Liz & Dick In "Boffo Performance"

Just a quick peep (we've stuff to do before 1800 tomorrow) at what The NYT has purchased to replace Bill Kristol.  (Is this Douthat's first appearance there?) 

Watching Dick Cheney defend the Bush administration’s interrogation policies, it’s been hard to escape the impression that both the Republican Party and the country would be better off today if Cheney, rather than John McCain, had been a candidate for president in 2008.

Well, we might have been, because the Goofy Old Party wouldn't have merely suffered a defeat at the polls, it would have been necessary to invent a new word to describe the depth & breadth of the loss.  We can't figure why the Times bothered to change from Kristol (we suppose Douthat works cheaper) though. Both seem to want to establish a Cheney dynasty. Sez Bill:

Cheney in 2012!

Of course, everyone’s first choice for president in 2012 is Dick Cheney. But Liz Cheney’s boffo performance yesterday in the lefties’ den, MSNBC, defending sensible interrogation policies in the war on terror, surely puts her in contention for the runner-up position.

And torture too. Oooh, tingly feeling down the leg there, Bill? Let's not forget Douthat, who seems to be as wrong/wilfully ignorant as Kristol.

George W. Bush seems happy to be back in civilian life, but Cheney has taken the fight to the Obama White House like a man who wouldn’t have minded campaigning for a third Bush-Cheney term.

Ross, son, the presidency, no matter how you want it to be occupied by a knight in shining armor or whatever pre-enlightenment fantasy you practice, is a civilian office. There's supposed to be civilian control of the military in This Great Nation of Ours™.

Of course it only gets worse, even when given a cursory scan. Will we look at it later? Doubtful. Breath-holding optional.