The Stevens Indictment Welcomes – Dick Cheney?

We knew that there would be jewels aplenty in those 67,000 pieces of paper, and hundreds of taped phone calls and videos that make up the body of evidence to be used against Ted Stevens in his upcoming trial.  Here’s the latest.

There’s a new player in our cast of unseemly characters…none other than Dick Cheney.  Apparently a two year old letter from Cheney to the Alaska Legislature has surfaced from the pile o’ steaming evidence.  The letter urged the Legislature to speed things up and get the gas pipeline project settled.  Remember that?  When Frank Murkowski was foaming at the mouth like a rabid animal telling us we had to do it NOW NOW NOW or the WORLD WILL END I TELL YOU!!!

According to a Justice motion, Stevens told Allen, “I’m gonna try to see if I can get some bigwigs from back here and say, ‘Look … you gotta get this done’.” Two days later, Cheney wrote a letter to the Alaska Legislature urging members to “promptly enact” a bill to build the pipeline. The letter was considered unusual because the White House rarely contacts state lawmakers about pending legislative matters. It also angered state Democrats, who accused Cheney of pushing oil-company interests. The former executive director of Cheney’s energy task force had gone to work as a lobbyist for British Petroleum, one of three firms slated to build the pipeline.

Stevens confirmed to NEWSWEEK last week that he asked Cheney to write the letter. “We wanted the federal government to tell the state to act quickly on it,” he said. (A spokesman for Alaska’s other senator, Lisa Murkowski, said her office also had contacts with Cheney’s office.) A Cheney spokeswoman said his office does not comment on pending legal matters.

Interesting.  So our web has added two new strands, and names have been spoken – Dick Cheney and Lisa Murkowski.  Apparently the prosecution is not all that eager to bring up the Cheney connection, as the letter has strangely not been cited by the Justice Department.  Following this trail to the end might land the executive branch somewhere they don’t want to be, like under a magnifying glass.

But, you never know.  Dick Cheney could end up on the witness stand.  Maybe the reason they’re avoiding this is to keep him from making the Bible spontaneously combust when he’s sworn in… That could be really embarrassing.

One Albatross is Not Enough for McCain!

It’s obvious that the big fat snickering albatross around John McCain’s neck this fall is George W. Bush.  We all know that.  With a current approval rating of 28%, and a national populace where 54% state they want a president who will bring about change, even if they are less experienced, that’s pretty much a no-brainer.  So McCain, understandably, has been actively trying to distance himself from all things dubya.  He even stood in front of that hideous green wall the other night, telling us he was a ‘change candidate’.

Although the speech was universally panned by left and right alike, you still have to understand that he may make mistakes, gaffes, and weird death-like grimaces as he flees from the current administration as fast as his 71 year old legs will take him.

But wait…  A strange twist.

In a totally unexpected move, John McCain has opted for the 2-albatross approach.  Who is the only member of the current administration with LOWer approval ratings?  Who could possibly be more disastrous to have tied around your neck than GWB?  Why, the Lord of Darkness himself –  Dick Cheney.  Check out this actual real-life quote from John McSame.  This from Politico:

Asked whether he’d be interested in Cheney had the vice president not already have served under Bush for two terms, McCain said: “I don’t know if I would want him as vice president. He and I have the same strengths. But to serve in other capacities? Hell, yeah.”

Excuse me, did you just really truly say, “Hell, yeah”?!?  And you and Cheney have the same strengths…  Is it the pure evil part?  The ability to maintain lifelike animation despite the lack of beating heart? Or is it just that you think your levels of slime-baggery are at roughly the same level.  Inquiring minds want to know.  So, keep talking about it a lot.  Please.