Braveheart

Dick Cheney seems to be making up for what some might argue was a lack of personal courage in his younger days when he had “other priorities” than serving in his nation’s war in Vietnam (by obtaining five deferments, some in legendary fashion). Cheney tops his trip to Afghanistan earlier this year (in which Bagram Airbase was attacked while he was there) with a trip to Baghdad (the U.S. Embassy was attacked while he was there).
Interestingly, while his second was off in Iraq, risking death either from insurgent attacks or from his own ticker giving out during insurgent attacks, the President threatened to veto another version of a House war funding bill, one that would extend funding only until the end of July, after which Congress would reassess whether “progress” was being made; in some sense, Cheney was trying to head this sort of thing off, by urging the Iraqis not to have parliament go away for two months in the summer, and otherwise, to take stabilizing the Iraqi security situation more seriously. Cheney seems to realize that his party is doomed if Iraq keeps going the way its going; Bush, as usual, is in his own world, thinking that if he pouts long enough, he’ll get his way…
I will repeat what I said about Cheney last year, after the shooting incident in which it was revealed that he permitted himself to be in the middle of nowhere with armed civilians and alcohol… after just the plane ride to Afghanistan (aboard the Spirit of Strom Thurmond no less) nearly killed him, even if the Taliban did not… now he goes to Iraq? Why are we spending good money providing this man with security, when he clearly wants to show us that he is one tough hombre by constantly risking death?
OK: I’m convinced, Mr. Vice-President. You are one tough bastard… indeed, you are tougher than the whiny child that you answer to… while he struts around in faux-military-uniforms stateside (and can’t even properly address the aftermath of a tornado), you are the real deal, going right to the heart of the action. You win, Sir. Yours is bigger.
Now please… PLEASE… come back to Washington, take your Lipitor, and try– TRY not to kill yourself… As troubling a figure as you are, Sir, the thought of George W. Bush trying to act as President without you… is more than we can take.