Word: cheneys
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...first television interview as George W. Bush's running mate last July, Dick Cheney had to endure a prime-time grilling. Larry King wanted to know if voters should worry about his history of heart attacks, and gave his conservative voting record in Congress a thorough going-over. A disabled vet called in to make a crack about his lack of military service. Watching from the Texas Governor's mansion, Bush wasn't fazed. He turned to an aide and said, "Mark my words. Dick Cheney is the type of man you want around when a crisis develops...
Bush didn't have to wait long for his prediction to come true. Getting to the office turned out to be crisis enough. And Cheney is not only around, he is also ubiquitous. Even a minor heart attack, his fourth in 22 years, barely slowed him down. While Bush spent another week holed up at his remote ranch in Crawford, Texas, his No. 2 matched Al Gore in the battle for public opinion, briefing reporters, sitting for round after round of television interviews, directing the transition...
Bush couldn't risk being seen as a man presumptuously grasping at the Oval Office, so he relied on Cheney's aura of authority and competence to persuade Americans that the race was finally over and Gore should give up. "A lot of you wrote stories back in July that Cheney was a dumb pick," says Ron Kaufman, a G.O.P. consultant who worked in Bush's father's White House. "He sure doesn't look like a dumb pick now, does...
What he looks like is a man in charge. Cheney's reputation in Washington--whether as Gerald Ford's chief of staff, a Congressman or Defense Secretary under President Bush--has always been that of the ideal lieutenant: loyal, competent and self-effacing. His Secret Service code name under Ford, "Backseat," reflected his deferential style. But Cheney is currently playing such a high-profile role for Bush that lately he has been overshadowing his boss. In the first crazy 36 hours after election night, it was Cheney, not Bush, who made the key decision to ask his old colleague James...
...talk shows, in the Beltway, in outer Republican circles, absolutely - its started already. But not in Austin. George W. Bush, in his pool-camera photo-op Monday after the Supreme Court non-ruling, stopped resolutely short of Dick Cheney's "I do think he should concede" statement on Sunday. And Bush, so slow to the microphone throughout the legal wrangling, won't be at all tempted to join Cheney on the hard line now. He can afford to be quiet...