I am convinced that Cheney’s calculations of power would be alien to any of the real master of Real Politik.
Thank God the current threshold for a nuclear exchange is high, or I swear he’d find a way to get us in one.
Instead of conventional calculations of risk, I see calculations based on ideological purity and aggrandizement of personal power. Rather than the way my father used to kick off military briefings during the Nixon administration where the briefing would begin with a list of who is in military contact with whom, who got killed or injured, and what is at risk, I see a Cheney briefing opening with which donor promised what, who’s unhappy in the neocon base, and how they can get even with Republicans Cheney perceives as having “deserted” the cause.
In other words, Cheney and “W” don’t perceive risk because they consciously don’t look for and wouldn’t know it if wacked them over the head with a Backfire bomber. We’re ruled by moral cowards who believe power is their birth right and stewardship is something liberals do. We’re really lucky it isn’t any worse than it is. Really lucky . . .
