MOsanthrope

Posted by Chris on March 26, 2006 at 12:02 pm.

The Vice President said on Friday that he objects to Democrats’ use of the moniker “dangerously incompetent” to describe his administration:

“The leaders of the Democratic Party have stepped into the debate — not with a positive message, but with a slogan proclaiming that our administration is ‘dangerously incompetent,’” Cheney said at a Florida campaign event.

Holy disingenuity, Batman!

Wasn’t it the Vice President who suggested that the election of John Kerry might subject America to another 9/11-style attack? Didn’t Cheney himself characterize statements of Iraq war critics as “dishonest and reprehensible” and describe political opponents as “opportunists” who lodge “cynical and pernicious falsehoods?” What was that “positive message” Cheney delivered on the Senate floor after Senator Leahy (D -VT) criticized the Vice President’s ties to Halliburton? It’s right on the tip of my tongue…. Oh yes, I remember now:

 
“Fuck yourself,” said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.
 

Articulation of “positive messages” by the Vice President’s opponents might be necessary if any aspect of his administration’s performance could fairly be portrayed in a favorable light. If the DNC had no healthcare, trade or foreign policy agenda, a platform promising to bandage the hemorrhaging treasury, avoid unprovoked war, slow the rate of environmental destruction and halt the sellout of our government to corporate interests would suffice. Under the circumstances, a campaign built on the slogan “we’ll endeavor, at every opportunity, to do the opposite of what they’ve done” strikes me as quite compelling.

The Vice President and his cohorts have enjoyed five years in office alongside a Republican Congress and a sympathetic judiciary. In the weeks following 9/11 a stunned and frightened citizenry handed them a political blank check and invited them to do with it whatever they wished. Despite these advantages, the administration has delivered uninterrupted malfeasance: The failure, as the President embarked on an unprecedented vacation schedule in the weeks leading up to 9/11, to recognize the looming threat posed by al Qaeda; foreign policies which have unquestionably aided terrorist recruitment efforts and emboldened “axis of evil” nations; the inability to apprehend Bin Laden or evidence anything even approximating a single-minded pursuit of him; steady progress toward the establishment of radical theocracies in Afghanistan and Iraq; the disastrously lackadaisical Katrina response; the reckless betrayal of a CIA anti-WMD operative for clearly political purposes; degradation of decades-long alliances; flagrant disregard for Americans’ civil liberties and a demonstrated contempt for the Constitution, Congress, the judiciary and state governments; installation of an executive branch comprised of unqualified patronage appointees, double-dealing lobbyists and interested industry executives; politicization of environmental and other scientific data and outright hostility toward science itself; repeated quid pro quo capitulation to the whims of fringe groups and religious extremists; vilification of critics as cowardly, traitorous, or worse; and an irresponsible fiscal policy and custom of corporate handouts which has converted an historic budget surplus to a record deficit.

For my part, I can think of few examples of this administration’s competence, and they pale in comparison to the damage wrought by its failures. Cheney’s newfound emotional sensitivity notwithstanding, I don’t consider the “dangerously incompetent” label particularly inappropriate. Perhaps the Vice President would prefer “catastrophically inept.” Failing that, I submit that “Bush league” has a certain double entendre appeal, and “worst ever” or just plain “dangerous” sum it up rather succinctly.

Filed under: Politics, U.S.