Aaron Burr or Dick Cheney: Quien Es Mas Macho?



The duel. (image via gutenberg.org)

Aaron Burr, the quixotic Vice President who put his political rival Alexander Hamilton (the founder of the New York Post and the American banking system) six feet under is alot like Dick Cheney. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment)

Both are insatiable after power; both were considered, in their respective Ages, as being somewhat immoral in their acquisition of clout. (The Corsair pours himself a glass of Madeira)

Both have freethinking daughters. (Burr's Theodosia; Cheney's Mary)

Both have been involved in Constitutional crises involving an American Presidential election. Burr of 1800, and Cheney, albeit peripherally, in 2000 -- 200 years later, we cannot fail to note!
But ... quien es mas macho? To wit:

Cheney: Buckshotted a luckless attorney, an influential Republican, with buzzard-spray in Texas.
Burr: Gunned down Hamilton, an influential Federalist, in Weehawken.
Winner: Burr.

Private Sector
Cheney: Former CEO, Halliburton.
Burr: Second president of the College of New Jersey (Princeton)
Winner: Cheney. Princeton is for sissies (Cheney dropped out of Yale). Natural resources is for the macho.

Military Service:
Cheney: Secretary of Defense under George Bush.
Burr: aide-de-camp to General Israel Putnam, Revolutionary War; served at Valley Forge.
Winner: Burr.

Imperial Designs
Cheney: Drove Administration to go to war against Iraq.
Burr: Allegedly hatched a plot to become Emperor of Mexico.
Winner: Burr.

Winner: Burr. Then again, an investigation on Cheney's role in wiretapping could blow Burr's slim lead out of the water. The political theater alone would be far greater than Burr's treason trial.