Remember Dick Cheney? He's been in Atlanta all this time

Vice President Dick Cheney appeared in Atlanta last night. Just like, that out of the blue. You don't see him for weeks and, poof, the jolly guy pops up down there.

The occasion was the Georgia Jefferson Day Dinner. No, just kidding. It was the Republican President's Day Dinner. And Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who's up for reelection this fall in a tough political year for Republicans, wasn't at the dinner. Hmmm.

"I know Saxby is going to win another term this November," Cheney told the crowd. "Saxby, of course, is a very courageous man. I know that because he's one of my hunting buddies."

Cheney, who can tell the joke on himself now that some time has passed since he accidentally wounded a hunting companion in the face in Texas, enjoyed ...

the reception he got from the unarmed audience last night. "A welcome like that is almost enough to make me want to run for office again," he said. "Almost, I said."

Because he serves as president of the Senate, Cheney noted, he gets to see a lot of the senators.

"As vice president, the only real duties you have under the Constitution is to preside over the Senate and to cast tie-breaking votes," he said. "In fact, before the Constitution was written, some believed the vice presidency was entirely unnecessary. Benjamin Franklin said that if the office were to be created, anyone who served as vice president should be addressed as 'Your Superfluous Excellency.'

That's a lot better than some of the things I've been called," Cheney added.

There was a serious side to this talk, of course. “President Bush and I look forward to helping our candidates, up and down the ticket, throughout this very important election year," the vice president said. The next question, of course, is how much the Republican candidates look forward to being seen with an administration whose favorable ratings hover in the 20s.

"We're going to take wise and careful steps to revitalize America's economy in a moment of challenge. And we'll press on in the fight against enemies who are determined to inflict great harm on this country," Cheney said.

It’s not only the economy they're grappling with today, he said. "This country has gone six and a half years now without another catastrophic attack like 9/11," he said.

“Nobody can guarantee that we won't be hit again. The fact is the danger remains very real –- and we know the terrorists are still out there, still determined to hit us. I look at it every day and see it in our intelligence briefs. They are fanatical in their hatred. They have tried many times to cause more violence and death in this country."

The important thing to remember, six and a half years after 9/11, is that the war on terror is still very real, that it won't be won on the defensive, and that we have to proceed on many fronts at the same time," Cheney added.

"I'm confident that our jobs will be left in good hands," the vice president said, which is Wyoming for "who the heck knows what's gonna happen in this cockamamie political year?"

-- Mark Silva

Mark Silva writes for The Swamp from the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau.

Comments

[Patrick]

To Mr. Cheney. You can never win the war on terror... nor can anyone "win" the war on drugs. There will always be someone somewhere which might want to do another harm.

What you've succeeded in doing... is giving us perpetual war... war without end and never ending debt and bills without end all with the goal of enriching the military/industrial complex.

The war was going to cost $ 50 billion... yeah right...

[Melissa Hurwitz]

I believe Cheney is downplaying his role as VP right now because he wants to plant doubts in both Hillary and Obama's minds. If one or the other were to take up the mantle of VP, that dream ticket just couldn't fail.

[hank leatherman]

dick chaney's stuff is what's needed on the campaign trail. this terrorist info seems to have been forgotten by the american people

[Will Jones]

Draft-dodgers Cheney and Bush committed 9-11. Patriots yet to pick up on this truth shared across America need only pick up a copy of Ph.D. David Ray Griffin's "The New Pearl Harbor." It is no coincidence that Bush's father "can't recall" his whereabouts upon hearing of JFK's assassination (two FBI memos prove his guilt in the killing which sent 58,000 of us to die in Vietnam), or that his grandfather was Hitler's banker (Google: "Prescott Thyssen Auschwitz").

Bush and Cheney must be tried, convicted and hanged for their 9-11 and false war treason.

[Sydney]

Whatever happened to journalism? This article is akin to soft core porn review.

Anyway, cheney (capitalization left out on purpose) says too many things that are stupid. America had never been attacked till he and bush took over and started to meddle in the world affairs as two year olds. In 231 years we were only attacked by the british and the mexicans until cheney came along. This brag that we have not been attacked for 6 and half years is hogwash! I am still not sure if 9/11 was not created by bush to give him a free hand in taking over the oil rich countries and American freedoms.

Wake up Americans! We need to unite and impeach these two! The journalists need to do their job and report facts and not write feel good garbage about this dolt!

[Walt Lindgren]

I wonder why no reporter or audience member ever asks "If your counter-intelligence work is so successful, then where's Osama bin Laden ?"

[Axtell]

Great man, Once the leftist hate machine fad passes, the true acheivments of this administration will then be realized, many a president will refer back to the cheney/bush doctrine when dealing with the crisis like we have on that fatefull 911 day and through these times of war against terror.

[anOPINIONATEDsob]

Americans can't afford another rerun of this mentality. It will take us 4-5 DECADES to undo the greed and corruption they leave behind. No amount of hot air spin from talk radio can bury the facts of enron style crimminal deception performed by the "religous republican" who has raped the treasury of the nation for personal and family gain. Think about it, when two minority candidates present a real danger to the repulican encombants then you know the path taken was terribly wrong.

[Rinaldo Olff]

You're a funny man, Mr. Cheney but I'm not laughing. Neither are the loved ones of those eight brave servicemen who were slaughtered today in your ill-conceived war. A war that you and your chum(p) in the Oval office launched and created so needless suffering for so many people, both American and Iraqis. Your arrogance that goes way beyond hubris and your sociopathic lack of empathy for the people whose lives you have had such a profound and tragic effect. I am an atheist but just this once I hope there is a god who will exact a terrible vengeance on your pitiless soul.

[Druidman]

All those cheering GOP droids have a gnawing feeling in their brain. They all know that Dick and his neo-con buddies have sunk the party for 20 years. 37!!! Top GOP pols bailing on re-election? And all they have is George W. Mc Cain?

[Vic Arpeggio]

Ah, Saxby Chambliss. The class act who targeted a crippled war hero and smeared him as a traitor. He and Cheney go together like cynaide and arsenic.

[Tom J]

What do you mean, you didn't see him for weeks? He was just in Chicago at Great Lakes talking to the graduates:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-cheney-navalcente,0,7029826.story

I assume he didn't suggest they should have had "other priorities" as he did during the Vietnam War.

[john summers]

Boy, there are some sick folks writing on this site!

[dave]

why report cheney's stupid jokes instead of doing your journalistic duty and report the facts about his criminal, highly treasonous actions?
i would not like to see you writing a couple of years from now how you giggled at obama jesting: 'where's osama? they called him back and painted him black and put him in the white house.'

(Because it's all part of the unfolding political tableau in a fascinating political year whether you like the guy or not. Some people skip over certain comments that seem stupid too.)

[Bob]

Hey Cheney, did that feel good ordering NORAD to stand down on 9-11???? I bet you're laughing and laughing at how the stupid Americans can make you so much $$$, all the way to the bank.