As I read the incredibly long interview with Dick Cheney published by Playboy Magazine yesterday, filled with his usual rewriting of history and sneering attacks on President Obama, the big question that came to mind was: Why do an interview with Mr. Cheney at this point at all? And, relatedly: Why does Mr. Cheney feel this endless need to maintain a public profile?
Could it be that he’s hoping he could run a vice-presidential search committee for another member of the Bush family (Jeb) and pick himself again? It beggars belief and would drive every interest group outside of the extreme right crazy, but I learned a long time ago to never underestimate Mr. Cheney.
A few tidbits popped out of the interview, including Mr. Cheney’s bland dismissal of the idea that there could be a hint of racism in the endless partisan assaults on Mr. Obama, and on Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. Accusing Mr. Obama and Mr. Holder, rather hilariously, of “playing the race card,” Mr. Cheney said criticism of the two men “hasn’t got anything to do with race.”
Obviously, race is a factor. Not in every critique on every subject, but it is there, not so deep below the surface.
Mr. Cheney also rather cynically brushed off the racism inherent in relations between largely white police forces like the one in Ferguson, Mo., and the largely black communities that they serve.
He spoke as though the only issue in the shooting last August of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson was whether Mr. Wilson had acted legally. A grand jury and the Justice Department concluded that he had, and for Mr. Cheney, that ended the discussion. He said not a word about the underlying issues, or in fact about the other Justice Department report that found a disturbing pattern of racism in the Ferguson police department’s behavior over the years.
Asked if the country would see “more Fergusons,” Mr. Cheney said: “I don’t know. I’m reluctant to generalize from it. I’ll leave it at that.”
At one point, Mr. Cheney recalled that Mr. Bush had come to him to say, hesitantly it seems, that he was going to support a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Mr. Cheney was on record supporting same-sex marriage, but apparently that was entirely because his daughter, Mary, is gay.
“I can remember having lunch with him at one point, and he was trying to explain to me what he was going to do,” Mr. Cheney said. “And of course he knew about Mary, and that’s partly what stimulated his concern. He was worried that somehow I would be offended by what he was doing.”
Are we supposed to conclude that Mr. Cheney was not offended? How strange. [New York Times]
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