Re: [Marxism] Cheney puts Iran "at top" of enemies' list, threatens Israeli attack

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Cheney says U.S. to confront Iran
> Israel might act first to destroy Mideast nation's nuclear program, vice
> president says
> By PAUL RICHTER
> Los Angeles Times
>
> WASHINGTON - In bluntly threatening terms on inauguration day, Vice
> President Dick Cheney removed any doubt Thursday that in its second term
> the Bush administration intends to confront the theocracy in Iran
> directly.
>
> Cheney, who often has delivered the Bush team's toughest warnings
> internationally, said Iran is "right at the top" of the administration's
> list of world trouble spots, and expressed concern that Israel "might
> well decide to act first" to destroy Iran's nuclear program.
>
> The Israelis would let the rest of the world "worry about cleaning up
> the diplomatic mess afterward," he added in an MSNBC interview.

The article does not mention that Cheney was actually interviewed on Don
Imus's syndicated talk radio show based in NYC, which is also televised by
MSNBC from his WFAN AM radio studios. The NY Times noted that this was "a
highly unusual forum for Mr. Cheney." It also reported that Imus "made no
secret of his dislike of the policies of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney".

The Times was being characteristically understated. In fact, after souring
on the Iraq enterprise, Imus has referred repeatedly to Cheney as "porkchop
butt" and a "war criminal". Since Imus is more or less of a court jester,
alternatively flattering and insulting those in power as the mood suits
him, it is no big surprise that he has softened considerably on Cheney, now
that he has been given an audience. On this morning's show, he kept
referring to Cheney's "healthy" skin glow and how attractive his wife Lynn
Cheney, another Republican Party operative, was. Fortunately, my stomach
was empty this time in the morning.

Imus was a big supporter of John Kerry, who now refuses to speak to him. My
guess is that Kerry felt insulted by Imus's rapid switch to backing Bush
after he was re-elected. Kerry should have known what he was getting
involved with, when he hooked up with this talk show personality, who was
ranked one of the most influential people in the USA a few years ago.
Imus's folksy style conceals his rattlesnake interior, speaking
metaphorically. Rattlesnakes are actually pretty decent animals.

Imus's whole shtick is about making politicians feel uninhibited, so that
they can come out with news-breaking remarks like the one that Cheney made.
By creating a kind of Alabama gas station ambience, some of these
politicians blurt out all sorts of racially insensitive statements that
they later regret. Alfonse D'Amato made a crude racist joke at the expense
of Judge Ito during the O.J. trial. When Kerry was running against William
Weld in Massachusetts, he told Imus that his "takes more vacations than the
people on welfare.''

Imus stepped over the line in 1996, however. At a banquet he hosted for
these big-shots in attendance, he pissed a bunch of them off, especially
the Clintons, who were there.

The Boston Herald, March 23, 1996
Shock-jock shocks prez, Hillary
By DAVID TALBOT

Steamed that Don Imus called President Clinton a "pot-smoking weasel" and
made off-color jokes about the first family, the White House asked C-Span
yesterday not to re-broadcast a journalists' roast attended by a grimacing
Bill and Hillary Clinton.

But C-Span said it will air its tape of the Thursday night event tonight as
planned, complete with the veteran New York City disc jockey's routine.

"This was a public event with 3,000 journalists in the room as well as many
public figures," C-Span said in a statement.

Imus, morning jokeman at WFAN-AM radio in New York, alluded to Clinton's
alleged sexual exploits, the first lady's alleged financial peccadillos and
the homosexuality of House Speaker Newt Gingrich's half-sister, who Imus
winkingly called a "thespian."

Imus, whose show is also broadcast on WEEI-AM in Boston, took this dig at
first brother Roger Clinton: "In the past three years, Socks the cat has
been in more jams than Roger. Roger has been a saint, the cat has peed on
national treasures. Socks has thrown up hairballs, Roger hasn't. Socks got
his girlfriend pregnant and - no, that was Roger."

Imus recalled the president's remarks when he helped broadcast the baseball
game in which Cal Ripkin broke Lou Gehrig's record of consecutive games played.

"We all heard the president in his obvious excitement holler 'Go baby!' I
remember commenting at the time, 'I bet that's not the first time that he
said that - remember the Astroturf in the pickup?' " Imus said, referring
to Clinton's remark that as a young man he lined his pickup with fake grass.

Some of the insults came in the context of roasting the journalists
themselves, who he joked were inclined to address the president as
"pot-smoking weasel."

The audience members laughed heartily, but Clinton grimaced during the
routine, and Hillary Clinton could be seen blushing.

Imus said Hillary's book, "It Takes a Village," should have listed the
author as anonymous - like Primary Colors. And he said N.Y. Sen Alfonse
D'Amato's book should have been titled: "It takes a village idiot."

Yesterday, Clinton's press secretary, Mike McCurry, called C-Span to ask
that the Imus performance Thursday night at the Radio and Television
Correspondents Association's 52nd annual dinner not be replayed.

"I personally believe a large part of that entertainment, if that's what we
call it, offered last night was fairly tasteless," he said.

Joel Hollander, general manager at WFAN, told the Herald the White House
was seeking "censorship."

"Humor is subjective, like vanilla and chocolate. Our position is they knew
what he was about when the entertainment committee invited them up there to
perform," Hollander said. "There really shouldn't be any surprises."

--

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