More About Dick Cheney’s Preposterous Claim His Office is Not Part of the Executive Branch of Government

More About Dick Cheney’s Preposterous Claim His Office is Not Part of the Executive Branch of Government

As might be expected, Vice President Cheney’s ridiculous claim that his office is not part of the executive branch as an excuse for not complying with federal disclosure laws has been lampooned everywhere. Seattle PI political cartoonist David Horsey political cartoon in the Seattle PI of June 26th hits the nail right Cheney on the head. It shows the vice president lecturing students about federal government structure with a blackboard drawing. The drawing diagrams the three branches of government in boxes, but way off in the corner is a box that reads "vice president" with the students asking Mr. Cheney: "Why is that box labled vice president floating off by itself?" Why, indeed Mr. Vice President? In the meantime, Democrats say they will consider cutting off funding for the vice president’s office in the budget since Mr. Cheney now claims it is not part of the executive branch. Syndicated columnist Maureen Dowd entitles her Seattle PI column of June 26th "Could Cheney get any more dastardly?" She says he "used to just blow off the public and Congress" but, now "…in a breathtaking act of arrant arrogance, he’s blowing off his own administration" as it is a Presidential Order which he is defying. Since taking office Mr. Cheney has created an ever widening chasm between his constitutional responsibilities and his excesses of power. It appears he believes rules are for losers. He has shown no hestitation to rely upon dubious facts, half truths, quarter truths and no truths – what ordinary people call lies. I suppose it is impossible for someone like Dick Cheney to go too far, but it looks like he has painted himself into a legal corner for the time being at least.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *