For nearly two years, Dick Cheney lacked a detectable pulse. In the summer of 2010, Cheney was facing end-stage heart failure. He had suffered his first heart attack in 1978, his second and third in the 1980s, and his fourth in November 2000, presumably when the strain of stealing a presidential election proved too much to bear. Despite these valiant efforts, Cheney’s heart was unable to kill him off. Not even a fifth heart attack, in February 2010, when Cheney’s two terms as “vice” president had finally come to an end, could finish the job. That’s when Cheney’s doctors decided that his defibrillator was no longer sufficient, and five months later, they outfitted him with something called a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD. Though designed to compensate for the diminished capabilities of Cheney’s heart by facilitating the circulation of his blood, the LVAD did not pump blood like a real heart does. Instead of discrete beats, the LVAD produced an even, continuous flow, like a river. A 2012 heart transplant restored Cheney’s pulse for the remainder of his life, but the LVAD period always struck me as the fullest physical realization of who Cheney was and what he did to the world. To think that, as you met the gaze of his cold blue eyes or considered the way his mouth always seemed on the verge of a snarl, you could reach out, gently press a fingertip to the inside of his wrist, and feel . . . nothing!
Is this reading of the most consequential vice president in American history a reductive political projection? Am I failing to give enough weight to his apparently loving, decades-long marriage to Lynne? Am I unfairly discounting his consistent public support for his younger daughter’s homosexuality at a time when such support was still rare and politically dangerous among Republicans? Am I being petty in refusing to acknowledge the inner strength Cheney demonstrated in turning his life around after his expulsion from college and two drunk-driving arrests at the age of 22? After all, many of those who knew and worked with him in Washington seem to remember him fondly, judging by the statements they released after his passing. Kamala Harris, for example, described herself as “saddened” to hear of his death, and she praised him as a “devoted public servant . . . who, with a strong sense of dedication, gave so much of his life to the country he loved.” Joe Biden was a touch more measured in his eulogizing, but he still allowed that he and Cheney both cared a lot about their families. He also spent his 83rd birthday attending Cheney’s funeral, which is remarkable when you consider how many birthdays Biden has left. James Carville, Nancy Pelosi, Anthony Fauci, Rachel Maddow, and Al Gore were there as well.
If Al Gore can bring himself to publicly mourn a guy who robbed him of the presidency, then sure, maybe I am being petty. I don’t care. Lots of people get sober after a misspent youth and experience a change of heart about gay people once it turns out they are related to one. Only Dick Cheney managed to fatally undermine all three branches of the federal government and mastermind the destruction of the Middle East at the same time. We’d all be better off today if Cheney had kept drinking after he got kicked out of Yale.
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