07/28/00

Cheney Critics Hit a Sour Note

A few days ago, I guessed that Frank Keating or Tom Ridge would join the Republican ticket to liberate the White House from its current occupants. That is, of course, why they call them guesses - if they were correct, they'd be called predictions.

I knew that Cheney had declined the VP spot in May, and knew of nothing that had changed my mind about his intent. As it turned out, working with the Governor convinced him that he needed to take a stronger role, and convinced the Governor that he was the best choice. It all makes sense, in retrospect - Bush wants someone he can trust completely, and asking Cheney to conduct the search was an act of total trust. They've known each other and worked together for years, and have developed a deep mutual respect. And having seen the outraged, foam-at-the-mouth reactions of the left-wing, I'm even more convinced that Cheney is the perfect choice.

When the liberals moan and wail about Cheney, their song comes in three stanzas. First, they tag him as more conservative than Newt Gingrich. What the Democrites conveniently forget is that "conservative" has never been the swear word that "liberal" has become. Conservatives brag of their conservative credentials - when's the last time you heard a liberal so much as admit the label? Cheney's conservatism serves another useful purpose - while the Governor has run towards the middle for the general campaign, the selection of Cheney reassures the conservative wing of the party without alarming the center. He's the perfect proof of Governor Bush's bona fides, and the more Dems harp on his "conservatism," the larger base turnout will be for the Republicans in the fall, because the only ones who ever really care about the VP pick are the base voters anyway. (Don't forget - at the exact same time, Al Gore was voting just like Cheney did on gun control and abortion issues, earning a whopping 94 percent rating from the Right to Life Committee! If Cheney's votes were too conservative, then what was Al doing?) Cheney's conservative record is a perfect fit for this ticket.

Stanza number two has perhaps the shrillest pitch and the silliest lyrics: Cheney is a "retro" pick who is a throwback to the Bush administration. Well, in a literal sense, this is true - Cheney did, as Defense Secretary, preside over the most successful military operation since the liberation of Grenada. Gore even went so far as to assail the Governor's "lack of leadership" for picking Cheney instead of someone with a shorter resume. How ludicrous! Gore clearly doesn't understand that one of the most important leadership skills is to assemble the best team possible to execute the leader's vision. This was the key to Reagan's success and will be the key to Governor Bush's - it is also one of the Clinton administrations greatest failures. The Clinton-Gore administration picked a bunch of "fresh faces" and were rewarded with indictments, convictions, and scandals. Governor Bush picked a man with a solid, proven track record because he wants to govern well, which Al Gore just can't understand - Al will pick a man he thinks will help him win a few points on the electoral scoreboard, because he thinks that the Presidency is about campaigning, not governing. The whole "throw-back" barb, coming from a man whose main claim to fame is winning his Daddy's Senate seat, is really pretty sad. Gore should, but fails to, recognize that Cheney's experience will be a tremendous asset to the incoming Bush administration.

As the song draws to a close, it plunges deep into the key of stupid. Cheney is supposed to be unsuitable because, for the last several years, he ran an oil company. Coming from Gore, a man whose Momma owns almost a million dollars worth of Occidental Oil stock, that's just plain hypocrisy. First of all, Cheney has given up an annual imcome of multiple millions of dollars to join this ticket. A man who can do that to be a vice president is, in my book, admirable. If anything, Cheney's time at the helm of Halliburton is something to be proud of - the company doubled in size and its stock price soared under his leadership. In the process, Cheney helped reduce American dependence on foreign oil by increasing production here at home. These are good things, and Gore's criticism of them tells us more about Gore than Cheney.

Your turn, Al. The choir is waiting.

All blatherings copyright 2000 by the author. All rights reserved. You can look, but don't touch. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's blatherings.

A Perpetual Beta Production