Angler
Okay, now something totally frivolous about the Cheney piece (if you want real analysis, go here). The WaPo piece reveals Cheney’s secret service name:
"Angler," as the Secret Service code-named him,
Which is of course the name they’ve given the series.
Well, I think it perhaps ironic because, as I understand it, Cheney’s not that great a fisherman. At least that’s what a friend I was close to in the early 90s told me. You see, she (yes, she) fished against Cheney at the Jackson One Fly tournament. A whole day in a boat with no one else but Cheney (pre-Vice President days) and a guide. Now, my friend was a pretty good fly-fisher. Still, she kicked his ass.
Which I guess provides a nice irony to the title of the article. Here is Cheney trying to take over the world. But he–Angler–can’t even beat a girl in his eponymous sport!
Pity someone didn’t figure out he was a loser before the Iraq war.
I’m not a fisherman, but as I understand it you’re missing the point entirely. Angling is a state of mind, a Zen-like state of oneness with the environment, the river, the breezes, the fish and all of God’s creations.
And then if you don’t catch a fish you just pull out a shotgun and blast ’em. Works every time!
While reading the WP article on Cheney all I could think about was Cheney lurking in the shrubs during Bush’s press conference. If that wasn’t a sign of a shadow presidency, I don’t know what is.
Maybe it’s just me, but I assumed Angler was used less literally ie he was a fisherman, but was a bit more biting and obtuse such as in, Cheney was always angling for a way to get his ill conceived and illegal policies and wishes instituted…therefore he was known as the Angler. But I don’t know how those ss codenames are issued.
can’t even beat a girl
C’mon Marcy. By itself, that’s not exactly earthshaking. I’ve known few women who have proven themselves less competent than Cheney.
What’s more surprising to me is that Cheney doesn’t order airstrikes on minnows while sitting on his deferred ass, just to demonstrate he can catch a fish. (and subsequently get someone to torture it into admitting it’s a shark).
He’s not that great a hunter, either.
Shooting cage-raised game, out of season, without a valid license, while drunk: this is slaughter, not hunting — simply killing out of bloodlust. Despicable.
As is nearly everything Cheney has done since Jan 2001.
Um… there’s another meaning to that word: one who gets something by scheming.
I have fond hopes that Gellman and Becker intended that bit of double entendre.
“Ain’t no reason for me to kill nobody in the ring, unless they deserve it.â€
~ Muhammad Ali
Ding!
Smirky collapses on the stool in the corner, leans his head back on the turnbuckle and rests his anvil-like arms on the ropes. The Minime Cheney troll pulls his mouthpiece out, saying ‘Cmon, boss, cmon, he’s in his last thoes. We got him right where we want him. Now I want you to listen to me…’
Smirky’s gaze drifts away through the ropes and into the crowd, he can’t hear anything anymore in the strange mime show being acted out around him. ‘I feel fuzzy,’ he thinks to himself. Looking past the madly fanning trolls he sees the shapely Round Number Babe holding up a card and he wonders, ‘What round is it anyway?’
A cold splash of water washes over his face. ‘Are you listening to me?..Look, boss, we’ve got to keep this simple, just load-up and throw, like this, see, boss.’ the Minime Cheney troll is scowling and gesticulating wildly. ‘1 and 2, get it…’
Smirky looks up and sees that it wasn’t the shapely Round Number Babe after all, it’s Turd Blossom sitting in the crowd next to Smokin’ Joe and he’s holding up a placard that says ‘Islamo-Fascists, not Islamic-Fascists.’ Smirky shouts out, ‘Is that like our old buddy Al-Franco in Spain?’
‘Boss, boss, you gotta listen to me here,’ the Minime Cheney troll says as he swings Smirky’s chin back into the ring. ‘Look at them over there, they think you’re getting tired, they think your arms are heavy, they think you’re getting a little fuzzy – and, and,’ the Minime Cheney troll is jumping up and down, ‘they think you’re gonna come out swinging hard, again. Right, right, am I right, boys?’
‘Yeah, boss, that’s right, that’s right,’ the corner trolls all say as they feverishly fan and rub-down Smirky.
‘So, boss, here’s what we’re gonna do – we’re gonna mix it up a little – are you listening to me, boss? At the bell, I want you to go out there and put on a furious show of footwork and jabs in the center of the ring – got it? That’ll make ‘em mad as hell, see?’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ says Smirky, ‘then what?’
‘Here’s the brilliant part, boss, here’s where we really fool ‘em – are you ready for this – we go back to the shock-and-awe! We keep on ‘em until we push down the statue of Islamo-fascism!’ the Minime Cheney troll sticks out his chest and hitches up his pants for emphasis, ‘They won’t know what hit them.’
â€Pity someone didn’t figure out he was a loser before the Iraq war.â€
Didn’t the Republicans figure this out in 1995?
At that time, if memory serves, Cheney put his hat in the ring (unofficially, to be sure)….
SNARKY!!! :0)
If EW can turn the powerful if not anti-democracy and corrupt VP into a weak girlie-man (h/t Arnold) than maybe Americans can begin to see what the Bush/Cheney presidency has done to our constitution, the balance of power, and our nation’s role in the future of the planet.
Brad DeLong has an interesting post concerning the WaPo article, and points to certain paragraphs which seem to be in a different â€voiceâ€, complete with mixed metaphors, suggesting heavy-handed editing, and maybe a delay in originally publishing the article. Check it out.
http://econ161.berkeley.edu/movable_type/
thanks for adding to the abundant evidence of what a spineless wimp this guy is.
the first giveaway is of course his bullying; all bullies are cowards at heart.
still he manages to manipulate like no one since svengali, who had the advantage – though fictional – of at least being somewhat interesting. dick is just, well, pathetic.
angler is the perfect SS title for him. wonder if the ’real’ meaning has ever occurred to him.
… Might also point out — for those â€girlie†reasons alone — that while Kerry was playing football at Yale, Bush was one of the cheerleaders…
This reminds me of an earlier post of mine on the subject of Cheney’s fishing prowess [Photoshop alert!]
â€Angler†doesn’t seem all that appropriate – maybe it was a typo for â€Angerâ€?
Ew I have read your articles and think they are great. Maybe you could expound on why cant The House and Senate go after this admin. for something. Why can’t articles of impeachment be brought against them? You have far more legal knowledge than I do.
Seems like the Republicans do not care that they will be held accountable for all of this crap. I personally will never vote for any Republican again and hopefully there will be many more oppretunities to prove this.
wish we had spell check.
Fly-fishing in a boat? Who does that? Fly-fishing is done from the banks or knee-deep in waders with the river swirling around you.
yeah, if you’re gonna fish from a boat you should be using dynamite, like a NORMAL person
okay, so my uncle’s favorite fishing method might not be so â€Ordinaryâ€, I sure works good though
(wink)