Cheney Madness Index?
From today's WaPo:
More to This Card Than Season's Greetings
By Jeffrey F. Liss
Sunday, December 28, 2003; Page B04
"And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice," Benjamin Franklin asked at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, "is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" Franklin invoked the sparrow in service of his argument that the convention should open each day with a prayer. He didn't convince his fellow delegates, but his turn of phrase took its place in history: This year's holiday greeting card from Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne quotes it as a message for the season.
Perhaps the Cheneys were merely expressing their appreciation for God and faith. But coming from an administration that has invaded Afghanistan and occupied Iraq, the message might be read as suggesting a divine purpose for the United States as it assumes the burdens of "empire."
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The best-known line from the speech -- "the spirit which is not too sure that it is right" -- directly echoes a Franklin thought that did not make the Cheneys' card. Franklin remarked in his closing address to the 1787 Convention that "the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others." (Indeed, given current events, perhaps this Franklin quote would have been a more instructive adornment for the Cheneys' Christmas card.)
washingtonpost.com
Cheney is reminding me, in a dreadful way, of Bill Fleckenstein's trademark rejoinder: "Often wrong, but never in doubt." |
