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Cheney, a hoax passing itself off as a
public servant,
by Michael Arvey
A genuine political debate requires that the participating sides
extend arguments for their propositions that are buttressed by
facts and truths. Unfortunately, in the recent "debate"
between Vice President Cheney and Senator John Edwards, Cheney, a
hoax passing itself off as a public servant, lied as fast as a
dog will lick a dish.
For example, in one of a slew of egregious, slight-of-mouth
distortions, Cheney (as does Bush) claimed that John Kerry voted
for higher taxes 98 times. Yet the very same online site that
Cheney cited (it's actually Factcheck. org, not Factcheck. com)
points out that 98 is "an inflated figure that counts
multiple votes in the same tax bills, and also counts votes on
budget measures but don't actually bring about tax increases by
themselves." (Factcheck. org, 10/6/04.) In other words,
Cheney and Bush deceptively count version votes as final votes.
In another distortion, Cheney (as does Bush) claimed 10 million
voters are registered in Afghanistan. They love to boast about
voting in Afghanistan and coming elections in Iraq--see,
democracy works--but, with horrific irony, the GOP essays to
suppress minority voters in the U.S., as we witness happening
in Florida, once again. In fact, only 9.8 million actually
are registered to vote in Afghanistan, and many of those
represent voter fraud. According to the Washington Post,
10/1/04, "Human Rights Watch this week said that figure [10
million] was inaccurate because of the multiple registrations of
many voters." They also "documented how human rights
abuses are fueling a perversive atmosphere of repression and
fear in many parts of the country," hence affecting voter
turn-out.
Cheney is not so much the grandfather figure as has
been suggested by some media pundits. Rather, he is a hunched
and slithering master of political language, which as George
Orwell wrote, "is designed to make lies sound truthful and
murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to
pure wind." Cheney excels in his current
vocation.
Michael Arvey (marvey@email.com)
writes from Colorado.
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