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Dick Cheney’s complicated legacy
Washington Examiner ^ | November 4, 2025 3:45 pm | Byron York

Posted on 11/05/2025 11:45:19 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

DICK CHENEY’S COMPLICATED LEGACY. When George W. Bush ran for president in 2000, he faced a widespread public perception that he was callow and inexperienced, even though he was 54 years old and the governor of Texas. That’s not an unheard-of situation in presidential politics; the solution is for the less-experienced candidate to pick an older and more experienced running mate to give the ticket some gravitas. That is what Bush did.

It’s fair to say that Bush’s choice, Dick Cheney, fit the bill, and more. Cheney, who died Monday at age 84, probably knew more about the workings of the U.S. government than any man active in politics at the time. He had been the youngest White House chief of staff ever, for President Gerald Ford. Then he served ten years in the House, representing his home state of Wyoming. Then he was tapped by President George H.W. Bush to serve as Secretary of Defense. And then, just to add private sector experience to all that work in government, Cheney became CEO of a major oil services corporation, Halliburton. That’s quite a resume.

So Cheney added weight to the GOP ticket. Maybe just enough weight as Bush-Cheney lost the 2000 popular vote but won the presidency on the strength of 537 votes in the Florida recount. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney moved into the White House.

In the next few months, the team enacted much of its campaign agenda, passing the Bush tax cuts and making substantial progress on the president’s education initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act. At that point, just eight months into the term, the Bush-Cheney administration seemed oddly without direction, with little else to do. I recall writing a story in late August 2001 about the president’s “values initiative,” part...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bookshelffreepload; bookshelfspammer; deadbeatbookshelf; dickcheney; iabtfd; spammingfr; surrendered2islam
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"Complicated" is a euphemism for "shady."
1 posted on 11/05/2025 11:45:19 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

His daughter Liz and Karl Rove can quickly follow him to hell for all I care. They are all traitors along w the Bush’s. And take the ILLEGALS w you. You wanted all of them here- traitor.


2 posted on 11/05/2025 11:47:14 AM PST by Singermom
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Dick Cheney is a very rare thing in Washington DC - he managed to unify almost everybody.

Eventually, everyone hated him.

That’s hard to do.


3 posted on 11/05/2025 11:50:55 AM PST by PGR88
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I forgot that Dick Cheney was Sec of Defense during the Gulf War. Whether or not I agree with if we should have gotten into that war (to help Kuwait or whatever)...looking back I’ll admit there’s a charm with it being short compared to other wars.


4 posted on 11/05/2025 11:50:56 AM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Eff him. Crap human being who: (1) started wars of choice that killed or maimed too many of our best young men; (2) betrayed social conservatives in the war to preserve marriage (out of purely personal self-interest connected to his dyke daughter); and (3) put a final thumb in the eye to his erstwhile GOP defenders when he shamelessly endorsed Kamala’s candidacy.

Good riddance to bad rubbish. And I say that as someone who twice voted for the Arbustito-Cheney ticket.


5 posted on 11/05/2025 11:55:04 AM PST by irishjuggler
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Criminal traitor. Local post office failed to lower the flag half-mast for Charlie Kirk as ordered by Trump. Quickly lowered to half-staff for Cheney. The ENTIRE Federal government is corrupted this way. I have worked on the inside so am speaking from personal experience, NOT hearsay. It is an exclusive club and YOU and I are not in it.


6 posted on 11/05/2025 11:56:47 AM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

👍


7 posted on 11/05/2025 11:58:34 AM PST by Hyman Roth
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On the scales, found wanting. The Cheneys have been a net negative for America.


8 posted on 11/05/2025 12:01:00 PM PST by proust (All posts made under this handle are, for the intents and purposes of the author, considered satire.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

endless wars and deficits don’t matter, just before Boomers retired, then the price of gasoline doubles in Bush’s first term, then doubles again to $4 in 2008 to kill consumer confidence and spending, but Bush refuses to intervene in the free market, attributing the $4 sudden gas price as the housing market is crashing and the economy is slowing to “demand from India & China”, then he joins with Democrats on bailouts because of his lousy Fed chairman, Bernanke. ..lets Democrats accuse him of outing a spy, loses the House and Senate in 2006, loses White House in 2008 because he didn’t come to the table with Democrats after 2006 elections to balance the budget and take tax increase off the table for the 2008 election. Bush says in 2008 “I don’t know much about economics, but I know a lot about killing babies”, and his heart was bleeding for frozen embryos while he was carpet bombing Afghanistan. It is awfully hard to rail against Putin for protecting the ethnic Russians in Ukraine from Nazis, after USA went into Bosnia, Kosovo, got regime change in Yugoslavia, then went into Afghanistan and Iraq to build permanent military bases after toppling the governments and seeking to build infrastructure to invade Iran from......AND using voluntary army of fathers and mothers weekend national guard as a permanent standing army that destroyed so many families to war that we ended up losing. Men in Iraq and Afghanistan now may marry 9 year old girls, and all Bush and Cheney did was waste our people, time and money as Russia and China got strong as we got weak and blew our debt from $5.5 trillion to $40 trillion and created a communist and Muslim invasion inside the USA


9 posted on 11/05/2025 12:04:49 PM PST by Keyser Soze 84
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To: PGR88

yep. It is why Trump got in after the party hated Bush and Cheney and Paul Ryan. Bush wanted to partially privatize SS under a false claim that he could get a better return for those who most need it. He couldn’t. and we already have partially privatized Social Security. That is what IRAs and Individual Retirement accounts are. Bush was a moron. Cheney was worse than useless......even in the first Gulf War


10 posted on 11/05/2025 12:08:32 PM PST by Keyser Soze 84
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
While he was VP, Cheney was pounded by the Dems and their media over Halliburton. I recall how Rush vigorously defended Cheney over the allegations, as did many of us FReepers.

Seeing how Cheney revealed his true character by endorsing Kamela Harris, I realize now the Dems may have been telling the truth about something (shocking, I know) in their accusations about Cheney and Halliburton.

Cheney destroyed whatever was left of his reputation all on his own.
11 posted on 11/05/2025 12:12:07 PM PST by Dan in Wichita
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Cheney died from complications of Long TDS.


12 posted on 11/05/2025 12:14:47 PM PST by Paladin2 (YMMV)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Remember when Cheney told some dem to go f himself during a senate photo shoot? That Cheney I liked.
13 posted on 11/05/2025 12:17:03 PM PST by NavyShoe
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To: Keyser Soze 84

“I don’t know much about economics, but I know a lot about killing babies”,
no, actually, he said he didn’t know much about economics but he knew a lot about cutting taxes.
but he got the nod over McCain because he said he would keep us out of wars like Reagan and his father did......and he has a Harvard MBA, so we thought he did know about economics.
Trump overturning Roe v Wade instead of cleverly exposing the feminist left of not promoting equal privacy and reproductive rights for males is the gift that keeps giving to Democrats. If life does not begin at conception, then why blame males for getting females pregnant, ie conception and forcing them to pay damages to unwed mothers?? After all, sex is neither a criminal nor a civil offense and the government does not know who the father of an unwed mother’s baby is, and nobody forced her to have the baby or keep the baby.


14 posted on 11/05/2025 12:18:41 PM PST by Keyser Soze 84
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To: Dan in Wichita

Haliburton moved to Dubai after 100 yrs of paying taxes in the USA. Now they still exist, but pay no taxes here.


15 posted on 11/05/2025 12:21:09 PM PST by Keyser Soze 84
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

That’s right.


16 posted on 11/05/2025 12:21:57 PM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: Singermom

My thoughts exactly.


17 posted on 11/05/2025 12:22:03 PM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: Paladin2

True.


18 posted on 11/05/2025 12:22:20 PM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: Keyser Soze 84

Sigh.

Compare your social security COLAs since 2005 vs a basic S&P 500 basket return since then.

I think Cheney and W made some mistakes.

But it really, really bothers me that the predominant viewpoint nowadays is 100% identical to what the KozKidz and DUmmies were saying 20 years ago.

It makes me honestly want to ask... Have folks who go back that far actually reached out to the leftist hives and said “Sorry, you were totally right”?

There were absolutely mistakes. Partnering with the swimmer on Part D, NCLB, etc. Iraq was mismanaged - we should left within a year. Bailouts in 2008 were a big mistake.

However, it really pains me to read people literally repeating things the KosKidz were writing BITD.


19 posted on 11/05/2025 12:23:28 PM PST by Capn Hayek (Capital is not responsible for Labor's lack of planning)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Dick Cheney was one of the people I had in mind when I composed the first item on my profile page.


20 posted on 11/05/2025 12:28:42 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("There's somebody new and he sure ain't no rodeo man.")
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