The Cheney Drumbeat

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The Plame scandal is the gift that keeps on giving. I. Lewis "I'm not a felon, George H.W. Bush Pardoned Me" Libby went down as expected last Friday, and the administration sincerely hoped that, with that indictment, all the fuss would die down. Such would not and should not be the case, since apparently, according to court docs, Cheney may have known a lot more about Libby's stint as an unnamed source for national security reporters than he is telling the public. "What did he know, and when did he know it?", the classic questions, are swirling around our notorious vice-president.

Cheney isn't one that is known for his candor or visibility. He disappeared for weeks after 9/11 and earlier this year. His modus operandi during times of trouble echoes the Billy Ocean classic -- when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Yet for him, the problem now is, where's he gonna go? The spotlight is gradually shifting from the ineffectual frontman of this administration to the guy who's really pulling all the levers. To be sure, the pieces above all come from rags that could be labelled "liberal." But what they're asking for is not a resignation or a conviction, but simply that Dick Cheney come clean. If he didn't do anything inappropriate, his speaking out could clear the air for his administration, or at least give them some room to breathe. His continued silence and absence only invites further speculation as to what he may be hiding. And indeed, his mendacious reputation doesn't serve him well in this time of trial.

Let's be clear -- Libby is no fall guy. He's a liar, and he could have compromised national security by playing politics with an undercover agent's identity. It's not even a question of whether he has tried to fall on his sword in order to protect his benefactor in the administration. Rather, Cheney's coming clean is a matter of BushCo's long-ago promise to bring integrity back to the White House. As long as Cheney remains silent, their integrity remains compromised.

What's more intriguing about the role Cheney may have played in the Plame outing is that this scandal threatens to blow wide open the discussion on the exaggerations, prevarications, innuendoes and outright lies that BushCo cobbled together in order to lead us into the quagmire of Iraq. Years after the fact, the Plame scandal may become the beginning of the reckoning for this war. My mom always told me not to lie, because eventually the truth would come to light. Perhaps Cheney is remaining silent because he doesn't want to start us down that road. Unfortunately for him, we've already started down that road, and eventually that road will lead to him. It's in his interest to speak out first and try to set the tone. It won't work, but he should at least try.