I haven’t seen the video, but the transcript of Dick Cheney’s interview with Wolf Blitzer from this morning points to a rather heated interview.
Here’s one of the more interesting exchanges.
Q: The President himself speaks about a nightmare scenario right now. He was contained, as you repeatedly said throughout the ’90s, after the first Gulf War, in a box, Saddam Hussein.
CHENEY: Well, he was after the first Gulf War — had managed — he kicked out all the inspectors…. If he were still there today, we’d have a terrible situation. Today, instead —
Q: But there is a terrible situation.
CHENEY: No, there is not. There is not.
On the one hand it’s breathtaking to see Cheney continue to deny reality with such stubbornness, but on the other, there’s a political upside. If the Vice President wants to go on national television and tell the nation something they already know to be patently false, then the White House has given up on ever regaining its credibility.
Indeed, Cheney went on to say, “The reality on the ground is, we’ve made major progress,” adding, “We’ve had enormous successes.” It’s not quite “last throes,” but it’s close.
Cheney also went on to explain that the administration is going to conduct its war policy regardless of what Congress says or does, that the terrorists want us to withdraw, and the only real mistake the administration made is to believe the Iraqi people would be able to “stand up and take responsibility” after we toppled Saddam’s regime. (Yes, Cheney’s error means the Iraqis are to blame.)
But the unusual part of the interview is when Cheney started to go after Blitzer rather personally.
CHENEY: Now, fact is, this is a vitally important piece of business. It needs to be done. The consequences of our not completing the task are enormous. Just think for a minute — and think for a minute, Wolf, in terms of what policy is being suggested here. What you’re recommending, or at least what you seem to believe the right course is, is to bail out —
Q: I’m just asking questions.
CHENEY: No, you’re not asking questions.
Q: Yes, I am.
Cheney apparently wasn’t amused, arguing that there was a point “implicit” in Blitzer’s questions about the failures of the administration’s policies in Iraq. You can read the transcript, but the questions seemed rather routine, in which Blitzer asked the VP to respond to various charges, common in the political discourse.
Then things got even more personal.
Q: We’re out of time, but a couple of issues I want to raise with you. Your daughter Mary, she’s pregnant. All of us are happy. She’s going to have a baby. You’re going to have another grandchild. Some of the — some critics, though, are suggesting, for example, a statement from someone representing Focus on the Family:
“Mary Cheney’s pregnancy raises the question of what’s best for children. Just because it’s possible to conceive a child outside of the relationship of a married mother and father, doesn’t mean it’s best for the child.”
Do you want to respond to that?
CHENEY: No, I don’t.
Q: She’s obviously a good daughter —
CHENEY: I’m delighted — I’m delighted I’m about to have a sixth grandchild, Wolf, and obviously think the world of both of my daughters and all of my grandchildren. And I think, frankly, you’re out of line with that question.
Q: I think all of us appreciate —
CHENEY: I think you’re out of — I think you’re out of line with that question.
Q: — your daughter. We like your daughters. Believe me, I’m very, very sympathetic to Liz and to Mary. I like them both. That was just a question that’s come up and it’s a responsible, fair question.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I just fundamentally disagree with your perspective.
Get the feeling Cheney liked 2003 better, when the media would just report whatever it is he said without any of these pesky questions?