Leaked from a speech that Dick Cheney is going to give later today at a Montana “Victory” Rally (I’m not exactly sure what victory the rally was celebrating, that’s just how it was referred to in the original story):

Time and time again, we’re seeing examples of Democratic Party leaders apparently having lost their perspective concerning the nature of the enemy we face, and the need to wage this fight aggressively. No sharper example can be found than the Democratic Party chairman himself, Howard Dean, who said the capture of Saddam Hussein didn’t make America any safer. And maybe it should be no surprise that such a party would turn its back on a man like Senator Joe Lieberman, who has been an unapologetic supporter of the fight against terror.

Instead they highlight people like John Kerry, their presidential nominee in 2004. Aren’t we lucky he lost that election? You remember John Kerry — the senator who voted for the 87 billion dollars before he voted against it — the guy that was always lecturing us about “nuances.” He’s the one, you’ll recall, who last year said that American soldiers were “terrorizing children” in Iraq. And just this week he took another swipe at the U. S. military. Here’s what he said, word for word. Quote: “You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” End quote. Well, apparently Senator Kerry’s the one who needs to be educated.

Of course, now Senator Kerry says he was just making a joke, and he botched it up. I guess we didn’t get the nuance. He was for the joke before he was against it.

As a leading Democratic senator, John Kerry needs to learn that the men and women serving in Iraq aren’t there because they didn’t study hard or do their homework. The all-volunteer force represents the very best of this country. They’re smart, patriotic, exceptionally well trained, and dedicated to their mission. They are heroes, and they are the pride of the United States of America.

I had a boss once, who, every conversation we had, I was thinking, “yeah, but …” For whatever reason, we just were not on the same plane of reality. And everything I had to say went in his ears, twisted through his brain, and came out slightly different on the other end. That’s exactly how I see the Bush administration. I bet if you had a conversation with George W. Bush or Dick Cheney, even when they thought you were in agreement, you’d be thinking, “um, yeah, I kinda get the feeling you don’t understand what I’m saying.”

(Thanks, Raw Story!)