Where's Dick Cheney? (Pt. II)

Earlier this week, I wondered where the Vice President was.

Surely we would expect the Vice President, as a publically elected official who answers to the American people, to publicly comment on the indictment of his closest advisor? Surely we would expect to actually ever see him? Surely he is allowed out of the bunker here and there.

But fear not, Americans! Mr. Cheney has still been quite busy this week... trying to get the CIA exempt from any anti-torture bans (well, of course, the CIA has all those secret prisons to run and that's no fun without some American-style torture. Geneva What?). So nice of the White House to stick it to our old fuddy duddy traditions of treating prisoners of war with respect.

God bless Mr. Cheney, you truly are a patriot.

Cheney urges exception to torture ban for CIA:
Vice president makes closed-door appeal to GOP senators

Vice President Dick Cheney made an unusual personal appeal to Republican senators this week to allow CIA exemptions to a proposed ban on the torture of terror suspects in U.S. custody, according to participants in a closed-door session.

Cheney told his audience the United States doesn’t engage in torture, these participants added, even though he said the administration needed an exemption from any legislation banning “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment in case the president decided one was necessary to prevent a terrorist attack...

...Arizona Sen. John McCain dissented, officials said.

McCain, who was tortured while held as a prisoner during the Vietnam War, is the chief Senate sponsor of an anti-torture provision that has twice cleared the Senate and triggered veto threats from the White House.

[*bold added by me as a reminder to who has the moral high ground here]