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Why I love Vice President Cheney, Reason 1,037,854
By rawhide | March 29, 2008
When asked about public opinion polls, what other vice president would look a reporter in the eye and respond with, “So?” I love it.
The full exchange:
Let me go back to the Americans. Two-thirds of Americans say it’s not worth fighting, and they’re looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So?
Q So — you don’t care what the American people think?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls. Think about what would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had paid attention to polls, if they had had polls during the Civil War. He never would have succeeded if he hadn’t had a clear objective, a vision for where he wanted to go, and he was willing to withstand the slings and arrows of the political wars in order to get there. And this President has been very courageous, very consistent, very determined to continue down the course we were on and to achieve our objective. And that’s victory in Iraq, that’s the establishment of a democracy where there’s never been a democracy, it’s the establishment of a regime that respects the rights and liberties of their people, as an ally for the United States in the war against terror, and as a positive force for change in the Middle East. That’s a huge accomplishment.
Q Are you certain of victory?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: You can’t, say — get up some morning and say, gee, the polls are critical of what we’re doing, and quit. It doesn’t work that way.
Q Are you certain of victory?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I am.
Topics: videos, Dick Cheney |
March 30th, 2008 at 1:19 am
So a Vice President not caring what the American people think is a good thing?
I’m no fan of a pure democracy but this isn’t good either.
I always get a laugh when my CR buddies try to defend this sort of thing. They’ll say the usual “gotta have ‘victory’ in Iraq” and “it’s good we have a President and Vice President who don’t govern according to public opinion.” This makes me laugh because they defend it as if they have a stake in the outcome. In reality, the outcome won’t make a difference to them. My CR buddies (and probably every other CR out there) aren’t making money off of this, they aren’t any more secure in their homes, and they don’t benefit in any other way. Therefore, I fail to understand why such things please them. Maybe they feel all warm and fuzzy inside because they’re convinced that they’re “out there making a difference” or something equally untrue.
With that said, I have to question why the writer of this post “loves it.” How exactly does this benefit you? The existence of you or other CRs doesn’t really matter to anyone and you’re certainly nowhere near the level to which you derive benefit from Cheney being VP.