# Have you no sense of decency, Mr. Cheney? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 14, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242 "2014-12-14T22:21:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/21 "2014-12-15T02:59:37Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I just can’t believe Republicans haven’t denounced this terrorist yet. Republicans, much like “Democrats,” are a varied group. Many would probably condemn the scumbag. Many would probably praise him. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/22 "2014-12-15T03:57:41Z")
It frankly wouldn’t surprise me if Cheney suddenly turned red, sprouting horns and a tail. Milton’s Lucifer only has as an advantage of brains over The New Dick. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/23 "2014-12-15T04:09:56Z")
Not surprising that he takes the hardest possible line, he has nothing more to lose. He is an ex-big shot. He can’t be any more out of the loop than he is, he won’t be fired. Certainly he won’t be tried. As well, no one can really force him to speak about the truth, he answers the questions he wants to answer in the terms he wants to use. By interesting comparison, it appears that ex-big shot Tony Blair may face a markedly different set of circumstances: \*\* CIA torture: Tony Blair and Jack Straw ‘must account for what they knew’\*\* > **[CIA torture: Tony Blair and Jack Straw 'must account for what they knew'](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11292428/CIA-torture-Tony-Blair-and-Jack-Straw-must-account-for-what-they-knew.html)** > > In an interview with The Telegraph, Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, intensifies the pressure on Tony Blair and Jack Straw over their knowledge - or otherwise - of the US policy This “accountability” stuff? Think our English cousins might loan us a cup so that we might try it out? ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/24 "2014-12-15T04:20:30Z")
It is exceedingly rare for a former politician to basically renounce his or her legacy later in life. Cheney is stuck forever as the piece of shit scumbag he is. I prefer he stick to his guns. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/25 "2014-12-15T04:41:21Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > That guy seriously jerks off while screaming Jack Nicholson’s courtroom speech from A Few Good Men. > The asshole is incredibly dangerous specifically because he believes he’s in the right. I think he is dangerous because a lot of other people think he is in the right. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/26 "2014-12-15T04:52:51Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Republicans, much like “Democrats,” are a varied group. Many would probably condemn the scumbag. Many would probably praise him. And yet I hear no Republicans of note condemning him. Honestly, if someone on the right has come out and condemned Cheney and his complete lack of humanity in regard to torturing people, I’d be interested in seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/27 "2014-12-15T06:29:32Z")
John McCain is not condemning individuals, but he gave a persuasive speech on the Senate floor last week that torture was bad and immoral. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/28 "2014-12-15T06:55:24Z")
So is he for torture or against it? Or did he forget, like walking into a room and not being able to recall why? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/29 "2014-12-15T07:09:40Z")
Note that many of the innocents tortured were known to be, or knowably, innocent. I’m not sure if the thinking was (a) he’ll be anti-American when we’re through him so let’s torture him for that now, (b) even innocents know _something_, or © torture them just for practice. Reading Cheney’s resume makes you want to cry that such a man became Leader of the Free World(\*). He flunked out of college twice, and dropped out once (though eventually getting an M.A. in PoliSci). The highlights of his college experience were his repeated draft deferments and his multiple arrests for DUI. His early career was just political hack work, though he did graduate to CEO of Halliburton – ha ha ha. - - I call him “Leader of the Free World” since the grossly under-qualified GWB followed his lead for several years. (Eventually even the Great Witless Blockhead woke up and started favoring other advisors.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/30 "2014-12-15T07:57:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > You’re right. In a thread about torturing innocent people, when I said “affected”, it’s obvious that I meant “affected by tickling”, not “affected by torture”. My bad. So, instead of saying “torture” you say “affected?” How is that job in the Ministry of Truth working out, John? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/31 "2014-12-15T08:00:58Z")
Maybe remember how the Republican leadership pretty much grafted Cheney on to Bush, gonna be the “old hand”, Michael to Bush’s Fredo, Bismark to his jelly doughnut. Bethca GW got pretty tired of hearing about that, especially after the crisis brought out the Leader of Men he always knew he _really_ was. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/32 "2014-12-15T08:31:40Z")
The thing about “torturing innocent people” is that it’s just a subset of “torturing people”. The issue isn’t that these program occasionally caught a “good guy”. That might have been unavoidable. The issue is that these programs ever happened at all. It’s like saying “They murdered the whole family, even the kids”, the “even the kids” part is bad, but it’s not really the main issue. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/33 "2014-12-15T14:37:56Z")
[“Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3SemYQH-8o) That guy is my hero. Cheney and his viper of a wife are amoral scum who define words like ‘venal’, ‘grasping’, ‘rapacious’, ‘heartless’, and the like. I will celebrate on the day that motherfucker takes a dirt nap. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/34 "2014-12-15T14:54:01Z")
I’ve always thought 9/11 was the day when Dick Cheney retreated into his secure location and started to rub his hands together and cackle, thinking of how this was just the excuse he needed to start a war and make a shitload of money for Halliburton. He and his daughter are both botflies under the skin of the country. Disgusting parasitic larva who need to be excised from our sight. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/35 "2014-12-15T15:32:54Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > But seriously, why would he NOT be OK if innocent people were affected? Any method you use to capture “bad guys” is going to snare a few innocents. It would be one thing if Cheney presided over a program of torture that made every reasonable effort to only torture terrorists. That would be awful enough. But the program he presided over did not make such efforts. Years into the program, the CIA couldn’t even figure out why they were torturing some people. The fact that Dick Cheney has no shame over recklessly torturing innocent people tells you everything you need to know about the man. He is a sick, scared little weasel who deserves to be in prison. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/36 "2014-12-15T15:58:20Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > [“Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3SemYQH-8o) That guy is my hero. “First time I’ve ever heard that.” I find it hard to believe that he doesn’t hear that from someone new every day when he rolls out of bed. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/37 "2014-12-15T16:06:59Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > And yet I hear no Republicans of note condemning him. Honestly, if someone on the right has come out and condemned Cheney and his complete lack of humanity in regard to torturing people, I’d be interested in seeing it. Here you go: [Rand Paul: GOP Should Reject Cheney for Defending “Torture”](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/rand-paul-bush-cheney-torture) And he’s been saying it since [2009](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2gmW4RTTWM). ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/38 "2014-12-15T16:14:18Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Here you go: [Rand Paul: GOP Should Reject Cheney for Defending “Torture”](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/rand-paul-bush-cheney-torture) > > And he’s been saying it since [2009](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2gmW4RTTWM). Thank you, that’s good to know. Now if it would only catch on party-wide. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/39 "2014-12-15T16:19:45Z")
Pfft. Torture is nothing. Cheney was perfectly happy to start a whole fricken war just so his company could indulge in some war profiteering. If he doesn’t mind killing thousands for money he isn’t going to be that concerned about a little torture. I’m surprised anyone is surprised at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242/40 "2014-12-15T16:26:31Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > That guy seriously jerks off while screaming Jack Nicholson’s courtroom speech from A Few Good Men. He used to do that whIle a prostitute blew him. He couldn’t handle the teeth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-no-sense-of-decency-mr-cheney/707242.md?page=3)