As the title suggests, it should not be that surprising that a GOoPer pulled this kind of a**-out stunt at Auschwitz of all places. I mean, Republicans are not known for their keen sense of compassion or bleeding hearts. That would require a sense of what John Donne was reaching for (and captured)when he wrote "...For whom the Bell Tolls...it tolls for thee...". But that is another discussion. More to the point, I want to consider two possibilities, one possibility more sound than the other. First, the soundest excuse: Dick (now we know why they call him that...if the shoe fits, right?) Cheney is not a well-man, that fact is well-known. So, in a nutshell, he was simply trying to maintain his health by wearing a heavy, military-style parka at the event/dedication in the spirit of his first priority being to the security of the United States,i.e., maintaining his viability in the chain of command sense/line of succession(Pres.,Vice-Pres., Speaker of the House, etc, etc.).
Second, not as sound an excuse: Dick Cheney, in some crazy pervertedly warped sense of logic, was trying to honor and pattern the U.S. forces that helped liberate those grotesque camps 60 years ago, as well as, try to bond with the current U.S. forces engaged abroad by sporting a military-style olive drab parka. Either way, bad choice Dick. What is really gut-wrenching is that this is nothing but indicative of the mind-set of the "insane clown posse" that is at the conn, steering our ship of state. Semper Fidelis
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