Mr. Cheney

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I’ve always liked Dick Cheney, and have never understood the visceral dislike some hold for him. To me, he defines the best that anyone could want in a public official: integrity, intelligence, expertise, judgement, stability. I even like the sound of his voice. This is an interesting interview, conducted by Paul Gigot and James Taranto, of The Wall Street Journal. I post it because I found it insightful, not as a provocation. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007885[/url]”>http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007885&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

2

<p>I can’t say that “like” is something I’ve ever felt for Dick Cheney. He’s not really a “likeable” personality.</p>

<p>But, in the early years of the Bush administration I respected his experience and trusted his judgement based on that experience. I took some comfort in having grownups on the staff of President who presented himself as an intellectual lightweight.</p>

<p>I feel betrayed that Dick Cheney lied to me and sold me a false bill of goods as a rationale for waging a war. As a result, it is impossible for me to trust a single word that comes out of his mouth. I believe that is why I, and I am sure many others, now feel an intense “dislike” for the man.</p>

3

<p>So, now that you’ve gotten the boilerplate out of the way, what did you think of the interview?</p>

4

<p>What’s there to think about? Paul Gigot interviewing Dick Cheney is pretty much a slow-pitch softball game, isn’t it?</p>

<p>Kind of like asking Charles Krauthammer for an opinion on the Alito nomination. You know what you are going to get.</p>

<p>If Gigot had wanted to ask some hard questions on intelligence gathering, he might have asked Mr. Cheney about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But, the purpose of this spin session was to give Cheney a platform to attempt to turn public concern over their privacy into a campaign attack on Democratic legislators. Pretty standard stuff, really.</p>

5

<p>I think equally facinating (maybe more) is Mr. Cheney’s wife Lynn. Twice I have listened to her take on the spears and arrows of a very tough NPR interview. Both times she came across as a woman who is tough, intelligent, driven and composed. She did a fantastic job of handling all the questions from the NPR radio host who was very obviously anti Dick Cheney. Raised my impressions greatly of the Cheney family and lowered my respect even more for NPR.</p>

6

<p>Lynne Cheney should be an inspiration to us all. What an amazing woman.</p>