I love when this happens.  When the most vilified man in the Bush administration, Darth Cheney actually says something they agree with, the liberals actually have to dial back their hatred and accept that maybe not all republicans and conservatives are howling homophobes, as they try to make them appear to be.

It’s hard to marginalize someone who is being honest and reasonable, isn’t it?  And I totally agree with him on the federalism issue.

Cheney Hints He Supports Gay Marriage

Former Vice President Dick Cheney told the National Press Club he thinks “people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish.” Cheney said the decision to legalize gay marriage should be up to the states and not the federal government.

I have a large pile of issues where I disagree with our President, and I make no secret of those. 

But when it comes to him performing the (in my opinion) most important aspect of his office, that of Commander in Chief, he has never let me down in my expectations, and this Washington Times article demonstrates clearly why I feel that way.

Bush, Cheney comforted troops privately

For much of the past seven years, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have waged a clandestine operation inside the White House. It has involved thousands of military personnel, private presidential letters and meetings that were kept off their public calendars or sometimes left the news media in the dark.

Their mission: to comfort the families of soldiers who died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to lift the spirits of those wounded in the service of their country.

…

I blogged this yesterday, and I expected some negative reaction, but not this soon.  The story and reactions have come from around the world, thanks to the power of the internet.  Of note is the Tehran Times in Iran which parroted the original article.

Hmm, what kind of message about unity in America is Brattleboro giving, and what impact could that have on foreign policy?

The Boston Globe has also noticed the story.

The blowback on the story involves something I personally find distasteful: Harassment and threats.

In my original post I chose not to treat the matter in such fashion, I went with scorn, ridicule and derision.  Harassment makes martyrs of the people whose hatred drives them to such ideological foolishness, ridicule and exposure merely shows it as the foolishness it is.

LSU condemns any threats against the officials.  A lot of them are only doing their jobs.

I will post some highlights from several articles

WCAX TV:

He may be a lame duck, but never think that stops people from letting their irrational hatred lead them into gross stupidity.

Bush Derangement lives, in Vermont:

Brattleboro to vote on arresting Bush, Cheney

Brattleboro residents will vote at town meeting on whether President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should be indicted and arrested for war crimes, perjury or obstruction of justice if they ever step foot in Vermont.

Sigh.  The same old lie.  The liberals have been preaching this BS Bush lied mantra ceaselessly despite never having shown one single lie.  The rest of it shows they know little of how prisoners of war are actually supposed to be treated.

The Brattleboro Select Board voted 3-2 Friday to put the controversial item on the Town Meeting Day warning.

According to Town Clerk Annette Cappy, organizers of the Bush-Cheney issue gathered enough signatures, and it was up to the Select Board whether Brattleboro voters would consider the issue in March.

Cappy said residents will get to vote on the matter by paper balloting March 4.

One of my all time favorite TV shows is the 80’s and 90’s sitcom Roseanne.

Roseanne when it came out could have been a portrait of my life.  At the time I was not well off financially, and was dealing with a lot of stress and unhappiness with laughter and sarcasm.

It was one of the first sitcoms to portray what life for most working class people was like:  A struggle with highs and lows. It also, as Roseanne Barr notes in her DVD commentary, clearly showcases the disconnect in class in America.

But.  One of the things I do struggle with is Roseanne herself, the actress, the comedienne and the activist.

I perused her blog and was shocked at how she can flip from crazy to wacky in no time at all.

Here are some examples from Roseanne World.   WARNING:  EXTREME LANGUAGE AHEAD

On Anne Coulter:

Come on liberals, you despise the man, you want him to die.  Here is your chance to pray for it again:

Tests Reveal Blood Clot in Cheney’s Leg

Doctors discovered a blood clot in Vice President Dick Cheney’s left leg Monday, a condition that could be fatal if left untreated.

The 66-year-old Cheney, who has a history of heart problems, will be treated with blood-thinning medication for several months, said spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride.

She said Cheney visited his doctor’s office in Washington after feeling minor discomfort in his calf. An ultrasound showed the blood clot - called a deep venous thrombosis - in his left lower leg.

Blood clots that form deep in the legs can become killers if they break off and float into the lungs. This is called a pulmonary embolism. Deep vein thrombosis strikes an estimated 2 million Americans each year, killing 60,000.

OK, let’s hear the hate. 

Wait….

Ah, I should have known.  A quick check at the nutroots hangouts showed me the wack jobs were way ahead of me.

So there he was, Dick Cheney, the Vice President, in a surprise visit to Afghanistan.  Suddenly there was a bombing attack at the base he was at:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2907390

 A suicide bomber struck at the main entrance to Bagram air base in Afghanistan today, as Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting.

Immediately after the attack, a red alert traveled throughout the base — a red alert that we heard saying that the base was under direct attack.

At least nine people were killed, officials tell ABC News. Associated Press reporters at the scene said that they had seen the bodies of at least 12 people, and that they had been carried in black body bags and wooden coffins from near the base into a market area where hundreds of Afghans had gathered to mourn.

A Taliban spokesperson has claimed responsibility, saying the intended target was in fact Cheney. The bomber never got near Cheney.

Let me state for the record, Cheney is not my favorite guy in Washington DC.  I think he deserves a lot of the criticism he gets.

But one of the things I do like about him is that he not afraid to say what he thinks, and he rarely pulls punches.  Take this for example:¹

Cheney: Moves by Pelosi, Murtha would ‘validate the al Qaeda strategy’

In an interview with ABC News today, Vice President Dick Cheney called the announcement that the British will begin withdrawing their troops in the spring “good news,” described the situation in southern Iraq as “dramatically improved,” and lambasted House Democrats for pursuing a course that will “validate the al Qaeda strategy.”

Cheney told ABC that the troop shuffle is evidence of improvement, “I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well.”

In the ABC interview, Cheney mostly confined his criticism of war opponents to House Democrats, who recently passed a resolution expressing disapproval of President Bush’s plans to send 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq.

NEW YORK � Vice President Dick Cheney told FOX News on Wednesday that he alone is responsible for a weekend hunting accidennt in which he shot Austin attorney Harry Whittington. "Ultimately I’m the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry," Cheney said in his first interview since the incident. "I’m the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend, and that’s something I’ll never forget." Cheney’s first public response following the shooting comes more than 72 hours after the accident. His silence has been met with bewilderment and anger by some in Washington, D.C. But on Wednesday, the vice president seemed to express deep remorse. "The image of him falling is something I will never be able to get out my mind," Cheney said, somberly. "It was one of the worst days of my life." Whittington, whom Cheney described as an acquaintance even though he’s known him for more than 30 years, was hit with more than 200 birdshot pellets from an estimated 30 yards away. Thee accident took place at Armstrong Ranch, a 50,000-acre property in south Texas that is known as one of the best quail-hunting sites in the state. Not aware that his hunting partner had returned from retrieving a bird he had shot, Cheney turned right to shoot a covey of quail and instead sprayed Whittington with pellets from the 28-gauge shotgun. Earlier this week, the White House and Katharine Armstrong, the owner of the ranch and an eye witness to the accident, implied that Whittington did not follow hunting protocol because he didn’t announce to Cheney and the other hunter that he had returned from retrieving his kill. On Wednesday, the vice president made clear that Harry wasn’t responsible for being hit. "It was not Harry’s fault," he said. "You cannot blame anybody else."