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What do Arianna Huffington, Keith Olbermann, Lewis Black, Phil Donahue and Mel Brooks have in common?
They all love Young Dick Cheney. Not the grumpy old Prince of Darkness, socked away in his secured, undisclosed location somewhere near Washington--but the adorable and misunderstood hero of our brand new book.
One year in the making (call it "elephant labor"), our bouncing baby boy--the one with the premature comb-over and peculiarly crooked mouth, who would one day grow up to be the most powerful Dick ever to inhabit the Vice Presidency--was delivered this week...to bookstores across America.
Exploding cigar, anybody?
Arianna calls Young Dick Cheney "a double-barreled blast of satiric buckshot." Phil calls it "a page-turner and a side-splitter." Keith recommends you "bring it with you to Gitmo." And Lewis says, "If you've spent the last eight years gagging on Vice President Cheney and his hijinks, this should take the bad taste out of your mouth."
In a recent email exchange, Arianna proposed that we celebrate the publication of our irreverent little book by blogging here about its themes. But the theme is pretty simple: we give a deserved poke in the eye to Richard Bruce Cheney, a man who has almost single-handedly steered this nation into a sinister, darkly lit alley, dragging our historic liberties and freedoms behind it like so much roadkill.
But on further reflection, there is another aspect to Young Dick Cheney that bears mentioning: When we first began working on the book in 2007, publishing "experts" warned us not to bother. "The quickest you can get your book out will be spring of 2008," they said, "and by then George Bush and Dick Cheney will no longer be relevant."
Huh? Not relevant?
Just a couple of weeks ago, the Associated Press reported that Bush administration officials, from Dick Cheney on down, signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality.
A few days later, we learned that the Vice President and his wife, Lynne Cheney (who also figures into our book--in a most unflattering light) reported a taxable income of $2,528,068 in 2007--a year in which the American economy slid haplessly into a drainage ditch.
And last Friday, we saw New Hampshire State Representative Betty Hall (D-Brookline)--joined by, among others, former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark--urge the state legislature to back House Resolution 24, calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
We may be just a couple of satirists, but we know relevant when we see it.
Meanwhile, as word about our book has begun to spread in the blogosphere (thank you all), we're getting a fairly good idea that we made the right choice: When a right-wing apologist-blowhard like Jonah Goldberg starts trashing our book five weeks before its release, you know we've hit a nerve.
As the proud parents of our precious, portly bundle of evil, we invite you to take a sneak peek at Young Dick Cheney''s first baby movie, now showing on YouTube. And, sure, while you're at it, we hope you'll treat yourself to a copy of our book, and maybe even grab a few for your friends.
Get your foot ready for the biggest kick out the door of our nation's history. And enjoy our book. After all, with the countdown to January 2009 finally underway, it's safe to laugh again.
[Young Dick Cheney is illustrated by Tim Foley, and published by AlterNet Books.]
Tagged as: young dick cheney, alternet books
Bruce Kluger and David Slavin are regular contributors to National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.
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