One of the odd things about this election season has been how seldom I have heard Democrats mention the name ‘Dick Cheney’. I know that Bush is spectacularly unpopular and that it makes sense to talk about Bush-McCain policies as often as possible. But the side effect of this is to let Dick Cheney off the hook. And, let’s face it, on the most egregious decisions of the Bush administration, the president was too busy playing video golf and riding bicycles to have much more than a ceremonial role. Cheney and Libby and Addington were the ones that made the big, consequential decisions. Cheney gave us the case for war in Iraq. Cheney gave us Guantanamo Bay. Cheney gave us Abu Ghraib. Cheney gave us a corrupted Interior Department, a politicized NASA, EPA, and FDA. Cheney shot a man in the face.

Look at the man:

Does that look like a good man?

McCain’s fortunate that Dick Cheney hasn’t been much of a topic in this campaign. That’s why it’s a little stupefying that Cheney would come out and make a public endorsement of McCain/Palin on the last weekend before the election. How does that help? It just opened the door for an Obama smackdown (via email):

Below is an excerpt from Obama’s prepared remarks for Pueblo, CO

President Bush is sitting out the last few days before the election. But earlier today, Dick Cheney came out of his undisclosed location and hit the campaign trail. He said that he is, and I quote, “delighted to support John McCain.”

I’d like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it. That endorsement didn’t come easy. Senator McCain had to vote 90 percent of the time with George Bush and Dick Cheney to get it. He served as Washington’s biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq, and supports economic policies that are no different from the last eight years. So Senator McCain worked hard to get Dick Cheney’s support.

But here’s my question for you, Colorado: do you think Dick Cheney is delighted to support John McCain because he thinks John McCain’s going to bring change? Do you think John McCain and Dick Cheney have been talking about how to shake things up, and get rid of the lobbyists and the old boys club in Washington?

Colorado, we know better. After all, it was just a few days ago that Senator McCain said that he and President Bush share a “common philosophy.” And we know that when it comes to foreign policy, John McCain and Dick Cheney share a common philosophy that thinks that empty bluster from Washington will fix all of our problems, and a war without end in Iraq is the way to defeat Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who are in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

So George Bush may be in an undisclosed location, but Dick Cheney’s out there on the campaign trail because he’d be delighted to pass the baton to John McCain. He knows that with John McCain you get a twofer: George Bush’s economic policy and Dick Cheney’s foreign policy – but that’s a risk we cannot afford to take.

This is fun.