across the decades, the crimes of Richard Milhaus Nixon and the men around him seem positively quaint when compared to the Bush Mob. Truth be told: The Nixon Gang is almost saintly with hindsight! I need an aspirin.

Pray for peace.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net