No one should be surprised that Dick Cheney would pick his chicken hawk chum, Rush Limbaugh, over Colin Powell as the best hope for leading the GOP out of the political wilderness.

They do, after all, have a lot in common.

This week, the former vice-president generated his own version of shock and awe when he told “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer that he believes the polarizing radio talker offers Republicans a better way back to relevancy than the former secretary of state.

That statement left some folks aghast.
 
Powell is, after all, a military hero who, in spite of the subterranean poll numbers of Cheney and his former boss, George W. Bush, is still popular and respected. Limbaugh, on the other hand, is basically an entertainer who appeals to prejudice rather than reason; a man who has run little more than his mouth.

But as I said, no one should be shocked at Cheney’s preference for Limbaugh – as they are virtually doppelgangers in the ways of hypocrisy and intolerance.

Both men, for example, believe that bluster is sound defense policy. They measure patriotism through leaders’ willingness to wage war, yet when they had a chance to prove theirs by going to Vietnam, they didn’t.

Cheney managed to get five deferments. In fact, he even once said that he had other priorities besides military service.

Obviously, he didn’t give the same consideration to thousands of other young men and women as he urged Bush to wage an unnecessary war in Iraq.



Limbaugh also didn’t make it to Vietnam. Something about knee or butt problems.

Yet hypocrisy isn’t the main trait that Cheney and Limbaugh share. They also share the trait of being angry and scared white men; men who are seeing their legitimacy erode whenever President Barack Obama’s poll numbers tick upward.

And it’s killing them.

This fear – the fear that a black man or any other member of a marginalized group might actually have a better idea about how to run a country – has haunted Cheney for some time.
 
Back in 1985, for example, Cheney voted against a House resolution urging the apartheid South African government to release Nelson Mandela from prison. He said he couldn’t bring himself to support Mandela’s release because he’d have to support the African National Congress – a group that was viewed as being a terrorist organization.

In other words Cheney, the anti-terrorist, could tolerate the terror and dehumanization that apartheid wrought on black South Africans – as long as those same black South Africans led by Mandela didn’t do anything to fight against it. The resistance of oppressed black people, to him, was more terroristic than the oppression of their white rulers.

Then there was the thing with Powell.

Almost from Day One, Cheney was envious of Powell’s popularity – and his smarts. He went around Powell to have Bush sign an order that stripped foreign terrorism suspects of access to any court, and made it so that they could be held indefinitely. Too often, Bush chose Cheney’s circumventions over Powell’s expertise.

Cheney worked mightily to reduce him to a token.

And what is there to say about Limbaugh and his bigotry that he hasn’t already revealed?

Just the other day, he managed to accuse Obama of wanting to boost unemployment so that he can build a welfare state in which wealth would be returned to its “rightful owners.”

Obama’s aim, he claimed, was forced reparations.

How stupid. And how racist.

Yet Cheney sees Limbaugh’s fear-mongering, and not Powell’s levelheadedness, as the beacon that the GOP needs to guide itself out of the shadows. He sees Limbaugh’s way as the way, .....

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cheney and rush are nothing but a bunch of redneck whiners who probably belong in the klan.i'm glad that wanda made that joke about rush because he's very mean and acts like a dog.he talks about minorities and women like scums while you have people saying he's an entertainter but he's preach hater.talk about rev.wright, this fool isn't no better.rev.wright was real about people who still preach racism and fear to folks.

by   
Quita32
May 14, 2009, 8:28 am
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cheney and rush got something in common-being more the racist rednecks that i have ever seen in my life.cheney ruined our country for 8 years which led to destruction of lies and manuipaltions.cheney still hates that a black man got the highest office in the land.so does rush too.rush preaches hate everyday and maninstream media are saying nothing about this oxycintin pimp freak whose less educated about everything.both of them never served the military yet they make plenty of money while rest of us are struggling and trying to make.

by   
Quita32
May 14, 2009, 8:23 am
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I never heard Cheney say this much the entire 8 years he was Vice President!! Hell, most of the time, no one could find him!. For as much bigotry that he is spewing, he should go back to whereever he was hinding for the last 8 year and be totally quiet so the world won't see how totally ignorant he is. Just imagine, dopie Rush Lindberg and drunken, gun toting, shoot your friened Cheney trying to criticize President Obama and Colin Powell. Get a grip!!

by   
Pwoodie
May 13, 2009, 2:22 pm
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Nobody is listening to those two idiots! When they got the power they wanted, they screwed things up--bad. Listen, their is to destroy the fed government. Why? Cause they don't need it, that's why. They are very rich and do not need anything our government has to offer except "SECURITY". The only department worth keeping at the federal level is the military. Every other agency can operate at the state level--where they have the most control over laws that affect poor people. The only people listening to them are bush's 30 percent.

by   
Dkg316
May 13, 2009, 11:02 am
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The heart of each mans actions, thoughts and ways is greed. Both want a system that allows them to collect as much cash as they can. That system exist mainly when a GOP puppet is running the country. They don't see their actions or words as racist as they want to cheat and steal from everyone. Don't support those who put money in either mans pocket.

by   
Diggie44
May 13, 2009, 7:46 am
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