Whew. Close call on the Veep choice. Last night, I was in the doldrums just thinking about a Kerry/Gephardt ticket.
Short take: shows Kerry's willingness to see the campaign as much bigger than himself by choosing the guy everyone wants instead of the guy he's most comfortable with. Also, he must know that picking Edwards will expose him to compare/contrast pieces like this one that deride his plodding campaign style and dour visage in favor of the sunny, pretty Edwards with his mesmerizing speaking skills. As usual, Wil Saletan has the best take on the Edwards selection.
Was the Gephardt rumor a psyche job? I called it here a week ago, and the American Prospect raised the possibility today. Again, if this is a ploy, the Kerry campaign is absolutely brilliant.
Compare and contrast: Dick Cheney caught lying again. The Dems should repeat that devastating clip from the Daily Show that shows Cheney denying that he ever said that Saddam was involved in 9/11, then showing him on Meet the Press alleging exactly that. What a fucking scumbag.
There's this whole idea that Kerry needed to pick a guy with "gravitas" to counter Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney?
Let's recount what Dick Cheney has done shall we? Here's a Top 5 Worst Cheney Moments (and I'm not even counting such egregious statements as "Reagan proved deficits don't matter", or "go fuck yourself".):
(1) Brazen lies to justify a badly managed war. Cheney continues to assert a Saddam/Al Qaeda link, even when his primary evidence for making such a specious assertion, that Mohammed Atta met an Iraqi spy in Czech earlier in 2001, had been completely discredited (cell phone records place Atta in Florida; the spy in question was not in Czech either).
(2) If you don't tell me what I want to hear, I'll make up the facts myself. Cheney spearheaded a special intelligence office that created and shaped their own intelligence to justify their intentions of invading Iraq. Characteristically, little man Cheney refuses to take responsibility, shifting the blame to the CIA.
(3) Petty political payback jeopardizing national security. Cheney's office is likely involved with one of the most reprehensible actions I've seen from the U.S. government: the leaking of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity as petty retribution for her husband exposing the lie that Iraq bought yellowcake in Niger.
(4) Bigshot money men over the public good. Cheney's energy policy is all about enriching Big Energy campaign contributors.
(5) Dick Cheney, Big Pussy. Cheney, that squacking chickenhawk, furiously tried to pop out babies in a desperate effort to get draft deferments.
Hypocritical, sanctimonious, paranoid, secretive, incompetent, deceitful, extremist, and just plain wrong, Dick Cheney is, without a doubt, the most vile man currently holding high public office in this country. Edwards is an incredibly smooth speaker and polished debater. But all Edwards needs to do is call out half of Cheney's evildoing and Dick would be toast.
