"Dick Cheney Proves Old Proverb is True" by Larry Johnson

As you know, notorious war hawk Dick Cheney has died. The following are comments made by Max Blumenthal and Larry C. Johnson regarding the legacy Cheney has left.

Max posted the following on X yesterday:

Dick Cheney died after a long life in which he cashed in handsomely on calamitous wars he launched on the basis of crude lies.

But his spirit lives on in the Trump administration, a collection of authoritarian knaves and white collar criminals who have escalated his bogus war on terror to pursue lucre through violent conquest in Venezuela, while bombing Iranian targets designated by apartheid Israel, and threatening to jail and deport those within their realm who disagree.

The Democrats, meanwhile, have attempted to salvage the image of the Cheney family, making Liz Cheney the star surrogate of Kamala’s historically inept 2024 campaign, hailing her as an icon of American democracy, and even praising her father for his “service.” They did this purely because the Cheneys opposed Trump, as if that was sufficient to atone for their seminal role in torture, criminal deception, the maiming of thousands of US service members and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Dick Cheney may be physically dead but the most odious characteristics of his leadership and legacy have been distilled into the essence of the US regime.

4:17 PM • Nov 4, 2025 • 89.4K views

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Former CIA Officer Larry Johnson published the following comments and interviews on his “Son of the New American Revolution” aka SONAR 21 website and also his Substack.

Larry is currently managing Partner of BERG Associates and was also formerly a State Department Counter Terrorism official.

Dick Cheney Proves Old Proverb is True

By Larry C Johnson • November 05, 2025

Dick Cheney’s death, at the age of 84, is further proof that the proverb, Only the Good Die Young, is true. Cheney is a symbol of everything that is wrong with Washington. He became wealthy, not because he was brilliant or creative, but because he had the right connections. I know something of Cheney’s start in Washington thanks to a dear friend, who is no longer alive, who told me the true story… His name was Bruce Bradley.

First I need to give you some background on Bruce. Bruce was the son of one of the founders of Lockheed Martin. At the ripe old age of 23, Bruce joined the 1964 Goldwater campaign as an aide to Goldwater’s Vice Presidential candidate, William Miller. Following that failed campaign, Bruce snared a job as chief of staff to Congressman Robert Ellsworth of Kansas, who also happened to be the mentor of Donald Rumsfeld. Bruce told me that he and Rumsfeld played squash almost every week… Rumsfeld was a freshman member of Congress.

In 1967, Bruce was approached by Nelson Rockefeller and asked to work on his campaign… Bruce was good at math and was put in charge of putting together a database on delegates needed to secure the nomination. He also was asked to supervise Henry Kissinger. Rockefeller failed to secure the nomination, Bruce went back to his job with Congressman Ellsworth, and Kissinger went to work for Nixon. When Nixon won the election in 1968, Kissinger was named as National Security advisor, and he offered Bruce a job as his deputy. Bruce said he told Henry the following: Henry, you are a terrific subordinate, you know how to kiss ass better than anyone I’ve ever met, but as a boss you would be impossible to work for.

In 1972, Bruce set up a political consulting firm in Washington, DC: Bradley Woods. He got a phone call early in 1973 from Don Rumsfeld, who had been appointed US ambassador to NATO. Rummy said that he needed to get a job for a young guy… Yes, you guessed it, Dick Cheney. Rumsfeld said that he offered Cheney a position in Brussels, but Cheney wanted to stay in D.C. Bruce stepped up and offered Cheney a “job.” Bruce told me that Cheney excelled at smoking two packs of cigarettes a day (53 years ago you could still smoke in most offices in DC) and doing three-martini lunches. And you wonder why he eventually had heart problems.

Cheney contented himself at Bradley Woods with doing political analysis and meeting with clients until, in late October 1975, he got a call from Rumsfeld and was offered the job of serving as President Gerald Ford’s Chief of Staff. Rummy had that job, but was nominated to serve as Secretary of Defense. Cheney started at the White House on November 3, and served in that role until January 20, 1977, when Ford left office after losing the 1976 presidential election to Jimmy Carter. Cheney’s next move? He returned to work for Bruce Bradley, where he plotted his next move… Running for Congress in Wyoming, representing its sole congressional seat.

And, as the idiom goes, The rest is history. Could it be that Dick Cheney was the inspiration for Ringo Star’s hit: I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends? Cheney, in my view, disgraced the office of the Vice President and, as is typical in Washington, used his connections as a springboard to great wealth. Better to serve yourself than serve your nation.

It was a light podcast day… I spoke with Marcello (i.e., the Brazilian who lives in Italy) and Rasheed Muhammad:

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Dick Cheney Proves Old Proverb is True