W II

Somebody that knows everything there is to know about misdirection is Karl Rove. Karl, who, you ask? Karl Rove was affectionately referred to as “Bush’s Brain” by the press, and as “Turd Blossom” by Bush. I’m guessing Bush knew him better, so maybe his nickname was more appropriate. Karl Rove was responsible for directing all of Bush’s political campaigns, and as a result, put spin on who the public saw as a candidate. Rove was a modern day Machiavelli, if you will. Like Machiavelli, Rove had little use for morality or ethics, it was all about winning.

Rove’s ethics seem to only appear when confronted by legal action. Rove represented the tobacco industry at the same time as he was advising then Texas governor, George Bush. Rove testified in court that he quit his consulting with the tobacco people because he felt awkward “about balancing that responsibility with his role as Bush’s top political advisor”. You see, the state of Texas was suing the tobacco industry at the time. Turns out, Rove was right to ditch big tobacco. Rove knew where the ultimate big money was. I suggest reading Rove’s wiki for a look at a lifetime of despicable campaigns run by a despicable man.

Another despicable “Bushie” who knew where the big money was Dick Cheney. Cheney had served as “poppy’s” Secretary of Defense and was part of the inner circle of ultra conservative Republicans fomenting “Pax Americana”. When the Clinton administration came in and swept out the Republican riff raff, Cheney became the Chairman and CEO of the Halliburton Company. Now, the Halliburton Company has its fingers in a lot of pies, maybe all of the pies. One pie that had eluded Halliburton’s grasp was the oil field giant, Dresser Industries. 

In 1998, Dresser chose to merge with its main rival Halliburton, and became known thereafter as Halliburton Company. Cheney was CEO of Halliburton at the time, and he negotiated the purchase of Dresser. Rumor has it that Cheney had been convinced that Dresser’s asbestos liability suits were going to go away. In 2001, Halliburton was enjoined to settle the asbestos lawsuits against Dresser. The legal liability caused Halliburton’s stock price to free fall by eighty percent in a little over a year. It must have been very awkward for Cheney at cocktail parties filled with his investor friends. What’s an unscrupulous lifetime politician to do? Why nominate himself to be the vice presidential candidate, of course.

As bizarre as it sounds, an old friend of the Bush family, Dick Cheney, was charged with finding the perfect vice-presidential candidate to complement W’s run for the White House. After an exhaustive search of thousands of qualified candidates, Cheney spun the bottle and it pointed directly at him. Information is not available as to how many times the bottle was spun. After a contentious campaign that led to the party that received the least votes being given the election by the Supreme Court, Bush and Cheney were anointed as the leaders of the free world. Now Cheney was only a heartbeat away from the most powerful job on earth. More importantly, Cheney was given a key to the treasury.

First thing Cheney did was build a bunker for himself that was twice as secure as the White House. His movements were like something out of “24”. He traveled in motorcades of a dozen cars, he slept in multiple locations, and kept his movements separate from the President as much as he could. I question who he feared the most, Presidential assassins, or Halliburton stockholders. Wherever the paranoia was based, it was clear that the man with a mechanical heart, planned on keeping that heart beating for as long as he could. It’s also clear that Cheney was not stepping in front of the President to stop a bullet. Loyalty has its limits.

Ok, I’ve spent today’s missive describing two of W’s influences, and not W. In my defense, I will say that I think that the man that shaped W’s public persona, and the man who shaped W’s political persona, are equally as important as describing W. We’ll dig deeper into W tomorrow.