Placing blame.

So, Cheney was on Fox News this weekend being interviewed by, to borrow a phrase from Rush, Republican butt-boy Chris Wallace. Cheney was being Cheney, so there's no real reason to go into his interview in depth. He's upset about CIA investigations, he kept America safe, Torture is Awesome, the Rule of Law is so passe, blah, blah.

I'd like to focus for a moment about the Bush/Cheney 'kept us safe' claim. This post from Crooks and Liars touches on this a little (and has the interview, if you can stand it). What has always amazed me is that Cheney continually claims credit for keeping us safe except, well, I'm fairly certain 9-11 happened on his watch. I don't know why they get a pass on this. I really do not know, except that I do. This country still (STILL!) has a slavish devotion to the idea that Republicans are Responsible Adults, and Democrats are Dirty Hippies. 

It is annoying. There are no shortage of people who blame Clinton for the 9-11 attacks. Just Google "Clinton Responsible 9-11" and click to your heart's delight. Here's a good one.  Still, it amazes me that Cheney/Bush get a pass for 9-11.  Yes, we kept you safe, except for that one little, tiny time we didn't, but that was some other guy's fault. It was the Fall!  The good teevee was coming on after the long summer! It's not out faaaaaaaaaaaauuuult!

Let me take a stab at an analogy. Say Cheney is baby-sitting for you. He does this every day for eight years. Somewhere around 9 months into his baby-sitting term he leaves the baby outside the grocery and a dog mauls the baby and takes off an arm or two. Then nothing happens to the baby again for 7.25 more years. Did he keep the baby safe? Is that any comfort to this 2nd grader who now has to hold his crayons in his mouth? Then to top it off, he loudly proclaims that a) he did not harm the baby, b) left the baby better than he found it, and c) it doesn't matter anyway because the whole event was really the previous baby-sitter's fault because he would occasionally go to the same grocery store.

Look, I don't blame 9-11 (entirely) on Bush/Cheney, though their hubris certain didn't help anything. I won't say 'no one', but it was not widely thought that anything on that scale could happen at the time. I am in no way a truther, and I've always given them a bit of a pass for the original attack. But Pride is one of the deadly sins, and America has always had it in spades. And Cheney's behavior, along with the behavior of his minions, has since been inexcusable. It's amazing to me that this man can still run around the country crying 'Terrorist Lover' to anyone who happens to think that Maybe Torture is Wrong. He is a discredited sad old man and the world would be a better place if he would finish his life in quiet retirement. But of course, he does have his fans, and always will.

If Cheney was a Democrat, well, first, he would be a completely different person, but more importantly, FOX, Rush and the dittoheads would actually consider him at fault for the attack that happened on HIS watch. Instead, he gets to mouth off on FOX News 8 years later about how he kept us all Safe. Except for that one time. I think this lone citizen said it best.

Anyway...