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Debate Wrapup - Cheney's Reality Gap

by Salvador Peralta

published by The Progressive Trail [ http://www.progressivetrail.org/ ]

Wednesday October 6, 2004

The failure of the press to ask basic questions about the accuracy of comments made during last night's debate gave Vice President Cheney a significant advantage because, as it turns out, much of what he said doesn't pass the sniff test.

Cheney: "Now, in my capacity as vice president, I am the president of Senate, the presiding officer. I'm up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session."

Dick Cheney was absent as presiding officer of the Senate all but 2 times since taking office in 2001.

Click here for the list of presiding officers and the dates they have filled in for Cheney since 2001 [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/6/11163/2940 ].. Observant readers will note that Cheney has not actually presided at the Senate since 2002.

"The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight."

Addressing the National Prayer Breakast, Cheney said: "Thank you. Thank you very much. Congressman Watts, Senator Edwards, friends from across America and distinguished visitors to our country from all over the world, Lynne and I honored to be with you all this morning." [FDCH Political Transcripts, Cheney Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, 2/1/01]



Cheney: "I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11"

"If we're successful in Iraq, if we can stand up a good representative government in Iraq, that secures the region so that it never again becomes a threat to its neighbors or to the United States, so it's not pursuing weapons of mass destruction, so that it's not a safe haven for terrorists, now we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." Dick Cheney, Meet the Press, 11/14/03

Cheney: "You made the comment that the Gulf War coalition in '91 was far stronger than this. No. We had 34 countries then; we've got 30 today. We've got troops beside us."

The coalition troop strength of non-American forces in the 1991 Gulf War was roughly 150,000. Non-American coalition forces currently account for less than 20,000 of the current deployment of troops in Iraq. The American taxpayer is responsible for $200 billion in costs for the current war in Iraq, in 1991, the American taxpayer paid less than $8 billion.

Cheney: "The reason they keep mentioning Halliburton is because they're trying to throw up a smokescreen. They know the charges are false.

"They know that if you go, for example, to factcheck.com (sic), an independent Web site sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, you can get the specific details with respect to Halliburton.

"It's an effort that they've made repeatedly to try to confuse the voters and to raise questions, but there's no substance to the charges."

From Today's FactCheck.org Dispatch:

Cheney got our domain name wrong -- calling us "FactCheck.com" -- and wrongly implied that we had rebutted allegations Edwards was making about what Cheney had done as chief executive officer of Halliburton.

In fact, we did post an article pointing out that Cheney hasn't profited personally while in office from Halliburton's Iraq contracts, as falsely implied by a Kerry TV ad. But Edwards was talking about Cheney's responsibility for earlier Halliburton troubles. And in fact, Edwards was mostly right.

Cheney: "About 900,000 small businesses will be hit if you do, in fact, do what they want to do with the top bracket."

"900,000 is an inflated figure that results from counting every high-income individual who reports even $1 of business income as a "small business owner." Even Cheney and his wife Lynne would qualify as a "small business owner" under that definition because Mrs. Cheney reports income as a "consultant" from fees she collects as a corporate board member, even though she had no employees and the business income is only 3.5% of the total income reported on their 2003 tax returns." FactCheck.org

Cheney: "The president has been deeply concerned about (AIDS). He has moved and proposed and gotten through the Congress authorization for $15 billion to help in the international effort"

"The $15-billion figure was to be spread over five years -- and when it came to asking for money to be actually appropriated and spent Bush sought only $2 billion for the fiscal year that just ended." FactCheck.org

Cheney: "The Kerry record on taxes is one basically of voting for a large number of tax increases -- 98 times in the United States Senate."

"Of the 98 votes "for tax increases," 43 would not actually have increased taxes. They were for budget bills to set target levels for spending and taxes in the coming fiscal years. The Bush campaign also exploits the complexity of the parliamentary voting system to pad the number. Most of the 98 votes were on procedural measures, such as votes to end debate or votes on amendments, and not on passage of the measure itself. More than once, the 98-vote total counts half a dozen votes or more on on a single bill." - FactCheck.org

Conclusion: There are liars, damned liars, and then there is Dick Cheney.

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