IT'S JUST SO MOVING TO WATCH AN ELDERLY MAN LEAVING HIS DAUGHTER A LEGACY OF GRIFT

Liz and Dick Cheney have a Wall Street Journal op-ed today denouncing the Obama administration's foreign policy -- which means it's just another day in the Beltway, with Dick Cheney attacking the Obama administration the way he always does.

There are gaps in my knowledge of history, so maybe you can tell me the answer to this question: has any president or vice president in American history other than Cheney made trolling political opponents his life's work, the central organizing principle of his remaining time on earth? Jimmy Carter builds houses and oversees elections. Gerald Ford played golf. George W. Bush paints. Even Richard Nixon, who's usually regarded as the most resentful, envy-driven man ever to hold high office in America, tried to go high-minded, writing what he regarded as serious policy books. Cheney's resentment tops Nixon's by a wide margin. Of the ex-presidents and ex-VPs of my lifetime, he's in a class by himself.

But the Cheney op-ed is not just an op-ed. As I learned from Twitchy this morning, it coincides with today's launch of a new Cheney family 501(c)(4) organization, the Alliance for a Stronger America:





Awwww, isn't it sweet to watch an old man in poor health trying to help out a daughter who once had a really good government job, but has now fallen on hard times after -- darn it! -- a possible new job opportunity didn't pan out? There he is, laboring with what could be his final breaths to set her up in a position from which she'll be able to enrich herself on donations from rubes and gullible billionaires. What says "daddy's love" more than that? (Wipes away tear.)

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I don't have much to say about the op-ed itself, which is the usual collection of neocon arguments and Fox News talking points (golf! "leading from behind"! pretty much everything apart from teleprompter use). But I would like to make note of this:

The president explained his view in his Sept. 23, 2009, speech before the United Nations General Assembly. "Any world order," he said, "that elevates one nation above others cannot long survive."

Here's what the president actually said:

No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed.

Now, maybe that's not materially different from the Cheney version -- but, as a quote, it's flat-out wrong. This isn't exactly an obscure speech. The complete text is here and here and here and all over the Net.

Of course, checking facts before proceeding isn't really a Cheney strong suit, is it?