Cheney’s evolution deserves attention

After former President Richard Nixon died, a cartoon appeared with St. Peter sitting at his heavenly cloud-framed desk. There were two over-stacked trays of documents, one labeled “Good Nixon,” the other “Bad Nixon.” A weary St. Peter, hand on his forehead, ordered his secretary to “Hold my calls. This will take a while.”

No judgment here, but I wonder if the same scenario could apply to former Vice President Dick Cheney. There was a quiet dignity to Cheney as President George H.W. Bush’s Defense Secretary. His comforting presence during Operation Desert Storm updates even provided some much-needed comic relief. In one press conference, he dryly reported” That the “Mother of All Battles has turned into the Mother of All Retreats.”

His personality seemed to turn more secretive as George W. Bush’s vice president. But Cheney embraced his “Darth Vader” of the Bush White House image among pundits. A less charitable observation compared a wheelchair-bound Cheney to the title character in the 1964 movie “Dr. Strangelove.”

Also of note is his support for former Wyoming Sen. Liz Cheney, his daughter, during the Jan. 6 Select Committee Hearing, and a scathing anti-Trump message he recorded in 2022.

Dick Cheney might be remembered as a mixed-bag, or worse, among conservatives, but he evolved. Conservatives should take note. So should liberals.

Jim Newton

Itasca