Check out the double "seig-heil" (sp?) in the photo of the true "power bhind the throne" at this url in today's NYTimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/31/politics/31CHEN.html
Wonder who he's saluting?
Maybe there's a hint here: <<Mr. Cheney has dodged all questions about his conduct as chief executive at Halliburton, the energy company under investigation by the Securities
and Exchange Commission for its accounting practices. He has also
repeatedly declined to identify the people who were consulted by his energy task force in 2001.>> (BTW, ever notice how everyone in or supportive of this administration seems to "decline" (not refuse, oh no) to answer questions in which they are requested to account for their actions, to the people who they supposedly are serving (us)??)
And perhaps there's another hint (one linked to the afore-noted refusal to ID corporate energy-co. insider influence?) here: <<"Mr. Cheney has been consumed by planning for the political reconstruction of a post-Hussein Iraq. The plan, so far, is for
an American military commander to run the country alongside a civilian
administrator, with an eventual transition to an Iraqi-led [puppet] government.">>
(oops, sorry, my fingers slipped and inserted that [extra] word.)
Or maybe here? <<He is
now pursuing a plan to offer government incentives to drug companies to
develop better smallpox and anthrax vaccines.>>
or here?
<<On the economy, Mr. Cheney was a forceful advocate of the centerpiece of
the president's economic plan, the elimination of the dividend tax.>>
Heck, "power *behind* the throne" seems naive somehow; here's what Rep. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican says at the article's close: "You feel when you've talked to the vice president you've talked to the president".
With that kinda power -- but without the pressure that would over-strain his heart (<<a history of heart problems >> -- who needs the figurehead hassles of an official presidency?
sorry, just had to let off a bit of steam.
Peace.
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