Dick Cheney's military 'coup'

Disgraced former congressman Eric Massa sees "treason" in Cheney's alleged lobbying of Gen. David Petraeus to take on Obama in 2012

Did Dick Cheney have treasonous intentions?
(Image credit: Getty)

Former Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), who resigned in disgrace in March over male tickling and groping allegations, is back with a potential bombshell: Four top generals allegedly told him months ago that Dick Cheney is trying to recruit Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, to run against President Obama in 2012. That would be "treason" and a "coup d'etat," Massa told the editors of Esquire, because "you've got a commander with armies in the field, and he's plotting with Dick Cheney to bring down his commander in chief." Is Massa revealing a huge conspiracy, or just letting his "crazy" out? (Watch David Petraeus say he has no presidential ambitions in a 2007 interview)

Massa's story doesn't make sense: The Cheney "coup" story is certainly "the most fascinating" of the juicy "vignettes" in Esquire's must-read profile of Massa, says Jonathan Capehart in The Washington Post. It's also "the craziest." Among other reasons to be suspicious of Massa's conspiracy theory: Any rational person would go to The Washington Post or The New York Times with a story like that, not Esquire.

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