Valley Forge memories: The time I didn't know Richard
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Valley Forge memories: The time I didn't know Richard
So Romney is flying tonight on a plane -- having more fun sleeping over in Philly before a day of events tomorrow. There's a fundraiser at the Union League, which is just the setting to dispel the notion that he's the candidate of the 1 Percent. He also comes out to (barely) Delaware County, where he speaks at the Valley Forge Military Academy. The hard-discipline school -- which educated some kids of the Chicago mob in the 1960s, true story -- is apparently also a favorite stop for Republican candidates. In fact, it was there at VMFA in 2000, when I was the Daily News political writer and we actually went to stuff, that I "confronted" Dick Cheney face to face.
Now anyone who's been reading Attytood for the last 7-and-a-half years (or it's long forgotten "pilot" episode, called "Campaign Extra!" with an exclamation point) knows that Cheney is the bete noir of the blog, pure evil rendered into human form, walking among us lowly mortals. So you can imagine the hard-hitting questions I asked the GOP vice presidential candidate as we sat around a small table -- Cheney, his wife Lynne and a small gaggle of local reporters -- and gazed out at the football field and the late summer foliage.
Here's an excerpt from the Daily News of Sept. 7, 2000 (via Nexis, so no link):
The GOP's Dick Cheney brought his quiet quest for the vice presidency to the Philadelphia suburbs yesterday, and bowed to political reality by saying he now "probably" would support the massive Delaware County defense contract that he sought so aggressively to kill a decade ago.
Responding to a question from the Daily News, Cheney conceded that he had lost the battle to kill the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor helicopter - manufactured by the Boeing Corp. in Ridley Park - and that he would likely support the project if he and George W. Bush are elected in November.
"We're committed now, and we've made a significant upfront investment, and if I had to sit down today and decide what our needs are and given the status of the program, I'd probably go forward with it," said Cheney.
Wow. Nothing about his secret energy task force, or his ties to Halliburton, or whether he planned to invade Iraq, or what his view was of torture or "waterboarding," or his views on duck-hunting safety (heh). Because on September 6, 2000, we had no idea what Cheney had up his sleeve with that "quiet quest" that I wrote about. At that moment, Cheney was the grown-up, the "smart one," not a monster. We just didn't know.
I only bring it up because it's a reminder that for all the words and all the blather about a 2012 presidential campaign that's gone on for months and months, what will probably strike us years from now will be the things we didn't know, and the questions we didn't ask. It never would have occurred to me in a million years to ask Cheney whether he was going to invade Iraq.
So what aren't we asking Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan?
Think about it this weekend.
==]] Dan Senor, John Bolton, etc...what could go wrong?? [[==
Bolton may actually be the worst of the lot.— Talking point sleuth- yeah because we have such peace in the middle east under obama right tps? lol— rysagr
- I know a number of Obama fans who blow off the embassy killing as no big deal because it was only 4 people, not 3,000 people like the original 9/11. Is that wrong Will? Why all the excuses and no second guessing of Obama? No one's saying don't vote for him but don't make excuses for an obvious failure.— Phillies2008WSChamps
- because phillies it can't possibly be because obama was spiking the football the week b4. obama got osama. obama bragged people died— rysagr
- Had Gore won in 2000 there would not have been another Democratic Prez for at least 16 years. No way to lay any of 9/11 on the Repubs since the planning took place under Clinton and the execution took place under Gore. Also, the Nobel Peace Prize might still have some meaning.— 2ndNlong
///At that moment, Cheney was the grown-up, the "smart one," not a monster. We just didn't know.///
But apparently, Will, you DO know what Romney will do as president. Why, you just wrote it yourself earlier in the day -- he will go all Emeril on the terrorists and kick the torture up a notch, continue murdering civilians using drones, I mean, you said it yourself right?- Imagine if 241 American marines and sailors had been killed by a few terrorists at Benghazi, and Obama reacted by withdrawing forces from the region. Articles of impeachment, right? Of course, that's what Reagan did after the massacre in Beirut in 1983, (because we had such peace in the Middle East at the time under Reagan, right rysagr?), and then won re-election in a landslide within a year.— montani semper liberi
- ==]] he will go all Emeril on the terrorists and kick the torture up a notch, [[==
Just curious, bucky. Did you actually read the post?— Talking point sleuth - "But apparently, Will, you DO know what Romney will do as president." . . . . . . But do we? General, do you?— montani semper liberi
- We know Obama will keep murdering civilians, keep prosecuting the drug war, and keep taking money from special interests.
Its beyond naive and crosses into pure delusion to think you can hold him accountable after he no longer needs your vote.— RG - "Why aero-planes don't have windows?......Just wonderin'." . . . . The scary thing is Romney's apparent ignorance of what constitutes a dirty bomb, which was displayed in the context of justifying military action against Iran.— montani semper liberi
- Sure, RG, but what will Romney do?— montani semper liberi
- The Romney question is an exercise in ignorance. Excuse away what is actually happening by using fearmongering about a far from certain future outcome.— RG
- "The Romney question is an exercise in ignorance." . . . . Romney's ignorance aside, you're saying you don't care?— montani semper liberi
- Heck, not only is it drone bombing, corporate cronyism, and the drug war, yesterday I posted how warrantless surveillance, with little oversight, has greatly ncreased over the past two years.
Now add this:
Private Prisons: Immigration Convictions In Record Numbers Fueling Corporate Profits
For three years in a row, more people have been convicted of immigration offenses than of any other type of federal crime, according to the United States Sentencing Commission. Illegal re-entry into the United States was the most commonly filed federal charge last year, marking a dramatic shift in the makeup of the U.S. criminal justice system, which has been dominated by drug crimes in recent decades.— RG
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