Time has a new analogy for Dick Cheney. Darth Vader, out. Admiral Cain from BSG, in:

After the Cylon attack, we know, the leaders and crew of Galactica wrestled with their morality in extremis, but usually–with big exceptions–made the right, or at least decent, decisions. Cain, on the other hand, went into dark-side mode–Cheneyism exaggerated to a galactic scale–deciding that beating the Cylons would mean suspending liberties and leading her people cruelly for their own sake. In fact, she makes the case (and with BSG’s typical nuance, it’s not totally unpersuasive) that faced with extinction, humans must cultivate and practice this cruelty: it is a weapon, in whose use her crew must regularly prove their proficiency by making horrible decisions. A “razor,” she tells an underling, is someone who has made him or herself (very often herself) into the kind of human blade the times require, lest the enemy be able to take advantage of the weaknesses of decency and scruples.