From: Thomas A Chandler, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cheney Reconsiders Previous Votes by CURT ANDERSON Associated Press Writer PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Dick Cheney said Sunday he might well vote differently if he were in Congress now on issues such as Head Start, the federal Education Department and the Equal Rights Amendment for women. George W. Bush's pick for vice president defended his record as a House member from Wyoming, which has been criticized by Democrats as too conservative for most Americans -- but he also said on the Sunday talk shows that times have changed on some issues. ''I haven't changed my position,'' Cheney said on CBS' ''Face The Nation.'' ''I might find a couple I would do differently.'' For instance, he would be ''happy to entertain'' the idea of banning armor-piercing ''cop-killer'' bullets and easy-to-smuggle plastic weapons, which he opposed in 1985. ''In both of these cases, these measures came up under suspended rules'' which allow for no amendments, Cheney said on NBC's ''Meet The Press.'' ''I had very strong feelings, and still do under the Second Amendment'' concerning the right to keep and bear arms. ''If a clean vote -- I would authorize money to ban cop-killer bullets and weapons,'' Cheney said. Cheney also said on NBC that he would leave the Education Department in place now, after initially opposing its creation as a threat to local education control and a costly addition to the federal deficit. ''We already had what I thought was adequate,'' Cheney said on CBS. He said he now supports spending on the Head Start program and would back the ERA if a provision were added to prohibit women from being drafted into the military. ''Other than that, I could vote for the ERA,'' Cheney said. On ABC's ''This Week,'' Cheney defended his 1986 vote against a resolution that called for U.S. recognition of the African National Congress in South Africa, freedom for the organization's then-imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela and negotiations with the black majority. ''The ANC was then viewed as a terrorist organization,'' Cheney said Sunday. ''It was a step that we simply weren't prepared to take.'' Now, Cheney says he believes the ANC has ''mellowed'' and that Mandela is ''a great man.'' ''He deserves an enormous amount of credit for the transformation of South Africa,'' Cheney said ''But I don't have any problems at all with the vote I cast 20 years ago.'' -- The "plastic gun" and "cop killer bullet" bans were based on total fabrication of the facts by Josh Sugarmann. There were not, nor are there now (as the ban has now sunset) any handguns that can legally be imported into the US under existing Federal law, and there are no recorded instances of any police officers having been shot, let alone killed, with armour-piercing handgun ammunition. Steve. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
