Nightline Daily E-Mail
April 29, 2004
"TONIGHT'S FOCUS: The President and the Vice President have met with the 9/11 Commission today in an unprecedented session. We wanted to look tonight at the role of the Vice President, who has really remade the office.
As I write this, the President is up on every television monitor in the office. He is talking about the session with the Commission. The session was unprecedented in many ways, not least in that it was a joint appearance by the President and the Vice President.
Every Vice President is different, it's a difficult position to hold. But most observers believe that Mr. Cheney has been one of the most powerful and influential Vice Presidents in history.
Mr. Cheney has played a major role in the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq. He is thought to have been one of those pushing hardest for action against Saddam Hussein. So tonight we wanted to take a look at the Vice President, as seen through the eyes of people who know him and work with him. Ted is anchoring tonight.
I know that this is a little short, which I'm sure many of you will appreciate. But I am swamped dealing with tomorrow night's broadcast. This has become far more controversial than I ever expected. But there is one important point.
Because of time constraints, we had decided that we could only read the names of those killed in combat. This would have left out more than 200 other service members who were killed. None of us were happy with that. I received a phone call from the father of a soldier who was decorated for bravery, but was killed in a truck accident on his way back from the front. His father asked how could we possibly not include his son and the others? The answer is that we couldn't. We have been given extra time by ABC so that we can include all of those killed in Iraq.
This means that Nightline will run 40 minutes tomorrow night. Whether it's for the entire broadcast, or just for twenty seconds, I hope that you will join us tomorrow night, and reflect in your own ways on the sacrifices made by these men and women.
Leroy Seivers and the Nightline Staff"
ABCNEWS Washington D.C. -----------