By Jim Stanford on October 19, 2007
Looking at the above picture, I am reminded of a recent joke by Stephen Colbert that bears repeating:
“Dick Cheney’s fondest pipe dream is driving a bulldozer into The New York Times while drinking crude oil from Keith Olbermann’s skull.”
After the broadcast of the PBS Frontline episode “Cheney’s Law” the other night, I’m surprised Cheney hasn’t ordered an air strike on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood or had Big Bird rendered to Guantánamo.
The program, which can be viewed for free online, chronicles the Machiavellian maneuverings of Diabolical Dick as he circumvents Congress and the Constitution on matters such as torture and spying on U.S. citizens.
The show is basically a summary of the news coverage from the past two years, notably by Barton Gellman of The Washington Post, Charlie Savage of The Boston Globe and Jane Mayer of The New Yorker. But it’s helpful to see the chronology of events and also connect the faces to names such as The Adder, David S. Addington, Cheney’s legal counsel turned chief of staff, and John Yoo, the complicit attorney at the Department of Justice who twisted the law at Cheney’s bidding.
Alarmingly, most Americans are still unaware that in 2004 there was nearly a mutiny at the Department of Justice over the illegal wiretapping program. All of the top-ranking officials at Justice, including Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller, threatened to resign.
A word of advice for watching “Cheney’s Law” online: Pause the video and let it stream for at least 10 or 15 minutes, then hit play, else it will keep hiccuping.
A tape of this program ought to be Exhibit B (behind Iraq War grievances) at Cheney’s impeachment proceedings.
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