Keywords For Dick Cheney: Corporate Interests, Criminal, Despicable Behavior, Environment, Honor and Integrity, Hypocrisy, Lies, Tax Cut, Ulterior Motives

STRATEGY: Dick should be pressed about his: fraudulent stewardship of Halliburton, secretive energy policy designed by the energy industry and his hypocritical Vietnam draft skipping.

(Hypocrisy, Honor and Integrity, Lies) 

FACT: In a dramatic departure from the unacceptable practices of the prior adminisstration, VP Cheney has banned fundraisers at the VP's Mansion. Instead, the VP will throw "thank you" parties in the VP's mansion for people who've previously made contributions to Bush/Cheney? See. A complete departure.

(Corporate Interests, Anti-Environment) 

FACT: After a prolonged energy crisis in California, Dick Cheney outlined the Bush Administration's approach to energy policy. He called for more energy production, and less reliance on energy conservation. The centerpiece of the Administration's proposal is their plan to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), an environmentally disastrous idea that would provide little relief to Californians and not for years in the future.

(Tax cuts for the Wealthy, Ulterior Motives) 02/2001

FACT: Bush talked up his tax cut which would average $1,600 for the typical American family: "Now, $1,600 may not sound like a lot to some, but it means a lot to many families. $1,600 buys gas for two cars for an entire year. It pays tuition for a year at a community college. It pays the average family grocery bill for three months. That's real money." Even more real is the handout to the ultra rich: Dick Cheney, for example, declared a taxable income of $36.1 million for the year 2000, and paid $14.3 million in taxes. But wait, thanks to George W. Bush's proposed tax cut, Dick would stand to save an extra $4 million. With this, he could buy gas for 5000 cars for a year. Or pay tuition for 2500 years at a community college. Or pay the average family grocery bill for 7500 months. Thank you George!

(Hypocrisy, Honor and Integrity)

FACT: Despite vast criticism of the Clinton administration for having Coffee with contributors at the white house and allowing some to stay over night in the Lincoln bedroom, Cheney and the Bush administration took the whole fundraising thing to a new level, actually throwing a fundraiser in the VP’s mansion (The White House claimed that it was not a fundraiser, they were just having a party in which past contributors were invited. (Oh! Of course. How could I have been so foolish.) In addition, the administration has created special access for contributors to high-level administration officials including the Vice President himself.

(Lies) 06/2000

FACT: On June 30, 2000, Dick appeared on ABC's "This Week", and said, "I had a firm policy that we wouldn't do anything in Iraq, even arrangements that were supposedly legal. We've not done any business in Iraq since UN sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990, and I had a standing policy that I wouldn't do that." He backpedaled three weeks later when it was revealed that two Halliburton subsidiary companies had, in fact, been trading with Iraq since 1998. Appearing again on "This Week", Cheney explained, "We inherited two joint ventures with Ingersoll-Rand that were selling some parts into Iraq, but we divested ourselves of those interests." Hold on now. It was recently revealed that the subsidiaries signed nearly $30 million in contracts with Baghdad and traded for over a year before Halliburton finally sold them off. 

COMMENT: Of course, in the Enron Republican tradition of deniability, Chairman and Chief Executive Cheney didn't have a clue that such shenanigans were taking place.

(Lies, Criminal, Despicable Behavior)

FACT: Cheney was arrested for driving drunk.

COMMENT: Let’s remember that this is no laughing matter. Thousands of people are killed or otherwise have their lives ruined every year by such grossly negligent and selfish imbeciles as Bush and Cheney. They shouldn’t be allowed to laugh this off.

(Hypocrisy, Despicable Behavior) 

FACT: During the height of the California faux-energy crises non-other than energy-industry whore Dick Cheney was refusing to pay his energy bill. It was revealed that the VP didn't want to spend any of his budget to pay the $186,000 bill - he wants the Navy to pay it instead. 

COMMENT: It seems to be okay that the average citizen is getting shafted by the energy companies because the Bush administration is unwilling to take any steps to ease the situation. But grossly unfair if any of the simpering members of the administration have to pay the bills (even though its really the taxpayers money paying the bills).