Dick Is Dead
Former vice-president Dick Cheney has died; Associated Press↱ reports:
Notes:
Woodward, Calvin. "Dick Cheney, one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in US history, dies at 84". Associated Press. 4 November 2025. APNews.com. 4 November 2025. https://apnews.com/article/dick-cheney-dies-079591b529f048489650e7569bc675d2
Former vice-president Dick Cheney has died; Associated Press↱ reports:
Dick Cheney, the hard-charging conservative who became one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in U.S. history and a leading advocate for the invasion of Iraq, has died at 84.
George W. Bush's vice president died Monday from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said Tuesday in a statement.
In Cheney's hands, the vice presidency became a nexus of influence and manipulation — no longer the timid office whose occupants had tended their boss's ambitions, gone to endless banquets and often waited in the wings for their own shot at the prize.
When he bunkered in secure undisclosed locations after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, that was less an inconvenience for Cheney than a metaphor for a life of power that he exercised to maximum effect from the shadows.
He was the small man operating big levers as if from Oz. Machiavelli with a sardonic grin. "The Darth Vader of the administration," as Bush described the public's view.
No one seemed more amused at that perception than Cheney himself. "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole?" he asked. "It's a nice way to operate, actually."
____________________George W. Bush's vice president died Monday from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said Tuesday in a statement.
In Cheney's hands, the vice presidency became a nexus of influence and manipulation — no longer the timid office whose occupants had tended their boss's ambitions, gone to endless banquets and often waited in the wings for their own shot at the prize.
When he bunkered in secure undisclosed locations after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, that was less an inconvenience for Cheney than a metaphor for a life of power that he exercised to maximum effect from the shadows.
He was the small man operating big levers as if from Oz. Machiavelli with a sardonic grin. "The Darth Vader of the administration," as Bush described the public's view.
No one seemed more amused at that perception than Cheney himself. "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole?" he asked. "It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Notes:
Woodward, Calvin. "Dick Cheney, one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in US history, dies at 84". Associated Press. 4 November 2025. APNews.com. 4 November 2025. https://apnews.com/article/dick-cheney-dies-079591b529f048489650e7569bc675d2
