I was just reading in Trance-Formation of America last night about Dick
Cheney's abuse of Cathy O'Brien. I wonder what connection he has to Laura
Bush.
http://voter.excite.com/voter/today/newsdetail/1,2282,4~68-7234-,00.html
Bush's VP List Known Only by Cheney, Laura Bush
Jun 17 2000 01:46:52:000PM
GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) - Despite the daily speculation about George W.
Bush's possible running mate, the search for a Republican vice presidential
candidate is a pretty tight operation. The only ones really in the know are
former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, once chief of staff to President Ford,
and Bush's wife, Laura.
Cheney heads the search committee, really a one-man show. The one-time
congressman from Wyoming handles the legwork and takes daily calls from the
Texas governor. Laura Bush is his other sounding board.
Bush does not believe his choice of running mate will influence the outcome
of the expected fall race against Democrat Al Gore.
"The truth of the matter is, I used to say about the vice presidency, when
my dad was vice president, that people vote for the president,'' Bush said
aboard his campaign plane Friday night as he flew from Kentucky to Florida,
where he was raising money for the party and speaking at a Veteran of
Foreign Wars convention.
"The vice president may be able to help in a particular state or solidify a
vote, but it's really a presidential election. The vice president is part of
a larger picture,'' he said.
The first cut for vice presidential candidates is a lengthy questionnaire
about their backgrounds, finances and personal history. Discretion on their
part is considered a must.
Bush also is reviewing past vice presidential selections, as well as the
timing of their announcement.
Fresh in his memory, aides say, is how his father, former President George
Bush, made a surprise announcement of then-Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle as he
arrived in New Orleans for the 1988 Republican convention.
The resulting frenzy and questions about Quayle's military record left the
future vice president vulnerable to inquiries about his preparedness for his
entire term in office.
When the younger Bush finally narrows his list, his staff expects him to
spend considerable time with the finalists, perhaps at his ranch in
Crawford, Texas.
Among the details to emerge recently about the search:
-Only Cheney and Laura Bush are in the loop.
"That's it, period,'' he said amid speculation former Sen. John Danforth,
R-Mo., was in contention. Danforth, currently overseeing an independent
investigation into the Waco standoff, later asked to have his name crossed
off the list.
Bush speculates that his willingness to accept suggestions keeps the rumor
mill going. "I say, `I appreciate that piece of advice,' and all the sudden
that becomes inside information,'' Bush said.
-While Bush announced in late April that Cheney would lead the selection
committee, there really is no committee. The job of finding a running mate
has fallen almost exclusively to Cheney, now chief executive officer of
Halliburton Co., a Dallas-based engineering and construction company.
"I read that we were running focus groups to determine who the vice
president ought to be. Forget it; it's not happening,'' Bush said Friday in
Canton, Ohio. "I'm a good decider.''
-Marrying his wife was the biggest decision Bush ever made. Running for
president was No. 2. Picking someone to share the ticket? "I wouldn't put it
in the third position.''
-He views how he picks a running mate as more important than the actual
person he picks. "It shows how I make decisions,'' Bush said.
"I'm taking my time. I'm very thorough. I'm looking back. ... I'm studying
them all, all the different selections, the timing of the announcements,''
he said.
Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Any and all hyperlinks
have been inserted by Voter.com and are not the responsibility of the
Associated Press.
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http://www.public-i.org/story_04_031500.htm
Cheney, Richard B.
Richard B. Cheney was President Bush's defense secretary, and is now CEO of
Halliburton Co., a $9 billion oil-services firm based in Dallas. He is also
a foreign policy adviser to the Bush presidential campaign. After a February
1999 meeting with Cheney in Austin, Bush told reporters, "Dick Cheney is a
friend of mine. It's not the first time he has been down here. It won't be
the last time he is down here. He is a person whose judgment I rely upon a
lot." As defense secretary, Cheney directed the U.S. invasion of Panama and
Operation Desert Storm, the Persian Gulf War.
In 1995, after a stint at the American Enterprise Institute, Cheney became
the CEO of Halliburton, which does business in at least 100 countries. In
1998, Business Week reported that Cheney had been "courting politicians and
business leaders through the booming Caspian Sea region in an all-out effort
to secure key political ties with Azerbaijan and Kazakstan. Accounting for
the world's third-largest oil reserves, the region is Cheney's best hope to
secure big contracts for a long time to come." Cheney has succeeded. Along
with the heads of Chevron and Texaco Inc., Cheney sits on Kazakstan's Oil
Advisory Board, which serves as a sounding board for the country's
president. As Halliburton President David J. Lesar told Business Week, "Dick
gives us a level
