What I Really Meant To Say Was...

Earlier this week, Vice President Cheney made headlines by saying that we had better "make the right choice" on Election Day, "because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again." In other words, vote Republican or else.

This did not go over well with many people, and quite a few comments were made on how Cheney apparently cannot gain votes through reasoned discourse or pointing to the Bush Administration's first-term accomplishments (no, wait, there aren't any), so he has to resort to fear and threats instead.

The Vice President has now been let out of his secure undisclosed location to do some damage control, with the first stop being an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer after a rally in Ohio. Surprise, surprise -- he now says he didn't really mean it.

"I did not say if [John] Kerry is elected, we will be hit by a terrorist attack," Cheney said. "Whoever is elected president has to anticipate more attacks. My point was the question before us is: Will we have the most effective policy in place to deal with that threat? George Bush will pursue a more effective policy than John Kerry."

He was the voice of reason itself and it was a good college try at spin. But we all know he meant exactly what he said. He really was deadly serious in saying we would face more and worse terrorist attacks should we actually take democracy seriously and vote the "wrong" way on November 2.

Cheney's arrogance is truly breathtaking. Imagine the gall required for someone to actually get up and say that if we dare vote for someone else, we will pay the price. On the other hand, we don't have to imagine it. We see it every time he insists that Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda were bosom buddies, as he did yet again at yesterday's rally, despite the fact that this has been debunked more times than can be counted, most recently and definitively by the 9/11 commission's final report.

But he is hardly alone in continuing to foist this deception off on the American people. Hardly a campaign speech goes by, whether it's from President Bush or someone else, that rhetorically links the two very separate groups. And it's working, too -- according to a Newsweek poll conducted late last week, 42% of Americans still believe that Saddam was directly involved in the 9/11 attacks. (This is down from the 69% of Americans so hoodwinked a year ago, but that's still quite a lot of indoctrinated people.)

Which means that no matter what Cheney says to get re-elected, regardless of its validity, honesty or even sanity, he fits right in with the rest of the crowd.