Joe Conason: “Dick Cheney performs right off a John Birch Society script.”

Today’s lead story in the Wall Street Journal confirms what many observers have suspected for months now: The Bush administration has never taken the diplomatic alternative seriously, and the pretense of doing so has been scripted by the vice president from the beginning. The former Wyoming congressman is an unreconstructed, old-fashioned right-winger with about as little respect for multilateral organizations and alliances as that old John Birch Society bumper sticker, circa 1962: “Get the U.S. Out of the U.N.”

Cheney articulated this viewpoint with startling candor yesterday to NBC News’ Tim Russert, who asked about former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft’s publicly articulated concern about the costs of perceived U.S. unilateralism and arrogance.

Salon