Cheney the prevaricator

To prevaricate means to lie. We have known for at least seven years that Vice President Dick Cheney is a prevaricator - a liar! Sometimes, he gets caught immediately, and that is fun to watch.

This first came to my attention at Mother Jones, but since yesterday a variety of Websites have posted it and commented on it.

Cheney, is a big supporter of dredging oil up from under any surface available no matter what the long-term consequences might be. Alaska, off shore, Colorado, anywhere is fine with him. Nor does it matter that even if we were able to recover all the oil available to us, it amounts to the proverbial drop in the bucket, and would not be available for at least ten years.

So much for solving our oil crisis!

Why, then, would Cheney want to drill for oil everywhere and anywhere? Ah, glad you asked. Cheney is an oil man, and if he can help his cohorts increase their already obscene profits, he will jump at the chance.

So, Dick heard a story as to how the Chinese were drilling for oil in Cuban waters. Here's what he said:

"[O]il is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. We're not doing it. The Chinese are in cooperation with the Cuban government... Even the communists have figured out that a good answer to high prices is more supply. Yet Congress has said... no to drilling off Florida."

That would be funny, if it wasn't such a blatant plea to fill the pockets of his oil company buddies. I love that "even the communists" bit.

Then, Roy Blunt (R-MO), the House Republican Whip jumped into the ring:

"Even China recognizes that oil and natural gas is (sic) readily available off our shores; thanks to Fidel Castro, they've been given a permit to drill for oil 45 miles from the Florida Keys."

Notice how the story got even better. Now it's "oil and gas," and Fidel hisself's involved, and the Chinese got a permit and they're only 45 miles off the Florida coast!

Wow! The United States is getting blown out of the water, so to speak.


Except the whole thing is phony. China is not drilling off the coast of Cuba or off the coast of Florida or off the coast of Atlantis! China does not have an off shore drilling permit. It does, however, have a permit to drill on Cuban land. But it's not doing that, either. They've done some seismic testing but that's the extent of it.


It seems that a reporter got his facts mixed up, but fed them to Cheney, who went public with the horrible news that China was getting oil off Florida but we couldn't because Congress was so nasty!

Cheney's office has since issued a correction.

Not to worry, though, Cheney will think up another big lie to feed the American public. My guess is that the next one will have to do with how much better McCain would be to "protect" the American people from the bad guys, than Obama; because, well, you know, Obama being an "elitist" and all.