These past few years, the Dick Cheney-Darth Vader comparison have been rampant. It's the easiest political joke there is. I watched President Obama's inauguration at a public park and when Cheney rolled out in that wheelchair, laughter broke out followed by an impromptu singing of "The Imperial March" (Oh, San Francisco!). Everybody from Jon Stewart to Hillary Clinton to even Lynne Cheney have made the comparison, and indeed, it all started with Dick Cheney himself.
One man who disagrees with the whole Darth Cheney business, however, is admittedly a foremost expert on the subject. George Lucas insists that we've all had it wrong and that Dick Cheney is not at all Darth Vader.
In her latest Op-Ed column for the New York Times, columnist Maureen Dowd recalled a conversation she had with Lucas in which the Star Wars creator explained that Vader, aka Anakin Skywalker, was a promising young man turned to the dark side by an older politician.
“George Bush is Darth Vader,” he said. “Cheney is the emperor.”
“You know, Darth Vader is really a kid from the desert planet near Crawford, and the true evil of the universe is the emperor who pulls all the strings.”
Huh. You know... That does make sense, and obvious to boot. Hey, thanks, George!
Hear that, satirists, comedians and cable anchors? Stop with the Darth Vader stuff. He's Palpatine, dammit.
