Vice President Cheney ... has been the constant target of vicious attacks by mean-spirited Democrats for what they claim is his habitual obstinacy in refusing to concede that he's human and hence not blessed with perfection.
Just recently, the veep took some fierce blasts of heat when he averred that even had he known back in 2003 Saddam didn't have so much a toy mock-up of a weapon of mass destruction, "We'd do exactly the same thing."
At first blush, that's the kind of patently absurd statement that makes Mr. Cheney sound like he's absolutely convinced he walks on water, and tempts the disinterested spectator to try to persuade him on the benefits of complete rest. What both his enemies and his anxious sympathizers fail to recognize is that Mr. Cheney's very special position in the administration prevents him from ever saying he's sorry, much less acknowledging he's ever made even the most minute mistake.
For Mr. Cheney is the godfather of this administration. And as John Gotti or Marlon Brando could have told you, to fill that role successfully demands unquestioned authority, which means simply that you're always right. Always. Period. If at times, your adamancy appears irrational and monomaniacal -- no sweat, you're a godfather, in whose menacing presence underlings and enemies alike quake in their boots. If he wanted to be a goody two-shoes, Mr. Cheney confides, he'd have been secretary of state.
There they go again — praising with faint damnation.
Abelson's goofy attempt at satire is as flat-footed and repulsive as its target. For what purpose do so many Wall Street media types cast themselves as the Leni Riefenstahl propagandists of the Bush administration, always building up what deserves to be torn down, particularly when so much actual evidence of the administration's incompetence and/or evil can be found within the pages of their own publications?
See two posts down from this one for another story from Barron's, this one about someone who actually manages money instead of just writing about it in a tone of faux-cuteness.
