Why Is Dick Cheney Relevant

Since the inauguration of President Obama, opposition to his policies has been limited to those who have been feeling the fear of the change the new President has been pushing on the American people. Change is not the problem when it is designed to improve the conditions of the people, but change for the sake of change, change introduced only for the purpose of making a political statement and to pander to those fringe groups that elected him, is not what improves the conditions of a country.

Throughout the Bush Presidency, former Vice President Al Gore has been very vocal in his attacks against George W. Bush, not mincing any words and never toning down his vitriol. Even as Gore stepped up his crusade for the scientifically challenged Global Warming theory, he continued to openly express his opposition against the President. At the time, dissention being patriotic according to the Left, no rebuke was ever directed against Gore and no Media call for the former VP to just go away was ever muttered.

But times have changed. Dissent is no longer patriotic, but instead a demonstration of racism and when former Bush VP Dick Cheney decides to speak his dissent, suddenly the Media is all about the silencing of the man. At the highest level of the current administration, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton testified at a Congressional hearing stating that Cheney was not a “reliable source” on matters relating to torture. This was in response to a question regarding the public request Cheney had made regarding the declassification of secret documents exposing the successes that enhanced interrogations had achieved.
The Left is screaming against the former VP for taking to the airwaves and defending the policies of the Administration he served and to offer his analysis regarding the damage that the Obama policies are doing to the ability for the United States to fend against future attacks. The Left also calls Cheney’s analysis as irrelevant and that is the point of contention. Is Dick Cheney relevant for the country?

To people of common sense, the answer to the question is pretty much a non issue, because it is very well known that Dick Cheney was instrumental in the war against the enemies of America. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush rightly remained very visible to the American people who needed to see their President in control of a very chaotic situation. Immediately, Vice President Cheney went to work, appearing so scarcely on the Media that he became the butt of many jokes. Meantime, Dick Cheney worked relentlessly to insure that the American people would be and remain as safe as possible. And while George Bush rightfully takes the credit for keeping the country safe for the remainder of his Administration, the low profile efforts of Dick Cheney had a lot to do with the success of that endeavor.

Today, as the Obama Administration dismantles just about all the advancement in safety introduced by the previous Administration, Dick Cheney has decided that he cannot remain silent as he witnesses the security of the Nation being returned to pre-9/11 conditions.
Dick Cheney is relevant to the discussion, because he really has nothing to gain by expressing his opinion. While President Bush has chosen to oblige to the historical classy avoidance of criticism against the subsequent President, something that America wishes former President Carter would have followed, Mr. Cheney has decided that the stakes of the game are dire enough to warrant speaking up.

Cheney spoke against the Administration release of formerly classified documents explaining the enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA on terrorists captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. He considered such release as one of the ways the new Administration was undermining the safety and security of the country, moreover it was creating a sense of panic among the CIA operatives who now are reluctant to perform their work for fear of possible prosecution. But once the memos had been released, and now that those techniques were compromised permanently, Cheney held the position that to give context to the documents the memos indicating the information gathered with the enhanced interrogations, that the Liberals call torture, be also released so that the American people could decide for themselves, something the Liberals in Government surely do not want to occur.

The relevance of Dick Cheney transcends matters of security. He is relevant to the Republican Party and the American Conservative movement in general. He is a voice for the those Americans who do not believe that Government is supposed to be a controlling force in the life of the country, a voice for those who believe in fiscal responsibility and free market.
Dick Cheney is wealthy enough to be able to live the rest of his life in comfort and independence and not holding political ambitions, he could just remain sheltered from the attacks of a blood thirsty Media always looking for a reason to attack him, President Bush and their accomplishments. Basically, he does not need the aggravation he is suffering for speaking up, and yet he chooses to do so. Just that fact makes the man relevant.
When comparing Dick Cheney to the bloated, phony Gore and the useless Biden, one can only hope that Mr. Cheney will grace our Nation with his words for as long as possible and that his words will be eventually heard.

And these are my thoughts!
Frank “Semperpapa”